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In his latest soul-chilling novel, bestselling author Peter Straub tells of a famous children’s book author who, in the wake of a grotesque accident, realizes that the most basic facts of her existence, including her existence itself, have come into question.Willy Patrick, the respected author of the award-winning young-adult novel In the Night Room, thinks she is losing her mind–again. One day, she is drawn helplessly into the parking lot of a warehouse. She knows somehow that her daughter, Holly, is being held in the building, and she has an overwhelming need to rescue her. But what Willy knows is impossible, for her daughter is dead.On the same day, author Timothy Underhill, who has been struggling with a new book about a troubled young woman, is confronted with the ghost of his nine-year-old sister, April. Soon after, he begins to receive eerie, fragmented e-mails that he finally realizes are from people he knew in his youth–people now dead. Like his sister, they want urgently to tell him something. When Willy and Timothy meet, the frightening parallels between Willy’s tragic loss and the story in Tim’s manuscript suggest that they must join forces to confront the evils surrounding them.
A grieving author and a novelist find their realities collapsing as the boundaries between their own lives and the fictional worlds they create begin to dissolve. Willy Patrick, a writer mourning the death of her daughter, experiences a series of inexplicable events that force her to question her sanity and the nature of her own existence. Simultaneously, Timothy Underhill, a writer working on a manuscript about a troubled woman, begins receiving messages from the deceased, drawing him into a web of supernatural occurrences. As their paths converge, they must navigate a shifting landscape where the past, the present, and the written word collide, forcing them to confront a malevolent force that threatens to consume them both.
This novel is characterized by its complex, layered structure that challenges the reader to distinguish between the author's reality and the fiction within the story. The narrative style leans heavily into psychological horror, utilizing the meta-fictional premise to heighten the sense of unease and existential dread. Readers often note the deliberate, disorienting pacing that reflects the protagonists' own mental instability as they confront the supernatural. The work stands as a dense examination of how creative processes can intersect with personal tragedy, creating a haunting experience that lingers long after the final page.
Page Count:
304
Publication Date:
2004-05-01
Publisher:
Harper Collins
ISBN-10:
0007184417
ISBN-13:
9780007184415
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