Customer Reviews

A Special Place: The Heart of a Dark Matter

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This novella, a rumination on the nature of evil, as often with Peter Straub, is in fact a chapter from The Skylark removed while editing a Dark Matter. What I wanted to say is that there is no need to read A Dark Matter to enjoy this novella. It gives more details about the childhood of a serial killer. As usual with Peter Straub, it's very well written. Well, it depends what you're looking for. But as a dark tale, it's a gem! Thanks Peter Straub for writing so well. Enjoy!

Surgically removed from Peter Straub's novel A DARK MATTER and given life on its own as a novella, A SPECIAL PLACE is a disturbing glance down a lonely corridor to the darkest chamber of the human heart. This isn't a place you want to spend much time, lest the matter-of-fact evil rub off on you and taint your spirit. The gripping narrative is fascinating and that fascination may disturb you and raise uncomfortable questions about yourself. In other words, Straub deftly draws you into the story with little fanfare and leaves you to find your own way out.

Uncle Till is "a satyr, a faun, a devil" and a serial killer with a passion for torture. Nephew Keith Hayward is already well on his twisted way to becoming the fullblown sociopath we see in the novel A DARK MATTER. Uncle Till provides the knife and the inspiration, and Keith simply follows his heart. The centerpiece of horror is the "gift" the boy gives his uncle, and if you've already read A DARK MATTER, then you know what that gift will be, but that won't lessen the coldblooded horror of the act. (The novella deepens Keith Hayward's seemingly selfless act near the end of A DARK MATTER.)

In short, A SPECIAL PLACE is a good place to go if you want to be creeped out by Straub, streamlined and cutting to the bone with a few short strokes.

I have never read anything else by Peter Straub and I bought this at the very recent Borders closing and got it for more then half off. I know it was a short read but I loved every minute of it. Straub's writing style is smooth and easy to handle and I was lost in the story of Keith Haywards upringing and I breezed through the 100+ page story in a matter of hours. I was left want wanting more after it was done and I'm going to pick up "A Dark Matter" the first chance I get. This is a highly reccommened story of a murderer's decent into depravity guided by his uncle who also a depraved killer.

Question: What does a budding twelve year old psychopath need most?
Answer: A blooming psychopathic uncle to be his mentor.

And this is the premise behind Peter Straub's novella "A Special Place: the Heart of a Dark Matter". Thank goodness for short books. This truly was a dark book - I'm talking pitch, midnight, moonless black. Had it been longer, my mind and body would have rebelled. As it was, I was left feeling more than slightly nauseous at the last page. I believe this was the author's intent.

While other people were slightly uncomfortable around Uncle Till as the story progressed, Keith simply recognized a kindred spirit. Instinctively he understood what Uncle Till was really saying. Uncle Till also recognized Keith as a younger version of himself and began to plant ideas and shed light on a path of horror for Keith to follow.

The progression of Mr. Straub's horror story reminded me of some of Edgar Allen Poe's writings or Hitchcock's plays (which were heavily referenced in the book). It is not for the weak of heart. The ending is awful in the deepest meaning of the word and leaves an entire black career to follow in the mind of the reader.

Nothing special here at all. A quick and decent read, but nothing compelling happens in the least bit in this novella.

This book is weird & boring & not at all what I was hoping for. It had a terrible ending....the kind that makes you feel like you still need an ending.

Straub has always been one of my all-time favorite authors, with Ghost Story probably in the top ten. I loved Lost Boy, Lost Girl and The Talisman that he co-authored with Stephen King. I've enjoyed most of the others he has written over the years. But A Dark Matter and now "A Special Place" fall flat for me.

First of all, I'm glad I got "A Special Place" through the library rather than paying for it. Not only do I consider the "book" price inflated but the Kindle price (being the same as the "book" price) is exorbitant. There is no way I consider this to be a novella. It is a short story. The version I read starts on page 3, ends on page 122, and has a 11 1/2 page afterword not written by Straub. In addition, the book is printed in very large type.

The story itself is okay; creepy and was actually better than A Dark Matter, all things considered. But I don't know whether I will ever rush out and buy another Straub book hot off the presses like I used to. I just don't trust the quality of the product I will be receiving any more. And that is too bad for all of us horror fans.

While I'm not one to review something only after reading 5 pages into it, but I feel compelled to with this particular book. First of all, I am a writer and author as well, so I understand the labor and passion involved with the process of writing, and I really hate to give another author such a low review - especially an author as prestigious, inspiring, and talented as Straub; however, I have no other choice here.

And what is it that made me come to a complete stop and put the book down, and to write a review here about it? Well, I'll tell you: Grammatical errors!

I have been seeing the same error on the web over the past year or so, and it makes me cringe every time I see it; so you can only imagine my angst and utter shock to see one of my all-time favorite authors making the same mistake. What is this error? The misplacing of "of" instead of the correct "have".

This is what I mean: "he'd of been a better cop than any of those clowns on the city payroll. Only, he never wanted to be just a hard-ass with a gun."

Well, that is more horrific to me than anything in the plot could possibly offer! How Straub could make such an error like that blows my mind! How any editor worth their salt allowed this error to pass by them is beyond my comprehension!

For those that don't know what I am talking about, well, that sentence should read:
"he'd have been a better cop than any of those clowns on the city payroll. Only, he never wanted to be just a hard-ass with a gun."

Yes, it should be "he'd have", NOT "he'd of"! Wow! Yes, let's further dumb down everybody on the planet, because it's now no longer just a mistake made by common folks on the web, but now being made by professionals who should know better!

Is the book good? Is it a good story? Did it have plenty of twists and turns? Was it horrific? Well, not really. I did decide to pick it back up and finish it, and other than a few exciting passages here and there, this really has nothing to offer in turns of what could be called great literature. It's not that strong on characterization, and also kind of weak on story, motivation, and overall plot.

Sorry, Peter, I HATE to give a book of yours a bad review (especially after giving "A Dark Matter" a 2 star review), but I honestly can't rate this any higher. Thank you! :>)

Well , this one stays with you . It is probably in the " matter of fact " manner in which it is told that reverbrates so deeply . One thing with Straub , you will almost always get something original . Don't know to recommend or not because this one is chilling on deeper levels because of its honesty and straightforwardness approaching a dark matter . If you're a fan of Straub's , as usual , you'll get something fresh and special .

Uncle Till takes his nephew Keith under his wing . . . unfortunately the uncle is a cold-blooded sociopath. God was this creepy. I'll be thinking about this one for a while.