Adam Henderson

Ghost Story.

by Peter Straub.

     I'd first heard about Ghost Story in Stephen King's Danse Macabre, and since then I'd been on the subconscious look-out for a copy of it. King more than recommends it. I think he says that it's one of the scariest books of all time, and coming from the guy who wrote Pet Sematary (probably the most joyfully horrible book in existence), this is saying something.

     The novel is about a group of almost-but-not-quite elderly gentlemen who have formed a special club that basically consists of them dressing in dinner jackets and trying to scare the shit out of each other with ghost stories. What's the scariest thing you've ever experienced? That's the question they ask themselves. It's a cool idea really, and I spent a good part of the story wishing that I was a part of such a club.

     Anyway, it quickly becomes apparent that the group of men are in a pact of mutual avoidance regarding some crazy unexplained event from their past. You immediately get the sense that these old-timers are telling each other spook stories in order to somehow deal with this event-- which they refuse to talk about. The conceit of the novel is the mystery of what the fuck these guys did. What was so bad that none of them want to even talk about it?

     Ghost Story starts strong, with the type of opening that is just eerie enough to make you think 'Yeah okay, I think I know where you're going with this, but you're doing it pretty well, so...', but after that it's sort of disappointingly slow moving. Also, modern readers will probably find it cliched, which is unfair because it was written in '79 and is undoubtedly the source of much of the well-worn ghost story tropes out there.

     The pace picks up right around the time people start dying, and there is one genuinely terrifying scene involving a creepily smiling bald guy, a staircase, and a morally good teenager who has been hanging out with the wrong crowd. But ultimately, it didn't really work much for me. You know how I know? I never had trouble getting to sleep after reading a chapter or two.