A Dark Matter

By: Peter Straub

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 14 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

The incomparable master of horror and suspense returns with a powerful, brilliantly terrifying novel that redefines the genre in original and unexpected ways.

The charismatic and cunning Spenser Mallon is a campus guru in the 1960s, attracting the devotion and demanding sexual favors of his young acolytes. After he invites his most fervent followers to attend a secret ritual in a local meadow, the only thing that remains is a gruesomely dismembered body - and the shattered souls of all who were present.

Years later, one man attempts to understand what happened to his wife and to his friends by writing a book about this horrible night, and it’s through this process that they begin to examine the unspeakable events that have bound them in ways they cannot fathom, but that have haunted every one of them through their lives.

As each of the old friends tries to come to grips with the darkness of the past, they find themselves face-to-face with the evil triggered so many years earlier. Unfolding through the individual stories of the fated group’s members, A Dark Matter is an electric, chilling, and unpredictable novel that will satisfy Peter Straub's many ardent fans, and win him legions more.

©2010 Peter Straub (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

“Peter Straub's...novel is a terrifying story of innocents - high school students in the turbulent 60s - who stumble into horrors far beyond their understanding. A Dark Matter is populated with vivid, sympathetic characters, and driven by terrors both human and supernatural. It’s the kind of book that’s impossible to put down once it has been picked up. It kept me reading far into the night. Straub builds otherworldly terror without ever losing touch with his attractive cast of youngsters, who age beautifully. Put this one high on your list.” (Stephen King)

"Part Rashomon, part The Turn of the Screw. Peter Straub may well be the most important voice in suspense fiction today." (Lincoln Child)

"American master Peter Straub takes the sweep of our freaky history over the past forty years, subjects it to all the elegant gifts of madness and arts of haunting of which he is the wicked king, and finds himself in possession of a masterpiece." (Michael Chabon, author of The Yiddish Policemen’s Union and Manhood for Amateurs)

When will something happen?

Would you ever listen to anything by Peter Straub again?

I absolutely loved "The Talisman" and "Black House" which are cowritten by Stephen King and Peter Straub, so I was really very disappointed by this piece. I suppose I would try another Straub book, but not use another Audible credit for the attempt, so that if it was as slow as this work I could skip chapters in page form.

Any additional comments?

I drive a lot, and love audiobooks to fill the time. This book was torturous. I kept seeing the opportunity for an interesting story to develop, and regularly thought, "Okay. It's three [four] [five] [six] hours in, this is where the plot takes off." It wasn't. By the final hour, I'd given up on it happening. The worst part is that you can return recently purchased Audible recordings if you don't like them, but I had waited too long to listen to this one. Waste of time, waste of money, and incredibly frustrating.

Meh!

The premise of this story is on the surface intriguing. A bunch of young people inadvertently opening up a dimensional portal with the help of an older charismatic guru. The results of which impacts the rest of their lives forever. Unfortunately the execution falls way short. The characters are just sort of hollow and the whole thing reads at times like a aged stoner trying to describe an acid trip in painstaking detail. This is not helped by the narrator who has a great and soothing voice which only furthers the whole aged stoner thing. Kinda like Mr. Rogers describing a murder scene.

drugged

Don't waste your money/credits on this book. I felt I was drugged while listening to this book. I could not get into it. I pride myself in listening to every book I get no matter how bad it may turn out, but this one broke me. I could not listen to one more repeat or forward/backward telling. I am not for sure I would reconize the end when it came. I have liked his books in the past, but this is not worth even trying. If I can save even one person from trying this book, I have done my part

Mind Numbing

I'm new to audible.com and really really wished I had realized there were book reviews. If I had read them - and I agree with every one of them - I would have never chosen this book. It was boring, hard to follow, and just plain mind numbing. I will be reviewing books from now on.

Master of Horror

Through vivid detail & rich plot, yet again Straub proves himself to be The Master!