Rapture by Thomas Tessier

     Maybe I’m an ignoramus, but I’m not sure if I understand why Thomas Tessier named this novel Rapture. Still, it’s a pretty solid book. It was first published in 1987 and later reissued by Leisure, so you’ll need to use your imagination a little bit about the protagonist (technically the antagonist, really), can and does the things that he does.

     Rapture follows Jeff Lisker who returns to Connecticut for his father’s funeral and makes a point of running into a woman he had a crush on in high school. They’d participated in double dates together but never actually dated each other. This triggers a series of events that includes killing the woman’s husband and daughter—with whom he has an affair and he wonders if he’s actually in love with her—all done in in stalker fashion.

     A good comparison that comes to mind is Billy by Whitley Strieber, partly because of the entirely non-paranormal plot. But that isn’t really what makes them similar (you could argue the same about most Jack Ketchum novels). In this novel, a fairy innocuous central character is a true predator that simply cannot be trusted. And, if it’s happening to the characters in the novel, it can happen to you, too.

     What I liked about Rapture is that there’s no clear line between protagonist and antagonist as Jeffrey technically plays the role of both at varying points in the novel. He’s more than a bit of a sociopath—he sees nothing at all wrong with what he’s doing—and, really, that’s the whole point. Some of the world’s biggest monsters don’t see the wrong in what they’re doing. Just about anything they want is fair game to chase after.

     So, even though this book might seem just a touch outdated, it’s worth picking up and giving it a look.