Customer Reviews

A Winter Haunting

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(24)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I think that Stephen King tried to do this in "It," and I think he and Peter Straub tried it again in "Black House." Whether this is true or not, neither book succeeds in the way that "A Winter Haunting" succeeds. Here, Simmons gives us what we so rarely see in horror fiction - the psychological and emotional aftermath of a horrific experience.

Simmons also takes the standard genre elements and turns them on their collective head, all the while telling a good story that keeps you reading. "A Winter Haunting" is an admirable novel, and I can't imagine a more fitting continuation of its predecessor, "Summer of Night."

I re-read "Summer of Night" just prior to this book, to have the story fresh in my head. I don't think that it's strictly necessary to read the older book to appreciate "A Winter Haunting," but I would have to say that knowing what happens in "Summer of Night" definitely adds several important perspectives to the events of the later book.

Dan Simmons has made a career out of writing excellent novels in multiple genres, and "Summer of Night" was no exception; one of the great modern horror novels. As in most such books, the story ends when the evil is defeated. "A Winter Haunting" reminds us that, in real life, the story never really ends there. Those who endure after suffering loss and trauma have to live with what has happened, have to deal with it as best they can.

Dale Stewart, in "A Winter Haunting," has dealt with the horrific events of his childhood by not dealing with them - by shutting them out, by refusing to even remember them. A writer now, as well as a college professor, Dale is also the survivor of a failed marriage and a failed affair with one of his students. The books he has written thus far are formulaic adventure stories. He is visiting the town where he grew up, living in the house of his friend who died in the summer of 1960, in order to try and gain something intangible that he feels he has lost, and to write a new sort of story about that long-lost summer that he cannot remember.

In returning to Elm Haven, the town where he grew up, Dale confronts a few of his old childhood fears as well as many of his new, "adult," ones. What is really interesting about this is that we come to see that many of the troubles he has suffered as an adult are at least partially a result of that terrible summer in 1960, which he has never faced and dealt with directly. In "A Winter Haunting" we get to see what most horror novels never show us: we see what happens to someone who confronts evil and lives to tell the tale. There are no pat conclusions or pithy observations in "A Winter Haunting" - just an implied truth that sometimes memories are too terrible to be relived, and that some stories take a long time to tell.

Though "A Winter Haunting" is a sequel to "Summer of Night," as I read it I got more of a feeling of remembrance from the book. It builds upon the events of the earlier story, but it also deviates from them quite dramatically in tone and theme. It's not a nostalgic novel at all. In fact, it's almost anti-nostalgia. As Dale tries desperately hard to create memories of a summer he can't remember, even as he confronts new terrors both real and spiritual, we are led to the conclusion that some things simply cannot - or should not - be recalled with fondness.

In "A Winter Haunting" we are reminded that horrible events have consequences beyond the events themselves. They can exact a psychological toll that can take a lifetime or more to overcome. Once again Simmons has given me a pleasant surprise; not because he has written yet another fine novel (that's an expectation by now), but because he has explored original territory in the horror genre. And he has staked his claim well.

Forty years, a failed marriage, affair, and suicide attempt later, Dale Stewart returns to his hometown and rents out the farm where of his childhood friend Duane had lived. He hopes to write a novel about the mysterious events of the almost forgotten summer of 1960, when Duane died. But strange and disturbing phenomenon, black dogs, neo-nazis, and old friends and enemies continually distract him. Unlike some reviewers, I love what Simmons has done in A Winter Haunting - which is write a classic, literate ghost story that both plays by the rules while intellectually reinventing them without breaking or denying them. Simmons has both Dale Stewart and the reader wondering about Dale's sanity. What exactly does Dale's failed affair with Clare Two Hearts have to do with the events at the farmhouse? Is Dale leaving himself notes? Is any of this really happening at all? And just who is haunting who? Questions a pedestrian and special effects laden spook story would not have the reader asking as the events unfold. A Winter Haunting is a classic chiller that expands on the psychological complexity of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House with stunning power. Highly recommended.

Winter Haunting is an interesting take on the horror genre. It takes your standard ghost story and injects a dose academia, it's just the dose is more than is healthy given the anemic page count. There are simply too many offset quotes and not enough scariness and suspense.

Dale is not exactly cut from the most sympathy-inducing length of cloth. Yes, he's losing his grip and his happy family but he's also a pretentious, obssesive adulterer who has brought most of his problems on himself. It's also hard to believe that someone who references so many literary and historical quotes and facts is only capable of writing a series of cliched and inaccurate western novels. Most professors are required to be published in academic periodicals and the ones that do write mainstream stuff usually choose something nonfiction in their chosen field.

So much time is spent talking and vaguely reminiscing about Dale's '60s childhood and the book he's trying to write about it that it really gets to the point where you want to ask the author why he didn't just tell that story instead of this one; it sounds much more interesting. But of course Simmons already has and it was called Summer of Night; the problem, is nowhere on the covers or the interiors is there any mention that is in any way related to another novel. The only reason I know was because after I'd finished it I came here and read it in other reviews. So many things might make so much more sense if these were read in order, not to mention the space he could have used to enhance this plot rather then rehashing stuff from the old one.

