GOAT DANCE [Paperback]

Douglas Clegg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1989

From Douglas Clegg, award-winning author of The Hour Before Dark and The Abandoned, comes a novel of unimaginable terror and heart-pounding suspense. What secrets lie within the ancient place known as the Goat Dance? A Haunted Lake . . . Seven-year-old Teddy Amory should have died that winter's day on Clear Lake, when she fell through the ice while skating with her older brother, Jake. But something got inside her that day . . . something terrifying . . . A Haunted Town . . . Nightmarish forces lurk in the mountains of Virginia, and a shadowy darkness has begun to spread like a shroud over the living. Now a town must face its terrifying past as a possessed child threatens to unleash an unspeakable horror . . .

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Praise for Douglas Clegg's fiction:

"Clegg is the best horror writer of the post-Stephen King generation."
-- Bentley Little, author of The Policy

"Clegg delivers!"
-- John Saul, bestselling author of Faces of Fear and The Devil's Labyrinth.

"A master of the genre. Absolutely thrilling! Douglas Clegg is the future of dark fantasy."
-- Sherrilyn Kenyon
New York Times bestselling author of the Dark-Hunters.

"Douglas Clegg has become the new star in horror fiction."
-- Peter Straub
author of Lost Boy, Lost Girl and the New York Times Bestseller Black House (with Stephen King)

"Clegg's stories can chill the spine so effectively that the reader should keep paramedics on standby."
-- Dean Koontz

"Clegg is one of the best!"
-- Richard Laymon

"Douglas Clegg is a weaver of nightmares!"
-- Robert R. McCammon
author of The Queen of Bedlam and Speaks The Nightbird. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

About the Author

Douglas Clegg is the bestselling author of more than 25 novels and collections, including Afterlife, Neverland, Isis, Purity, The Words and The Priest of Blood. He is married and lives on the coast of New England with a menagerie of animals, including a dog, cat, rabbits and mouse.

Find out more at DouglasClegg.com

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 422 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (July 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671664255
• ISBN-13: 978-0671664251
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,007,130 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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I'm a novelist living on the New England coast. My first novel, Goat Dance, came out in 1989, and since then, more than 20 of my novels have been published.

I'd recommend: Neverland, Isis, Afterlife, The Words, Purity, or The Priest of Blood (and the entire vampire trilogy, The Vampyricon) if you're new to my fiction.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Terrific read, November 24, 2000

By 

mellion108 (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Goat Dance (Paperback)

By now, all my reader friends are probably pretty tired of hearing my repeated recommendations of Douglas Clegg. When I find something I like, however, I am more than happy to recommend it to others.
Goat Dance takes us to Pontefract, Virginia--a tiny community where everyone knows everyone else. Cup moved away years ago, but he is now having horrifying dreams and receiving ominous telephone calls that lure him back to his hometown. Once there, he is caught up in an ancient evil that is reaching out to gain power. Cup joins forces with some fellow townspeople to try to stop the spread of this horrifying creature before it destroys everyone in its path. At one point, Cup asks himself "How do you keep the dead out? If they want you, they'll find a way."
This is a chilling story that kept my attention from page one. The characters are realistic and interesting, the evil is deliciously frightening, and the twists and turns are enough to grab the reader's attention all the way through the story. As with any Clegg novel, this one is part love story, part personal discovery, part epic and 100% scary. This title may be difficult to find, but it is certainly worth the effort. If you are new to Clegg, you might want to also check out YOU COME WHEN I CALL YOU, HALLOWEEN MAN and THE NIGHTMARE CHRONICLES.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great introduction to Douglas Clegg, December 18, 2002

By 

JohnnyRoulette (Arizona, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: GOAT DANCE (Paperback)

"Goat Dance" by Douglas Clegg is a great introduction to a great author. He's written many a book that turned out to be gems as well. Personally, this isn't my favorite by him, but it's still very good. I found it to be a little confusing at times, but it was overall a smooth read.
The protagonist is a guy named Cup, and the antagonist is "The Eater of Souls", aka 'goat man'. I'm not going to say anymore because I wouldn't want to spoil your read, but if you're into horror, I'd reccomend you checking it out. Happy Reading.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Tedious, March 31, 2008

By 

B. Tebbs "nickyb2" (Cincinnati, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Goat Dance (Paperback)

I have really enjoyed some of Clegg's books, particularly Hour Before Dark and The Infinite. I found this in a used bookstore and was eager to read it. It was vaguely Salem's Lot-ish, lots of characters in a small town and everyone eventually goes bad. Even though Clegg is basically a pulp horror writer, his characterizations, even here, are very good, realistic. This just didn't have enough of a plot to justify 400 pages. After awhile it became tedious and boring. Everyone is possessed by malignant evil and dies in appropriately grisly fashion. Yawn. The last half of the book needed to be trimmed by half again. Granted, it is his first published novel, but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone other than diehard fans.