Reviews

The hamlet of Springhill nestles high in the Colorado Rockies. Residents are bursting with health, but they guard a secret: they grow old very, very slowly...and they decide when to die. When Manhattan attorney Dennis Conway falls in love with Springhill's mayor, Sophie Henderson, he and his two children move in with her. He's charmed by her parents, Scott and Bibsy, and by Harry Parrot, the town drunk/artist, but curious about the Water Board, an entity that wields great power over the townsfolk. When his in-laws are accused of illegally assisting in the suicide of two friends, he agrees to represent Bibsy. The secret (easy to guess, but who cares?) is revealed, and Dennis endangers his family to save someone whose time is up. Irving (The Argument, S. & S., 1993) delivers a parable about aging and euthanasia that's spare of prose and thoroughly creepy; book discussion groups will love it. Recommended for all libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 4/15/96.]‘Laurel A. Wilson, Alexandrian P.L, Mount Vernon, Ind.

A simple, fabled premise‘the existence of a Fountain of Youth‘supports this modest suspenser from Clifford (Final Argument). The age-conquering waters here flow in a spring located thousands of feet above Aspen, Colo., their existence known only by the several hundred denizens of the town of Springhill. To avoid arousing the suspicion of outsiders, the townsfolk have entered into a pact to die voluntarily at the age of 100. The plot, which revolves around a murder trial arising from the discovery of the bodies of two of the Springfield dead, lays bare the inevitable kinks in so apparently practical and civilized a social contract. The intensely rural setting, reminiscent of that of The Shining or Deliverance, helps to cultivate a low-level tension, as do small but disturbing incidents like the disappearance of a cat or an anecdote about a woman's decapitation by avalanche. More melodramatic frights erupt at appropriate intervals. Irving drives his narrative from the fantastic to the realistic and back again, playing a game that's sure and steady‘but one that's safe as well. Fans of risks in horror or suspense won't find them here. (Aug.)