Helpful Score: 10
Read this one before "In The Night Room", as it leads into it. Unfortunately, I read them in the wrong order, so now some of the Night Room stuff makes more sense. I liked this "Lost Boy, Lost Girl" book very well. Some creepy moments occur, but Straub is not gruesome and allows those moments to blend into a sense of wonder and awe at what we do not see, yet know is real.
Helpful Score: 9
This book has so many ups and downs and twists and turns that it makes you dizzy trying to keep up with who is doing what to whom but all in all it is a GREAT coming-of-age mystery that will have you baffled. Reads like a gentler version of "Silence of The Lambs" meets "Huck Finn". I found it easy to read, if at times confusing but that just challenged me to figure out what was going on--this ending will shock you and leaving you wanting a sequel---it did me.
Helpful Score: 4
This book was a good mix of mystery and horror. I liked how the point of view switched from Mark while he was obsessed with the house and his uncle Tim trying to figure out what happened to his nephew.
Helpful Score: 3
This was a great read! I couldn't put it down, and couldn't wait to finish it. I love a well-told story, and this is definitely one that is well-told!
Helpful Score: 3
I did not like this book so much. I am a big fan of horror and ghost stories, so I expected to really like this one. I was disappointed by it, though.
Helpful Score: 2
Very suspensful. Good if you like ghostlike stories.
Helpful Score: 2
Kind of weird, but fascinating.
Helpful Score: 2
Pros:
Great story line that kept me interested the entire time. Sounds like it would be a great movie. I loved the mystery. With the turn of every page I wondered if the next page would scare me. Although it wasn't scary (to me), it gave you the feeling that soon you would be. Regardless of the things I didn't like of the book, it's still worth the read & I'm willing to disregard these things. I enjoyed the story, the characters and I appreciate the author for trying to paint the visual.
Cons:
I'm not sure why the suicide happened. CORRECTION: I do know why it happened, I just don't understand the timing of the suicide. I kept thinking, "why now". It seems like the author added too many personal thoughts of the characters, which seemed "random" at times. I felt like he was trying to fill the pages of the book.
All in all, it's a great read, very interesting and different story line.
Great story line that kept me interested the entire time. Sounds like it would be a great movie. I loved the mystery. With the turn of every page I wondered if the next page would scare me. Although it wasn't scary (to me), it gave you the feeling that soon you would be. Regardless of the things I didn't like of the book, it's still worth the read & I'm willing to disregard these things. I enjoyed the story, the characters and I appreciate the author for trying to paint the visual.
Cons:
I'm not sure why the suicide happened. CORRECTION: I do know why it happened, I just don't understand the timing of the suicide. I kept thinking, "why now". It seems like the author added too many personal thoughts of the characters, which seemed "random" at times. I felt like he was trying to fill the pages of the book.
All in all, it's a great read, very interesting and different story line.
Helpful Score: 1
Very well written. Great characters and lots to keep you guessing !
Helpful Score: 1
Abandoned houses, suicides, ghosts and vanishing 15 year olds.
Helpful Score: 1
Another gripping Peter Straub book (I've read many of his). I stayed up too late one night with this one 'cause I kept telling myself I'd read just one more page.
Helpful Score: 1
if you love a murder mystery and one with a serial killer, this ones for you
Helpful Score: 1
GREAT book,i usually dont read much Straub but this was the exception.
Helpful Score: 1
SERIAL KILLER,HAUNTED HOUSE, SUICIDE, AND A KIDNAPPING. PRETTY GOOD
Helpful Score: 1
A creepy novel that searches your inner depths about the ghost world and the unavoidable draw of it. A thriller!
Helpful Score: 1
This is one scarey book,I loved it.Right up there with the best I have ever read!!!
Helpful Score: 1
Not a real Straub fan, but this one was a good read.
Helpful Score: 1
Good ghost story!
Helpful Score: 1
Lots of twists and turns!
Helpful Score: 1
No matter how hard I try, I cannot get in Straub's books.
Helpful Score: 1
Very atmospheric and subtle.
Helpful Score: 1
If you're a Straub fan, this one won't let you down. Besides a murder mystery there is just a bit of the eerie supernatural thrown in.
Helpful Score: 1
This thriller has a little bit of everything for everyone--ghosts, a haunted house and a serial killer. I couldn't put this down. Perfect reading for a cold winter night.
Helpful Score: 1
good read!!!
Helpful Score: 1
this is one of his better books.....
Helpful Score: 1
Suspenseful story. I really enjoyed this one.
Helpful Score: 1
Awesome book! First writing of Straub I've ever read and I'm hooked by this one!!!!
