—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
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