The Man Who Turned into Himself
- Book Review,
by David P. Ambrose
From Publishers Weekly
This unimpressive fiction debut uses theoretical physics to explain the fantastical events it describes. Rick Hamilton, publisher of a small journal based in Connecticut, has a premonition of his wife's death in a car crash. He rushes out of an important business meeting and speeds to the scene of the accident without questioning how he knows where to go. But he is too late; seeing his wife die, he blacks out and awakens to an altered reality-- he is being pulled from the wreckage of the car as his wife looks on. Rick, as it turns out, is trapped inside the body of Richard A. Hamilton, his counterpart in our universe. (Among other differences in Rick's parallel universe, John F. Kennedy, Bobby and Marilyn Monroe are all alive). Soon, with the help of a blind psychiatrist, Rick formulates a plan to use hypnosis to send him "home." Though the writing is glossy and efficient, Hollywood screenwriter Ambrose seems uncomfortable working in narrative prose. Seeking to move the action along, he often succumbs to awkward techniques--letters, tape transcripts and monologues--that could come straight out of a theater's one-man show. And for all its fancy quantum mechanical explanations, the plot is unconvincing and predictable. Movie rights to HBO. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Screenwriter Ambrose's first stab at fiction is a fascinating tale that explores the meaning of reality. Rick Hamilton is successful, happily married, and on top of the world until his wife, Anne, is killed in an auto accident. At the moment of her death, Rick finds himself thrust into a parallel universe, trapped in the mind and body of--himself. Rick is now Richard A. Hamilton, whose wife, Anne, is still alive but cheating on him. Everything is the same, yet different. How can Rick get back to his real life? Or is this his real life? Using the Many Worlds theory of quantum physics, Ambrose has crafted a psychological thriller that poses intriguing questions about life, time, and the universe. Of course, any time-travel tale (like Ambrose's 1983 screenplay, The Final Countdown ) bogs down if you really think about it, but nonstop action keeps the pages turning. Recommended. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 10/15/93.- Rebecca House Stankowski, Purdue Univ. Calumet Lib., Hammond, Ind.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Ambrose, a successful screenwriter, has applied his facility for rapid pacing and suspense to his first novel, which is both entertaining and, frankly, quite silly. The plot involves an intriguing "many worlds" theory that suggests that a nearly infinite number of parallel universes exist, separated only by the most fragile of divides. These simultaneous worlds mirror each other, but with eerie little variations. In one universe, Rick Hamilton, an enterprising magazine publisher with an amateur's interest in quantum physics, begins his day by falling off the roof while trying to rescue his cat. Not an hour later, he bolts from an important meeting, full of terror and prescience about his wife's impending death in a horrific car accident. Meanwhile, in another world, a real estate investor named Richard Hamilton has just been in a minor car crash and is suffering from a peculiar form of shock: he seems to be possessed by a feisty alter ego named Rick. Richard/Rick end up in the care of a blind therapist. Eventually, the two establish an odd sort of rapport, but no brain can comfortably accommodate two personalities for long, and things quickly get out of hand. Initially, Ambrose's clever improvisation upon the ever-alluring doppelganger theme is exhilarating, but things soon decline into a mass-market conventionality, that, while not all bad, is, finally, disappointing. Donna Seaman
From Kirkus Reviews
Hypnotic quantum-physics debut, from screenwriter Ambrose, that draws the reader into fabulous parallel worlds a bit like those of Ghost and the post-trauma of Fearless. Well-to-do Connecticut publisher Rick Hamilton finds himself beset by strange feelings and at an important business meeting sketches pictures of his wife Anne in a horrible accident. He dashes out of the meeting but is too late to save Anne, who dies in her car while looking at him (their boy Charlie lives). Whammo, the force of this event lifts Rick into the body of real-estate man Richard Hamilton: his wife is still alive in the car and he's helping her out of it. But meanwhile Charlie has disappeared--in this parallel world there is no Charlie, despite Rick/Richard's cries for him. Richard to Rick is Rick, and when he confesses as much to Anne in bed, she has him committed, where his troubles multiply. For one thing, he's rather disgusted with Richard's pouchy, slouching body (Rick had worked out thrice weekly) and Richard's much slower mind. In fact, Rick has little control over Richard's body and occupies only a room in his mind quite divorced from Richard's sensory system. And Richard doesn't know Rick is there. The duo land under the care of blind psychotherapist Emma J. Todd, who takes ``Richard'' into hypnosis. Rick, however, still alert, speaks for Richard and persuades Emma that he, Rick, doesn't exist. Once let out of the hospital, Rick begins awakening Richard to his state as host of Rick by letting Richard know that the new Anne is unfaithful...and the switches go on until the last page. Great suspense, with wonderful visual problems for a movie. (First printing of 13,000; film rights to HBO) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Review
"A fascinating tale...poses intriguing questions about life, time, and the universe." --Library Journal
"Hypnotic...Great suspense, with wonderful visual problems for a movie." --Kirkus Reviews
"A masterly novel and a brilliant feat of mental analysis...disturbing but also exhilarating." --London Evening Standard
Book Description
Based on the "many worlds" theory of quantum physics-which posits the existence of parallel universes-The Man Who Turned into Himself is a suspenseful, intellectually intriguing debut.
In the middle of an important meeting, businessman Rick Hamilton experiences a terrible premonition: His wife is about to die. Racing to save her, he finds her dying in the road, her car crushed by a truck. The light dwindles from her eyes...and then she is alive again, begging for help, and Rick Hamilton no longer is himself, but another man with another life, a different history.
David Ambrose has written a twisting psychological thriller that addresses our deepest questions about reality, death, identity, and the mind.
About the Author
David Ambrose, an award-winning screenwriter, has worked internationally in theater, television, and film. He lives in France.
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