A STIR OF ECHOES

    A Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson. Lippincott (1958), 220 pp.
    Tom Wallace, writer for a Southern California aircraft manufacturer, lives in a suburban tract with his wife Anne and young son Richard. They’re renting a house that until recently was occupied by Helen Driscoll, sister of the owner. One Saturday Tom and his neighbors -- callous Frank and his repressed wife Elizabeth, also pregnant, from across the street; hen-pecked Ron and his would-be voluptuary wife Elsie from next door -- gather for a party. To enliven the festivities Ron allows himself to be hypnotized. Everyone is amused, but later that night Ron can’t get to sleep. Head aching and mind spinning, he enters the livingroom, where he sees the ghostly figure of an unknown woman. More strange happenings are on the way.
    This novel has too many problems to work well. The weirdness that assaults Tom lacks a consistent manifestation. Sometimes he has run-ins with the ghost (who comes and goes for no obvious reason), sometimes he reads people’s minds, sometimes he foresees the future. While all the psychical spookiness upsets Tom and Anne, the threat it augurs, if any, remains unclear. Tom, the story’s narrator, tells of his fear at great length but not why he is frightened. Nor does he ever come up with a convincing explanation for his enhanced mental powers. As for the ghost’s tale, it ranges from expected to implausible. Perhaps Matheson intended this story to be a comment on suburbia, with its shallow amiability and deep maladjustments. If that’s the case, he needed a much sharper focus.