Ghost Story by Peter Straub

[Ghostwriter]

This is the first I've read of his and I really like his style. I reminds you of what horror used to be. I wish I had started reading him sooner.

I'm only halfway through, but it's so captivating and spooky.

 

[ravenus]

Ah ya, this is a great book to read. Straub tells a big-scale horror/adventure a la Bram Stoker's Dracula and he does it with characters who are very unconventional for that sort of thing. Although huge in size, it's a book that remains gripping all the way through.

One of my friends also recommends Straub's Julia although he warns that it takes a while to get really good and The Talisman, his collaboration with Stephen King. According to him the Straub boks to be avoided are Koko and Black House.

 

[Ghostwriter]

I haven't heard of Julia. Is it a horror?

 

[BAYLOR]

I liked the film adaptation of it.

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

I read Ghost Story years ago and it bored the pants off me.

The Talisman ....... fabulous!

Black House ...... not so good

 

[Toby Frost]

I felt that Ghost Story was a bit slack and overlong, but contained some very strong moments: Don’s story about Anna and the moment with the cassette tapes were both very effective. But I disliked the way that it came down to “outside evil menaces a small town”, the way so many of King’s novels seem to do, with various stock figures being bumped off along the way. Perhaps that was a common plot of the day. The funny thing is that, having decided three years ago that I didn’t think it was especially good, I still have a sinister mental image of the old men telling their stories while the snow piles up outside.