Threshold [Mass Market Paperback]

Caitlin R. Kiernan (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 2, 2007

Chance Matthews is drawn into a battle between angels and monsters because of something in her possession-a fossil of a creature that couldn't possibly have ever existed. But it did. And still does.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Silk (2001), Kiernan's first novel, established her as a leading exponent of the generation-X horror story. This ambitious sophomore effort is a bold step backward: a distinctively modern tale that invokes cosmic terrors redolent of past masters H.P. Lovecraft and Algernon Blackwood. Set in present-day Birmingham, Ala., the novel centers on Chance Matthews, a promising young paleontologist left bereft by the recent deaths of friends and family. Chance and ex-boyfriend Deke Silvey, a loser with latent psychic powers, wallow in self-destructive angst until they're sought out by Dancy Flammarion, a strange teenage girl who claims to be pursued by monsters. Details of Dancy's wild story inexplicably jibe with an anomaly Chance finds in the fossil record, and a pattern gradually emerges that points to an inconceivably ancient entity surviving from Earth's prehistory that is consciously shaping their lives and miseries to suit its inscrutable purposes. Kiernan rises to the challenge of evoking incomprehensible horrors by skillfully deploying symbols that suggest much more than they show. Her oblique and dreamy prose style slows the narrative to a torpid crawl in spots, but ultimately contributes to the thick atmosphere of dread that supports the novel's weird events and sustains its mood of inarticulable terror. A finale that veers unexpectedly from a seemingly inevitable display of supernatural fireworks to a subtly disarming denouement only underscores the intelligence behind this carefully crafted tale of awe-inspired nightmare.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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

From Library Journal

Still trying to come to grips with the recent deaths of her grandparents and her best friend, paleontologist Chance Matthews encounters Dancy Flammarion, an albino girl who claims to see monsters. As Chance questions the mysteries of her tragic past, she begins to believe Dancy's outlandish stories and realizes that she must face a monster that is all too real and too deadly to defeat alone. The author of Silk creates an eerie and moving tale of ancient terror and modern-day angst that should appeal to mature young adults and adult fans of horror.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Roc (January 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 045146124X
• ISBN-13: 978-0451461247
• Product Dimensions: 4.3 x 0.9 x 6.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #731,819 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Caitlin R. Kiernan was born near Dublin, Ireland, but has spent most of her life in the southeastern United States. In college, she studied zoology, geology, and palaeontology, and has been employed as a vertebrate palaeontologist and college-level biology instructor. The results of her scientific research have been published in the JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALAEONTOLOGY, THE JOURNAL OF PALAEONTOLOGY and elsewhere. In 1992, she began writing her first novel, THE FIVE OF CUPS (it remained unpublished until 2003). Her first published novel, SILK (1998), earned her two awards and praise from critics and such luminaries as Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker, Peter Straub, and Poppy Z. Brite. Her next novel, THRESHOLD (2001), was also an award-winner, and since then she has written LOW RED MOON (2003), MURDER OF ANGELS (2004), DAUGHTER OF HOUNDS (2007), and, forthcoming, THE RED TREE. She is a prolific short fiction author, and her award-winning short stories have been collected in TALES OF PAIN AND WONDER (2000), WRONG THINGS (with Poppy Z. Brite; 2001), FROM WEIRD AND DISTANT SHORES (2002), and TO CHARLES FORT, WITH LOVE (2005), ALABASTER (2006), FROG TOES AND TENTACLES (2005), TALES FROM THE WOEFUL PLATYPUS (2007), and, most recently, the sf collection, A IS FOR ALIEN (2009). She has also scripted comics for DC/Vertigo, including THE DREAMING ('97-'01), THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE DEATH ('98), and BAST: ETERNITY GAME ('03). Her short sf novel THE DRY SALVAGES was published in 2004, and has published numerous chapbooks since 2000. Caitlin also fronted the goth-rock band Death's Little Sister in 1996-1997, once skinned a lion, and likes sushi. She lives in Providence, RI with her partner, Kathryn, and her two cats, Hubero and Smeagol. Caitlin is represented by Writer's House (NYC) and United Talent Agency (LA).

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, but - huh? June 20, 2007

By Jennifer L. Bouchard

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Writing style is interesting, the mood is dark and scary and defininely Lovecraftian, but the characters were a little sparse. Maybe I'm too black and white, but the whole book left me thinking, "What just happened here?"