I did enjoy this book... it was certainly different and had many different story elements - a haunted house, serial killers, ghosts... but it just didn't add up to be that scary of a story, really. And in the end, it didn't make a whole lot of sense - was Mark murdered or not? Where is his body? Did I miss something?
Gave up after slogging through 100 pages. Didn't care about characters or plot.
it was ok
loved it
this was a very strange but interesting story.
A woman commits suicide for no apparent reason. A week later, her son disappears from the face of the earth.
I think this is one of Straub's best books! It's got everything..it's a murder mystery, a ghost story...and so much more. You won't be able to put this one down.
I think this is one of Straub's best books! It's got everything..it's a murder mystery, a ghost story...and so much more. You won't be able to put this one down.
Clever, entertaining, and an easy read. If you like Straub, you will like this book.
Peter Straub at his best.
Manhattan novelist Tim Underhill (from Koko, Mystery and The Throat) and Tim's friend, legendary private detective Tom Pasmore (from Mystery and The Throat). Written from multiple viewpoints, the narrative shuttles disturbingly through time and space as Tim travels home to Millhaven, Ill., to attend the funeral for his sister-in-law, a suicide. In that small city based loosely on Straub's hometown of Milwaukee, Tim spends time with his callow widowed brother, Philip, and his nephew, sensitive Mark, 15, who found his mother's naked body in the bathtub, wrists slit and a plastic bag over her head. Meanwhile, a serial killer is snatching teen boys from a local park, and Mark and his sidekick, Jimbo, begin to explore a nearby abandoned house. Mark grows obsessed with the house, eventually revealed as the rotting source of the evil that stalks Millhaven, but also as the harbor of a great marvel. When Mark disappears, Tim pursues his trail and, with Tom Pasmore's help, that of the serial killer who may have taken the boy away.
Excellent story!!
Winner of the Bram Stoker Award.
Funny, heartwarming and scary....
Funny, heartwarming and scary....
I was disappointed on this story.
Really great story with tons of twists. Ron McLarty does a wonderful job reading. I wanted to keep driving. :)
6-1/2 hrs. abridged. Really quite different but enjoyable.
Good read.
Nancy underhill commits suicide for no apparent reason. A week later, her son fifteen year old Mark vanishes. The boys uncle, novelist Timothy Underhill, searches his hometown of Millhaven for clues that might help unravel this horrible dual mystery.
Nancy Underhill commits suicide for no apparent reason. A week later, her son-15 year old Mark-vanishes. The boy's uncle, novelist Timothy Underhill, searches his hometown of Millhaven for clues that might help unravel this horrible dual mystery. He soon learns that a pedophilic murderer is on the loose in the vicinity, and that shortly before Nancy's suicide, Mark had become obsesssed with an abandoned house where he imagined the killer might have taken refuge. No mere empty building, the house whispers from basement to attic with the echoes of a long hidden true-life horror story, and Tim comes to fear that in investigating its unspeakable history, Mark stumbled across its last and greatest secret: a ghostly lost girl who may have coaxed the needy, suggestible boy into her mysterious domain.
From Back Cover:
Nancy Underhill commits suicide for no apparent reason. A week later, her son - fifteen year old Mark - vanishes. The boys uncle, Timothy Underhill, searches his hometown of Millhaven for clues that might help unravel this horrible dual mystery. He soon learns that a pedophilic murderer is on the loose in the vicinity, and that shortly before Nancys suicide, Mark had become obsessed with an abandoned house where he imagined the killer might have taken refuge. No mere empty building, the house whispers from attic to basement with the echos of a long hidden true life horror story, and Tim Underhill comes to fear that in investigating its unspeakable history, Mark stumbled across its last and greatest secret: a ghostly girl who may have coaxed the needy, suggestible boy into her mysterious domain.
Nancy Underhill commits suicide for no apparent reason. A week later, her son - fifteen year old Mark - vanishes. The boys uncle, Timothy Underhill, searches his hometown of Millhaven for clues that might help unravel this horrible dual mystery. He soon learns that a pedophilic murderer is on the loose in the vicinity, and that shortly before Nancys suicide, Mark had become obsessed with an abandoned house where he imagined the killer might have taken refuge. No mere empty building, the house whispers from attic to basement with the echos of a long hidden true life horror story, and Tim Underhill comes to fear that in investigating its unspeakable history, Mark stumbled across its last and greatest secret: a ghostly girl who may have coaxed the needy, suggestible boy into her mysterious domain.
I haven't read this book. a friend gave it to me and i didn't read it so i put it on here for someone that enjoys him. my husband has read this author and liked him.
