by Peter Straub
—DONALD E. WESTLAKE
“This is the scariest, goriest, creepiest, sickest, most twisted novel I’ve read in over ten years. It made me afraid to go to sleep at night and I loved every word—loved it, loved it, loved it.”
—CAROLYN SEE
“Straub’s sure-to-be-a-bestseller is anything but tame, and aficionados will enjoy its intricacy.”
—Detroit News
“[A] richly nuanced thriller . . . Dart is a memorable villain, funny, bold, charming. . . . Straub’s own characters are ‘colorful and involved, full of danger, heroism and betrayal’—as is this supple exciting book.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Unforgettable.”
—The Virginian-Pilot/Ledger-Star
“Gripping . . . So scary and yet so riveting the reader is torn between closing the cover or turning the page.”
—The Anniston Star
“Chilling . . . At the center of the story is one of the most wonderfully realized female characters that I have encountered in a long time.”
—Wichita Eagle
“Riveting . . . [Straub] has mined the darkest regions of the psyche to come up with Dick Dart, who, so candid and persistent in his evil, marks a new genus of villain, one for whom terms like satanic, depraved, and malevolent seem saccharine. This is a harrowing, spellbinding novel.”
—BRADFORD MORROW
“[A] page-turner of a book . . . Straub can write circles around most of the authors topping bestseller lists these days.”
—Booklist
“Peter Straub is a fine storyteller.”
—The Washington Post
By Peter Straub:
Novels
MARRIAGES
UNDER VENUS
JULIA
IF YOU COULD SEE ME NOW
GHOST STORY
SHADOWLAND
FLOATING DRAGON
THE TALISMAN (with Stephen King)
KOKO
MYSTERY
MRS. GOD
THE THROAT
THE HELLFIRE CLUB*
Poetry
OPEN AIR
LEESON PARK & BELSIZE SQUARE
Collections
WILD ANIMALS
HOUSES WITHOUT DOORS
PETER STRAUB’S GHOSTS (editor)
*Published by Ballantine Books
Copyright © 1996 by Seafront Corporation
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
http://www.randomhouse.com
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 97-93370
This edition published by arrangement with Random House, Inc.
eISBN: 978-0-345-48048-4
v3.0