Signs of Life - Frank Thompson

Yesterday, my mom and I, in the process of putting together a LOST-themed shoebox to send to my brother's Naval ship, went to the bookstore seeking Turn of the Screw, the Henry James novel that figures so prominently in LOST's second season as it is the book behind which the hatch orientation film is concealed. While we managed to find a collection of James' work that included that spooky tale along with two others, we also discovered three official LOST tie-in novels, and we decided to send one of those instead.

I'd heard that the books existed but didn't know enough about them to venture a guess as to which would be the best. I selected LOST: Signs of Life, the third in the series, for the simple reason that John Locke was on the front. That'll teach me to judge a book by its cover...

I've been doing a lot of speculating lately as to which of the castaways I would most closely resemble if I were in their situation. One personality quiz assured me I was Charlie, while another figured me for Eko, but the more I think about it the more I reckon I would be one of those red-shirts in the background, and that at this stage of the game - about three months in - I'd be lucky if half a dozen people knew my name.

Jeff Hadley, the protagonist of Signs of Life, is in a similar situation. A tortured artist, he's kept to himself since the day of the crash, a task made easier by the fact that he stumbled upon a little spot apart from the others that he can use as a studio, producing all sorts of disturbing art. So it is that when Hurley invites him to join a hunting party that includes him, Locke, Michael and Charlie, this is his first real immersion into the culture of castaways fans have all come to know and love.

We are introduced to most of the major characters in turn, their attributes often seem off, and though one might chalk this up to Jeff''s perspective, I think it's really more indicative of a lack of familiarity with the characters on the part of author Frank Thompson. Hurley is a decent approximation of the mellow millionaire everyone loves, though his dialogue often comes across as rather stilted - as does most of the dialogue throughout the novel, particularly in comparison with the sharp writing on the show.

Jeff keeps emphasizing the fact that Locke creeps him out, but Locke never really does anything to indicate creepiness, aside from loudly warning him to stay away from a series of caves that apparently are not the same ones we see so often in the first season. He observes what a great relationship Michael has with his son, but the fact of the matter is that Michael and Walt were on the outs for most of the first season, and the bulk of the action must take place within two weeks of landing on the island, since a month passes and there's no mention at the end of Walt being gone. He also stresses the utter antagonism between Jack and Sawyer, but it always seemed to me that Jack got along better with Sawyer than most during the first season did, Kate-induced tension notwithstanding, and anyway we never see Jack and Sawyer together in the novel so it hardly seems worth mentioning.

Of all the major players from season one, the only ones who don't put in any kind of an appearance are Shannon, Boone, Claire, Sayid, Rose and Vincent. I like the characterization of Jin as the unsung hero of the castaways for providing fish for everyone, but we don't see him much. Mostly it's Hurley, Locke and Michael, with whom Jeff forms a bond due to their shared interest in art.

Like the show, the novel cuts between island life and flashbacks. Jeff's involve his prestigious art career that leads him from London to a residency in a small college in Scotland to Australia to L.A - or, rather, the island. His artwork is very central to the story, but it's hard to get a really good feel for what is might look like, since we have only words to go by, and rather ambiguous ones at that. Just as important as the art, however, is Jeff's unfortunate habit of attracting gorgeous young women and dumping them before their relationship can get stale.

Usually he feels vaguely bad about this but defends it as necessary in order to avoid a life of monotonous monogamy. These convictions don't exactly endear him to the reader, since whatever tiny whispers his conscience may make are quickly silenced as he seeks his next conquest. But one woman is different from all the others, and though he tells himself that he must leave her, something within him resists. Can he break the cycle for the woman he truly loves?

Jeff is Scottish, and if this were the show, I'd probably automatically be a little bit drawn to him just because of that accent. I can't hear a brogue on these pages, however, so that doesn't add any charm to his character for me. Hmm, self-loathing Scot who can't bring himself to stay with the love of his life and spends the rest of his days regretting it? Sorry, Jeff, LOST's already got that covered, and you can't begin to hold a candle to Desmond.

Like all of the castaways, strange occurrences on the island force Jeff to face his demons - and the creatures that haunt him truly are demonic, with evil eyes, cruel claws and fierce fangs. He sees them in the night, surrounded by bizarre symbols, and tries to figure out their significance. Later, he physically encounters them, and the whole scene is very surreal and not properly explained. It seems like something that might arise from a dousing with the voodoo juice Locke gave Boone, but we're meant to believe that there are actually sinister beasts lurking in these caves covered with mysterious markings a la Smallville. And Locke knows about them, apparently, because of his dire warning to Jeff; these can't be the same caves that collapsed on Jack and Charlie or nobody in their right mind would move down there. Later, we see most of the camp relocating to the caves, and those presumably are the caves with which we are familiar, though Thompson doesn't differentiate them.

When I watch LOST, I'm utterly gripped, sitting on the edge of my seat and breathlessly waiting to see what will happen next. Unfortunately, for all its proclamations of urgency, this novel plods along with clunky dialogue, inaccurate characterizations and surrealistic scenarios - not to mention a shoddy back cover that twice names the main character as "Nick" rather than Jeff. I'm still glad I read it before sending it off, and for a fan stuck at sea for months without LOST, hopefully this book will quench the thirst for more episodes a little. But if you're looking for something as compelling as the show, I'm afraid there's not a lot of vitality in Signs of Life.