Awards
2004 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel
Synopses & Reviews
In his latest soul-chilling novel, bestselling author Peter Straub tells of a famous children's book author who, in the wake of a grotesque accident, realizes that the most basic facts of her existence, including her existence itself, have come into question.
Willy Patrick, the respected author of the award-winning young-adult novel In the Night Room, thinks she is losing her mind again. One day, she is drawn helplessly into the parking lot of a warehouse. She knows somehow that her daughter, Holly, is being held in the building, and she has an overwhelming need to rescue her. But what Willy knows is impossible, for her daughter is dead.
On the same day, author Timothy Underhill, who has been struggling with a new book about a troubled young woman, is confronted with the ghost of his nine-year-old sister, April. Soon after, he begins to receive eerie, fragmented e-mails that he finally realizes are from people he knew in his youth people now dead. Like his sister, they want urgently to tell him something. When Willy and Timothy meet, the frightening parallels between Willy's tragic loss and the story in Tim's manuscript suggest that they must join forces to confront the evils surrounding them.
Review
"Readers of Straub's previous fiction will eventually tumble to what's going on but may well wonder whether the muted payoff was worth so much mazelike artifice. Straub can still tease the imagination and chill the blood with the best of them." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Inventive and moving, though not as dazzling as [lost boy lost girl]." Booklist
Review
"[F]ast-paced, deftly plotted....[A] riveting and elegiac journey....The result is not only a powerful and arresting foray into the dark fantastic, but also a novel that manages to provide a deeply personal glimpse into its author's psyche without sacrificing narrative and suspense." Christopher Rice, The Washington Post
Review
"[A]n impressive display of [Straub's] ability to combine a twisting, fast-paced plot with intelligent writing. It's a horror/love story, but with ideas....In the Night Room is packed with interesting stuff." USA Today
Review
"In the Night Room proves more poignant than frightening though Straub remains adept at evoking the subtler shades of fear....This is popular fiction of an intriguingly high order..." Philadelphia Inquirer
Review
"Straub...can be an elegant writer. Here he rewards his fans with anagrams, postmodern narrative trickery and amusing speculations on the relationship between creators and their creatures." Los Angeles Times
Review
"Throughout In the Night Room, Straub yields to genre cliches more frequently than he transcends them....[T]hese elements are not resolved so much as abandoned before the plot gives way to a string of car chases and hairsbreadth escapes." Dave Itzkoff, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"It is beautifully and, maybe even more importantly, believably written....The result will leave you puzzled, entertained, maybe a bit angry and thinking. And that, I would submit, makes this work worthwhile." BookReporter.com
Review
"With In the Night Room, Peter Straub equals and often tops his bravura 2003 performance, lost boy lost girl....Like every great writer, Straub knows the importance of a good story and solid characters, and In the Night Room has an abundance of both." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Synopsis
A children's book author realizes that the most basic facts of her existence have come into question. When she meets a struggling horror author, the frightening parallels between her loss and the author's manuscript suggest they must join forces to confront the evils surrounding them.
About the Author
Peter Straub is the author of seventeen novels, which have been translated into more than twenty languages, including Ghost Story, lost boy lost girl, and with Stephen King, The Talisman and Black House. He lives in New York City with his wife, Susan, director of the Read to Me program.