Second Chance by Chet Williamson

Second Chance by Chet Williamson is one of the best horror novels I have ever come across. Chet Williamson is a contemporary genre fiction writer. I have fallen for his Clash By Night, part of The Crow series. Williamson has written scary books like Ash Wednesday and Reign that were hits with readers in the eighties. He has won an International Horror Guild Award. He was shortlisted for World Fantasy Award. His best books are disturbing. Williamson has a touch with the supernatural, and he plays with the dark corners of human mind. Fury. Madness. Obsession. Depravity. He does not shy away from harrowing turns.  His novels have a bittersweet, warm, intimate atmosphere, with a sense of loss, tension, and fear. The Crow - Clash by Night and Second Chance by Chet Williamson are just as sophisticated, elegant, and frightening as the best works of Robert Louis Stevenson or H. G. Wells.

Second Chance by Chet Williamson. It is one of the best horror novels of the American author.

Second Chance by Chet Williamson is like a recall of an ancient Greek myth: what if a man could bring back his lover from the dead like Orpheus brought back Eurydice from the Underworld? It is an apocalyptic tale.

Second Chance starts out nice, like a walk along memory lane. Woody Robinson is a rock star in his forties. His first love, Tracy, died in an accident when they were in their sophomore year at college. Twenty years later, Woody enjoys his successful career. Audiences go wild and hot about his songs. However, deep down, Woody is troubled. Something is missing. His melodies are catchy as ever, his voice is still there, but he feels weary and old. He arranges a meeting with his college friends. They throw a party that recalls their days back in 1969. Music of the late sixties. Crazy attires. The same friends, the same old room. They are back to the golden days. Literally. The small bunch of friends can tell that something strange is going on. They realize that they, by chance, have gone back in time. They are twenty again. They meet three friends who have died many years ago. Tracy, Woody's love, is one of them. They cannot leave the old apartment, the outside world seems empty, dark, and dangerous. Within a couple of hours, they return to the present by chance. They are in their mid-forties again, but they find themselves in an alternative reality where their late friends are alive and well, they have lived and prospered throughout all those years.
Woody could not be happier. In this changed reality, he is married to his first love, Tracy. They have teenage kids. Woody has an even more successful career than he had as a single man. He is at the top of the world. However, something is wrong. Woody discovers that history has slightly changed since their return. Someone has appeared in the world who has not been there before, an eco-terrorist, nicknamed Pan. Pan has assassinated politicians and economic leaders for scathing the environment with their failed policies. Woody suspects that Pan is one of their friends who have returned from the dead. Pan gets out of hand, his actions are savage. It seems he wants to wipe off the whole humankind that keeps on damaging rivers, forests, and animals.
Second Chance by Chet Williamson is a thought-provoking read. It deals with issues that still exist. Humans still destroy the planet and its living beings, it has not changed much since the 1980s. The story is honest, real, pessimistic, and it sounds strangely true. Some scary books deal with things that could happen anytime. These plots are worst case scenarios that could happen to the world one day.
Second Chance is even better than Stephen King's Dead Zone. The protagonist of Dead Zone is a young man with psychic abilities. He tries to murder an evil politician who could be a threat for the entire world. Now, we know Stephen King. We know what he can do with readers' nerves and deepest fears. Dead Zone is a rare exception, it reminds me of thrillers rather than King's trademark scary books. Second Chance by Chet Williamson, on the other hand, is tragic, and the reader roots for the villain. Like the best horror novels, Second Chance is not just a blood-bath. It plays with tension, and it is meaningful. If you enjoyed Stephen King's The Stand and other apocalyptic scary books, then you will love Second Chance.