The Dark Door [Hardcover]

Kate Wilhelm (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1988

Charlie and Constance must figure out who has been setting fire to abandoned hotels, restaurants, and schools around the country. Reprint. PW.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Typical of Wilhelm's recent work ( Huysman's Pets ), this SF story takes the form of a mystery novel whose solution is, in human terms, unknowable. A malfunctioning alien space probe flickers in and out of existence from another dimension. All that Earthly eyes can see is a bizarre patterns: random outbreaks of madness and murder that occur in old, closed-up, wood-frame hotels. The loss of his wife and son compels Carson Danvers to go a monomaniacal crusade, burning down each of these host buildings, in hopes of ending the local manifestations. Alarmed insurance companies bring in retired arson investigator Charlie Meiklejohn to catch the criminal, but the sleuth soon teams up with his quarry to deal with the larger, deeper problem. Wilhelm is in top form as the thriller plot races along while characters teeter over an abyss of insanity and loss.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A private investigator follows the trail of a serial arsonist only to find himself allied with his prey in an effort to destroy an unearthly device that spreads insanity in its wake. Wilhelm's ( Crazy Time ) imaginative splicing of sf and horror produces a fast-moving, impelling story that should appeal to her sizable readership. Recommended. JC
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 248 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (September 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312021828
• ISBN-13: 978-0312021825
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,821,838 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in 1928, Kate Wilhelm the author of more than thirty novels including Where Late the Sweet Bird Sang and The Unbidden Truth. Her work has been adapted for TV and film and translated into twenty languages. She has been awarded the Prix Apollo, Kurd Lasswitz, Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards. In 2003, she was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. Her short fiction appeared in landmark anthologies such as Again Dangerous Visions, Orbit, The Penguin Book of Modern Fantasy by Women, and The Norton Book of Science Fiction. A cofounder of the Clarion Writers' Workhops, she continues to host monthly writing workshops in Eugene, Oregon.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I couldn't wait for the last page to see what happened!, July 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Dark Door (Mass Market Paperback)

I started this book a little bit before my bedtime and read half of it before I forced myself to go to bed. I thought that it was a novel idea (no pun intended) to have evil as not being native to Earth but sent here by an entity in another galaxy. I thought her characters were not only well developed but believable. The action is nonstop and the two main characters were a great sleuthing team that I wished were featured in a series. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars an entertaning cross of genres, December 5, 2002

By 

orange (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dark Door (Hardcover)

I started this book, expecting it to be just another traditional mystery novel and was rather pleasantly surprised to find out that it had some horror (my genre of choice) undertones as well as sci-fi. Actually,with the exception of prologue and epilogue, sci-fi part could be easily dissmissed and when you think about, it isn't much about detecting either, as the sleuths in the book figure out fairly early on what's going on and spend the rest of the time chasing and attempting to destroy the evil that hides behind the title "dark door".
In my opinion, the story had much more potential as a horror novel, with a good spooky original idea and great setting places. One thing about reading a book that is a part of series is the preprogrammed notion of the invinsibility of the main characters, which taints the whole idea of a good scare. Although that does sound rather morbid:)
With the exception of Carson/John, the characters didn't do much for me,as they kind of lack that "certain something", however seemed well developed and rather believable. The real star of the "production" was definetely the idea behind the story itself. I would have given it about three and a half stars, but it was overall an entertaining read and I guess it put me in a generous mood:)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More mystery or horror than science fiction, September 19, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Dark Door (Mass Market Paperback)

Although wrapped in a science fiction premise, a lost alien probe moving around the earth seeking something not revealed, this book is a captivating detective story. The characters are well written and believably human. I read this book in two sessions, an evening and the next morning, and would have read it through in one go had not tiredness gotten the best of me.