Peter Straub Writes Great Scary Stories
by CadenO on Nov.13, 2009, under Book Reviews
loading...
I’ve been a fan of Peter Straub’s since I first read Mystery back in 1990. Although I’ve seen him characterized as a “horror” writer, I’ve always thought his books had much more of a mystery/ghost story kind of feel to them than most horror books I’ve read. I know he’s co-written several books with Stephen King (and I haven’t read those books) but don’t know if those work are more typical of the horror genre than Straub’s solo works. Whatever the case, I just finished his 2003 publication Lost Boy, Lost Girl and give it an enthusiastic multi-thumbs-up.
A character that has appeared in several of Straub’s previous works (Koko, Mystery, The Throat), Tim Underhill, provides the viewpoint for much of the book. Underhill is a writer in New York City but hails from Millhaven, Illinois. At the start of the book, he’s gone back there for the sad funeral of his sister in law who committed suicide in a most determined way – using 3 pretty much fool-proof techniques to get the job done. Tim puzzles on the death, even though he knows that marriage to Tim’s bitter and disgruntled younger brother can’t have been easy. It was Tim’s beautiful and sensitive 15 year old nephew Mark who found the body.
A week later, Tim returns to Millhaven because Mark has gone missing. The only clues lie in an abandoned and very creepy house behind Mark’s home – a house that captivated the boy and has a great deal to do with his disappearance. A mysterious girl that no one but Mark seems to have seen also plays a role. On top of the scary doings at the house, a serial killer is cutting a swathe through the local teenage population, so tension is high.
Another character from previous books is Tom Pasmore, the brilliant and eccentric detective from Mystery and The Throat, plays a secondary role here. As Tim struggles to find out what happened to Mark, the feeling of evil stalking the innocent ramps up the scariness factor. I have to admit, I was reading this at night and there were parts that were so creepy I had the put the book down until daylight. LOL!
A twist in this book is the device of the unreliable narrator. While the creep factor is high and Tim’s anguish over Mark’s disappearance is genuine, there are many points when I wondered just exactly WHAT was I seeing here. Was everything as it was told to me as I read it, or could Tim be wrong on some points?? There’s an instance near the beginning where Tim is convinced he sees a murder taking place, only to find out that its a movie being filmed…
There’s a sequel to this book, In the Night Room, that I haven’t read yet.
Like all the books I like, Lost Boy, Lost Girl dragged me into another world. The scare factor was great, and the poignancy of a sensitive teen dealing with so much tragedy hits hard. I loved Mark, and his best buddy Jimbo, and found myself wanting to adopt them (thus breaking my kids-must-have-four-legs rule). Straub writes a great tale.
loading...
1 Comment for this entry
Leave a Reply
-
Howdy. Welcome to Caden O'Brien's Website!
Fight Stupid - Read! Thanks for dropping by! As you'll soon figure out, I'm a writer AND a reader. I particularly like series books - where themes, characters, story arcs, etc. are carried over multiple books. This site will have postings related to both the stuff I write myself as well as my opinions and comments on stuff I'm currently reading, or have read and want to recommend.
Warning, I am NOT unbiased! I write reviews for books I like, and ignore ones I don't. I don't try to be fair, or to cover the whole universe of fiction writing. I know what I like, and I'll write about it. You can leave comments, and stay updated by subscribing to the RSS feed. See ya around!
Loading ...
December 13th, 2009 on 6:49 PM
I bought myself the Kindle as a birthday present to myself and received it 5 days ago. I’m luv’n it.
I have already loaded it with a nice collection of classics plus two versions of the bible and a contemporary political book. I have read two books on it already and that is quite an accomplishment for me. I used to read avidly but since I finished my MBA ~ 5 years ago I have finished very few books. Just too difficult to read as my eyes get older. But on the Kindle, the readability has been exceptional. You can easily change the font size to suit your need and not having to hold open a book makes it even more comfortable. The screen readability is excellent with very little glare – it truly does read very much like paper and allows you to sit outside and read even in the sun.
I love the ease of sending content to the Kindle through the Whispernet cellular service. Also, the ability to quickly get a free book sample is very nice to decide if you want to purchase a book.
So far I have very few criticisms for the Kindle. I really am luv’n it. Several suggestions include:
– Improve the navigation for very large books or book collections. For example, when reading in a bible, it is very easy to lose track of what book of the bible you are in. It would be nice of the Kindle books would show a reference in the header or footer of the page for chapter and book. This holds for collections of books that come as a one book collection.
– Add an alarm clock feature. I realize that the philosophy of the Kindle was not to load it up with a lot of extra applications – stick to the core of being a great reader. That said, most readers put their book down on their nightstand and it sure would be nice to be able to set an alarm on it, especially since we will travel with this. It already has speakers so a clock feature should be simple and no cost to add.
In summary, I’m thrilled with my new acquisition. So far, I have increased my reading dramatically. Well done.