In Simmon's defense, he finds a pretty ingenious way to switch back and forth from first to third person in having the narrator be the spiritual remains of Duane hovering around. Duane occasionally injects his own opinions but for the most part tells the story as it happens while he watches. Being a 'ghost' he can also read Dale's thoughts and serve as a fully omniscient narrator.

The ending really comes off as something the author came up with out of boredom, having pretty much written himself into a corner; it explains very little of what's been happening and what ends are tied up leave more questions then they answer. This is not necessarily a bad thing as Dale is obviously becoming increasingly unhinged by the day and what's real and what's just in his head is debateable but the wrap-up muddies the issue with the fact that he receives physical injuries and is able to touch things that later turn out not to have existed.

Which is not to say that there aren't some disconcerting scares to be had; the empty radios that continue to broadcast, mysterious scrabblings in the basement, faces that push against the plastic of the closed off second floor and a black bulldog that gradually increases in both size and number provide some much-needed chills and mystery to what is initially just Dale's pity party. But none of these phenomenon are really explained and since Dale isn't the only witness he can't be imagining everything; there is too much mystery and not enough resolution.

This book resides squarely in the middle of the Amazon scale, it's not so good as some horror or supernatural novels I've read but it does make me want to give Summer of Night a try.

Like other reviewers, I was happy to see Dan Simmons revisit characters from Summer of Night. Having read Children of the Night and Fires of Eden both, which have adult incarnations of characters from Summer of Night, I enjoyed seeing another variation of that. As was the case with so many others, Summer of Night was a book that touched me in a wonderfully nostalgic way, even for a horror tale.

A Winter Haunting strives to bring us back to the horrors of Elm Haven, or at least a small corner of it. The McBride farm was the home of Duane McBride, childhood chum of the protagonist of this novel, Dale Stewart. Duane, a quasi-narrator for this tale, was murdered in Elm Haven when just 11 years old. Now Dale, 51, author and English professor, has returned to his hometown to rent Duane's home to write his latest novel, and revisit the horrors of Elm Haven. Freshly separated from his wife and daughters in Montana; abandoned by his decamped mistress Clare; Dale is depressed and suicidal...and in revisiting the horrors of Elm Haven, Dale finds a few new ones joining them upon his return.

However, an intriguing premise very quickly becomes a paradox here. Dale has visions of a soldier in a cemetery; black dogs appear from nowhere to stalk him, metaphorically referring to his depression, as Winston Churchill termed his own the 'Black Dog'; childhood acquaintances come back to 'haunt' Dale; a room in the McBride house produces 'amorous' desires in a man suffering from medication-induced impotence; a group of skinheads threatens Dale time and again over a series of articles he published; and a voice from beyond seems to guide him in his quest to retain his sanity as the horrors of Elm Haven are once again unleashed upon him at a fever-pitch.

But don't get too excited...only a few of these riddles are answered by the end of the book. Only the tangible elements of this conundrum are explained.

I enjoyed revisiting Elm Haven with Dan Simmons as the tour guide. However, there are lengthy passages of this book that really don't fit, and are wasted space in a 300 page novel. Too much is left to imagination, or just plain unexplained, by the time the end of the tale is reached. Perhaps Mr. Simmons wanted it that way...that the events are just as unexplainable to the reader as they were to the character...perhaps a publishing deadline overshadowed the fleshing out of the details...or perhaps I simply want too much from a horror tale.

Whatever the case, I am glad to have strolled down Main Street Elm Haven again, but unfortunately this Winter tale won't haunt me for very long.

From the opening page, you never know whether Dale is delusional or haunted, whether he deserves sympathy or scorn. A full, three-dimensional character, this failed writer, husband, lover. Simmons handles his crack-up beautifully.

Dale's plight begins when he returns to his hometown, the same setting for Simmons' outstanding SUMMER OF NIGHT. While not a sequel per se, WINTER HAUNTING does evoke memories from the previous work and I suspect you will enjoy it more if you've read SUMMER. (And if you love the macrabre, you should!)
The scenes in WINTER are indeed haunting, especially the black dogs (which are an explicit metaphor for Dale's clinical depression) and the spectre of the neo-Nazi teenagers. This is the story of a man haunted by the distant past, the recent past and the all-too-scary present.

The shortcomings of this novel are the same that I saw in DARWIN'S BLADE ... the beautiful prose that Dan Simmons gives us in SUMMER OF NIGHT, THE HYPERION CANTOS, SONG OF KALI is not so much missing as it is chopped up and watered down. I cannot help but wonder if the editor wanted this to be a different book than the author intended it to be.

Well worth the read, however, especially if you have read SUMMER OF NIGHT.

I've been a huge fan of Dan Simmons ever since I read Phases of Gravity, reading pretty much most of his stuff, including the horror, straight fiction, and science fiction.

