ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9512290099
SECTION: BOOKS PAGE: F-4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: BOOK REVIEW
SOURCE: REVIEWED BY MARIE BEAN
MESSENGER: A Sequel to "Lost Horizon." By Frank DeMarco. Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc. $9.95.
More than 60 years ago James Hilton wrote what turned out to be a very popular novel, "Lost Horizon." He told the story of four Westerners aboard a hijacked plane who ended up as the unwilling guests of a secluded Tibetan lamasery called Shangri-La. Hilton described Shangri-La as a refuge of absolute peace, where people had discovered how to defy time and live for hundreds of years. "Lost Horizon" was exquisite and seductive escapism in those days of economic depression and international turmoil.
Author Frank DeMarco thinks if we can but recover the message of "Lost Horizon" we may yet save ourselves from destruction. For 15 years he worked at constructing a sequel.
The protagonist of "Messenger is also an unwilling guest at the fabled monastery, one USAF Captain George Chiari who, having been forced down by engine failure of his U-2 reconnaissance plane, is shortly rescued and taken to Shangri-La. Soon he realizes that his hosts will never let him leave, believing it would compormise their security. The year is 1962, the Chinese Communists have tried to destroy Tibet, and no monastery is safe. "Messenger" delineates Chiari's accommodation to life in the monastery, his indoctrination, and his eventual designation as the "messenger." "Messenger" does not live up to expectations. Suspense sags; too many questions are left dangling. In his afterword, DeMarco tells us why he wrote this novel, his first. He concludes by saying, "And although I put plenty of work into it, I'm not always sure who wrote it."
That helps explain why this is a disappointing read. DeMarco is an accomplished writer; he would have done better to create an original work of fiction in which to reveal his own truth.
Marie Bean is a retired college chaplain.
LENGTH: Short : 43 linesby CNB