He still goes on a little too long about the mundane-where they're eating what they're eating-which is a constant slight, and sometimes not-so-slight, critique of Straub as a writer for me, but he gets away with it. The existential scene with the boy and the cards and colors representing the realities he thinks he's experiencing was a nice touch. Anyway, you never see one of the major characters-except maybe briefly in an airport, and in a hotel lobby and elevator-and the whole thing may just be an excuse for Straub to go phantasmagoric on us (which he does well), but as a stream-of-consciousness step into evil, and a bit into the unknown, it holds up well. Speaking of which, An Instance of the Fingerpost springs to mind, as well. It's a little like The Decameron, in a way, maybe like Canterbury Tales as well: basically a small bunch of specifically designed people (they're not stock characters that's important) who all tell their angle or POV of the same instance. What I mean is, the ending isn't really in doubt, per se, in the sense that you're not worried about any of the characters. Might have liked it less if I'd read it when I first encountered Straub in the 80s, solely as a reader.
"Interesting read from the POV of a writer. Unfolding through the individual stories of the fated group’s members, A Dark Matter is an electric, chilling, and unpredictable novel that will satisfy Peter Straub's many ardent fans, and win him legions more. As each of the old friends tries to come to grips with the darkness of the past, they find themselves face-to-face with the evil triggered so many years earlier. Years later, one man attempts to understand what happened to his wife and to his friends by writing a book about this horrible night, and it’s through this process that they begin to examine the unspeakable events that have bound them in ways they cannot fathom, but that have haunted every one of them through their lives. After he invites his most fervent followers to attend a secret ritual in a local meadow, the only thing that remains is a gruesomely dismembered body-and the shattered souls of all who were present. The charismatic and cunning Spenser Mallon is a campus guru in the 1960s, attracting the devotion and demanding sexual favors of his young acolytes. The incomparable master of horror and suspense returns with a powerful, brilliantly terrifying novel that redefines the genre in original and unexpected ways.
0 kommentar(er)