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Something wonderful November 13, 2001

By Tamara Edwards

Format:Paperback

As a longtime resident of Birmingham, AL, the setting of Caitlin Kiernan's new novel, I was delighted to visit, though her text, many places so familiar too me. Kiernan has a knack for taking the familiar (a park, a book, a street) and casting it in a new and sinister light. Fans of Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Ramsey Campbell, and Clive Barker should give the book a try. Those of us who have been following her work since she first appeared in the early '90s are already familiar with her breathtaking prose and deft characterization, her plots that flow like poisonous honey, but Threshold is a marvelous opportunity for new readers to discover Kiernan's powerful, terrifying writing. This book is truly something wonderful.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars A major letdown. July 12, 2012

By Daniel J. Henk

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I've now read 3 books by Caitlin. The first, Silk, was a blurry, scattered mess. It was also her first book, and read like it. The one I had recommended to me was Daughter of the Hounds. I read that, and it was so good, I even thought about giving Silk a little more leeway. Then I read Threshold.
It starts out favorably enough. It keeps on going steadily, sometimes more interesting, sometimes less, but mostly building up tension towards what seems more and more like a good payoff.
Then, in either a lack of ideas on how to end the story, or in a desire to be really ambiguous (I would vote the first one), it descends into surrealist nonsense. Some of the earlier story makes little sense, and some of it is actually cringe inducing. Then, it ends. Just like that. No explanations. No resolution. Just a vague attempt at implying that something important happened. I felt cheated. I spent my time, and invested my interest, in a book that ended up going nowhere and wasting my time

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Kiernan Triumph February 28, 2002

By Alexis Keith

Format:Paperback

It's always good to see that an author I adore hasn't lost his or her touch. Threshold is proof that Caitlin Kiernan is only getting better, honing her already-considerable talents to a fine edge. I absolutely loved Silk and her short fiction, but Threshold goes one or two steps further in almost every respect. The characters are more sharply drawn, the prose is more accomplished, and the plotting is impeccable. Not to mention that this is a very, very scary book! This time out, Kiernan draws on her background as a paleontologist to weave a tale of timeless horrors that might lurk at the edges of what we believe to be a comprehensible universe, all the while keeping her characters front and center. This is not a book about monsters. It's a book about the effect that monsters might have upon the people who come into contact with them. If you still think Anne Rice, Stephen King, or Clive Barker are the masters of horror, you haven't read Caitlin Kiernan.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Things under the mountain February 6, 2002

By Arthur Janvier

Format:Paperback

In her second novel Kiernan seems to be getting back to her roots, drawing on her background as a paleontologist and her Southerness to create a tale of terror that rivals anything recently produced by the Big Four (King, Koontz, Rice, and Barker). Unlike those more conventional authors, though, Kiernan combines her knack for the uncanny with a lyrical style (a note from the author on the indicia page tells us "This book is best read aloud" and it's the truth) that makes for an alost cinematic immediacy. Reading Kiernan's work is like watching a film made of words and every word is meant to be savored, not merely to move the story forward. She even manages to make Birmingham, Alabama interesting! All in all, Threshold is one of the finest and most honest things I've read in a long time and I can't wait for Caitlin Kiernan's next novel.

17 of 23 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Annoyed the entire time I was reading this January 15, 2008

By Rachel

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Before I get too far into this review, I only got through 70-75% of the book before I had to put it into the used bookstore trade pile. I've never done that before. Never.

That said...

Awful! I read a great deal, good and bad, interesting and dull, but never one that was so annoying and action-less. Let me expound... Reading a book in the present tense is difficult because it's rare to read one written like that and it makes sense to have the third person omniscient content in the past. I was annoyed with that as well as the author's adjective creations. She would take two words, join them without a hyphen, creating such words as "mildewcool" or dreamysoft." Annoying! Regarding the action-lessness of the book, the characters didn't do much except sit around either: crying, drinking, puking, fighting, pouting or remembering.

The good guys of the book are losers, whiners and pretty close to dregs of society. I don't mind a redeemable character but there aren't any! The bad guys don't make any sense and the info is conflicting. Are they dragon bad guys or vampire bad guys (seems that darkness is their most powerful time of day)?

I was bored silly. I tried for over a month to finish this book when I came to the conclusion that I was wasting my time when there are so many other, brilliant authors out there. I love paranormal fiction along with fantasy, dark urban, horror and sci fi. This was not my first foray into the genre but it was the most disappointing.