I enjoyed _A Winter Haunting_, but I had a lot of trouble with it. My biggest problem, is the fact that Dan Simmons really must find a better editor. He is a great writer, but I think that his writing does not naturally tend towards tightness. There were many paragraphs that really had nothing to do with the story, didn't add to the atmosphere, and really seemed more just a place for the author to soapbox a bit.

Even worse, were the sections where he goes into detail about his computer, cell phone, printer, etc. I have no idea why he does this-- it drags the story down, will make the novel seem very dated very quickly, and just seems... amateurish.

Was this a first draft?!?

If you buy this book in order to "visit" some of the original characters in Summer of Night, you will be extremely disappointed. Most of the original characters are not involved in this sequel and, even worse, some of the characters I was most fond of are developed in undesirable and disturbing ways.

This book was also disappointing as a stand-alone story since the plot is somewhat confused and nothing is really resolved for the main character. Also, the confusing changes and merging of point(s) of view are very confusing and distracting.

I am a big fan of Dan Simmons and have read all of his published stories, so I can say with some authority that this is not one of his most notable efforts

Overcoming the nightmare of his childhood (see SUMMER OF NIGHT), Dale Stewart became a successful literature professor and novelist, though his Jim Bridge: Mountain Man books do not attain the literary standard he desires. However, he threw away a loving family life with a cherished wife and daughters for an affair with a student that ended badly. Filled with self-recrimination, Dale takes a sabbatical from the University of Montana and flees Missoula to stay at the farmhouse of his deceased childhood friend Duane McBride to write his first real novel.

While battling with guilt, Dale writes Internet articles exposing the Big Sky neo-Nazi skinheads, which brings him to the attention of their Illinois brethren. As he settles in the McBride farmhouse, he begins to fall further apart and begins to realize that more than a bunch of extremists want his skin peeled. There are forces turning the screws, but is it inside his head or outside his head's understanding?

The sequel to the scary SUMMER OF NIGHT (to be re-released shortly), A WINTER HAUNTING, is a great tale that keeps the reader wondering if the plot is a psychological thriller or a modern day Turn of the Screw. The story line starts off in an eerie manner as the long dead Duane begins the narration of seeing Montana through Dale's eyes though he never left Illinois. Dan Simmons is at his most frightening best guiding his audience into deciding whether middle aged Dale is breaking down or haunted. This novel and its previous tale are winners and worth reading by fans relishing psychological thrillers or haunting stories because the plots play on multiple levels.

Harriet Klausner

I'm not a huge fan of horror, but I am a fan of Dan Simmons. _Hyperion_ is one of my favorite sci-fi novels; _Hardcase_ and _Hard Freeze_ are wonderful, by-the-book "hard"-boiled detective novels.

I just happened to be in an airport needing a book to read, saw this, and thought it must be the same Dan Simmons, author of all genres. I read it in one sitting, which is perhaps not saying much because the book's fairly short, at least for Simmons, and the flight was international. As much as I like movies, I don't even think I glanced up to see what was playing.

When I read this book, I didn't realize it was the second part of a story of which _Summer of Night_ was the first. It stands on its own. In fact, I liked it better than the first book, which I went out and found as soon as I got home. That may have been because I formed strong images of the characters as children from this book, whereas the more explicit rendering of them didn't quite match my expectations.

This is first and foremost a psychological horror story, not a gory monster story. It's told from the perspective of a minor academic and pulp Western author trying to resolve his confusing past. (Note to the author: If you write a Western, I'll read that, too.) In fact, it's even more psychological than Simmons's own _Carrion Comfort_, which I also quite enjoyed. This book is scary because you wind up deep inside the mind of the main character, with all of his pre-occupations and uncertainty about what's real.

Simmons's novels are all about the characterization, much like many independent, off-beat, or "foreign" movies. If you're looking for Hollywood-style special effects and big bad monsters, turn to the master of that genre, Steven King (not to knock King's characterizations, which are also superlative). Some of the scariest bits are run-ins with ordinary characters from his childhood.

In the end, I can't give this a better review than to recapitulate my title: it still gives me goosebumps thinking about it.

Like some others here I was hoping for more of a "sequel" to SoN which I thought was fantastic. Instead we get no or less-than-satisfying follow up on those characters and nothing that really relates them to this story. There are dead end teases-- (mr.doughboy) and references, but little follow thru or explantation. Most disappointing was Dale-- he's aged into a less-than-likable and less-than-interesting old man. No motivation is given for the self-destructive course he suddenly followed in the recent past. A long listing of WHAT he's done, with no WHYs to accommpany them. I'm a stickler for background and continuity errors too, and this had a few: How did JD Congden threaten folks in 1961? A 51-year old had been a US Senator for 20 years? Not impossible, but pretty remarkable. A University of Montana professor drives a $50K car! (well, ok, he's not just a professor) anyway, glad I read it but it was a bit of a let down.