Threshold (Paperback)

~ (Author) "MORNING after the funeral, latest funeral in what seems to Chance Matthews to have become a litany of caskets and wreaths and frowning undertakers that..." (more)
Key Phrases: water works tunnel, albino girl, Dancy Flammarion, Deacon Silvey, Chance Matthews (more...)

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.

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.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Roc Trade; First Edition/ First Printing edition (November 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451458583
• ISBN-13: 978-0451458582
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,087,273 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Something wonderful, November 13, 2001

By	Tamara Edwards (Birmingham, AL) - See all my reviews

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.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Halloween came late this year, November 20, 2001

By A Customer

This autumn has given us two spectacular horror novels. First Stephen King and Peter Straub's BLACK HOUSE and now, THRESHOLD by Caitlin R. Kiernan. As a devotee to both the genre and to Miss Kiernan's work (and to literature in general), I recommend THRESHOLD to anyone looking for a novel that's both frightening and intelligent. As she did in her first novel, SILK, Kiernan combines a stunning prose style with keen characterization, for a tale of creepy intensity. Unlike SILK, however, which was primarily concerned with inner demons, THRESHOLD turns its gaze outward and deals with horrors of a more cosmic scale. This novel will keep you turning pages and leave you wanting more.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	Danteval "Danteval" (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Threshold (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.