A Dark Matter

The year is 1966 in Madison, WI. Four high school students Hootie Bly, Dilly Olson, Jason Boatman, and Eel Truax, become enamored by Spencer Mallon, a charismatic guru who promises to introduce them to a "higher reality." During an occult ritual, something goes horribly wrong, killing one teen. The four friends are forever changed, each dealt with this horrid day in a different way. Hootie was taken to a mental institution. His only means of communication is quoting lines from Hawthorne's A Scarlet Letter. Eel marries Lee Hayward, her high school sweetheart, but she eventually loses her sight. Boatman, once a shoplifter, now runs his own theft prevention company. Dilly Olson never really got over the entire situation. Decades later the group comes back together when Hayward decides to write a non-fictional account of that afternoon. Each learns that their own personal account wasn't as accurate as they believed. This reunion is the first time they have had the opportunity to share their experiences with one another. Pieces of the puzzle are finally starting to come together to form a large, broad picture.

Once again, Straub does an outstanding job. A Dark Matter is purely character-driven; the book is broken up into several parts, each devoted to detailing the account of each of the main characters. Readers are transported thirty years in a matter of pages. I was impressed at how smoothly this transformation flowed. There is potential for the novels with character-driven storylines, specifically ones with as many characters as A Dark Matter, to seem drawn-out and exaggerated. I did not feel that in this case, for I do not think the overall "feel" of the novel would have carried through had it not been for the varying and differing accounts of each of the characters.

Those demanding a defined and definite resolution might be disappointed, however I think this aspect is what makes this such an amazing book. I takes an extremely talented writer to do what Straub has done with this one: giving detailed explanations of one situation from various standpoints, yet still leaving the actual event quite vague. Highly, highly recommended book.

Like a rare few other books, this one had my family fighting over it. It was so good and we were all trying to read it at the same time!

The story goes: 40 years ago, in the late 1960s, something strange and awful happened to a group of young people and their "sage," or guru. This charismatic man says that a ritual of some sort will have some effect -- something he can't say in advance. After they are done, one of the kids is dead, another disappears, another is hospitalized in a psyciatric hospital for 40 years, and all of them have lifelong changes in who they are.

As we start the story, the one kid in the group who did not attend the ritual, now an older writer, wants to find out what really happened. As he gets in touch with the participants (and his wife is one, and she has never told him the story), each tells it from a different perspective. As the cover of the book says, there is a certain Roshomon quality to it.

This book was different than others of the genre, with a brilliant, inventive story, with a finale that I certainly couldn't have predicted. I recommend it without hesitation.

With ADM, it seemed that Straub was going to take the same general premise as "It," but make it entirely his own. Given his credibility and recent releases (Bram Stoker winners INTR and LBLG), and his uber-creepy "Ghost Story" it seemed as though this would be what one of the critics called a "Tour De Force." Unfortunately, that novel never actually made it to the publisher. Instead, we are stuck with this; a muddled, overly lengthy, and, quite frankly, boring novel from one of the better names in Horror/Suspense fiction.

The basic premise of the book is that 4 high school students and two college students (5 males, 1 female) are drawn into the world of Spencer Mallon, a charismatic individual who claims that he will be able to change the world, if even for a moment. They're drawn into this, and something awful happens in a meadow on the outskirts of town; one person dies, Spencer flees, and the kids are irrevocably scarred for the rest of their lives.

Sounds like a great premise, huh? Sadly, Straub decided to take an entirely different rout, which could only make me wonder why he would ruin such a great base storyline. The story is largely told in flashbacks, as was expected, but we follow around someone who, while connected with the group, didn't actually participate in the festivities. I won't get into any detail, but suffice it to say that this makes for a book that's incredibly difficult to read and not the least bit suspenseful or exciting.

I'd been waiting for months for this to be released; I've always been a fan of Straub, and this book seemed as though it was going to be an easy front runner for a Bram Stoker Award. Sadly, anyone in the same boat can attest that this novel was poorly executed and NOT a good book for anyone look for suspense or horror. Let's hope that this is just an anomaly...Straub is too good to release anything as bad as this (more than once).

Peter Straub's newest book revolves around a single incident: in the 1960s, a group of high school students and a slick new-age guru attempted a ritual which left one boy dead and everyone involved completely changed forever. Set in the present day, the book follows the members all the years later as they all explain the events as they saw them that day, each time giving the reader more understanding of what exactly may have happened. For most of the pages, A Dark Matter is a compelling, haunting read, concerning itself with not only that one fateful day but also guilt, our past and the way it shapes us, the reconnection of old friends, and nothing less than evil itself. There are moments here of completely unreal horror, and moments of compelling personal drama, to say nothing of fascinating personal interaction. And yet, as the book comes to an end, there's a real sense of "...and?" to it all. For all the discussion of the central event, it never feels worthy of all this explanation, never as massive as it's first made out to be. And while some of the final revelations are beautifully done and powerfully told, they're not as profound or groundbreaking as they're made out to be. It's still a fascinating read, and I can't deny that I enjoyed it a lot; by the same token, I feel like A Dark Matter would have been more successful if it was either longer and filled with more depth or else cut down to the original novella that Straub planned. As it is, it's good, but falls short of being as good as I hoped.

After thinking about it quite a bit, I have to say that Peter Straub takes a bit of a different approach to the sorts of scary stories that he writes. Unlike King, I don't believe that Straub's intentions when he writes is to simply deliver thrills and chills to the reader. Don't get me wrong, Straub can put together some really spooky stuff, but his intention isn't just to spook the reader. Instead, he really wants to explore, and he really wants the reader to explore these different ideas and concepts with him.

It's almost like his stories are more like examinations of different aspects of horror and terror. They are a glimpse at how people react and cope with horrific and terrible situations. He's more subtle, less overt in some of the things that he does, which is partly why I love his work so much.

A Dark Matter is a prime example of this exploration of horror. A Dark Matter doesn't really set out to terrify the reader. It's quite literally an examination and exploration of what happens when people cross the line and dive head first into the horrors and wonders of the metaphysical. What is on the other side of reality, and what would happen to those who get a taste of it?

So, if anybody is looking forward to some speedy page turner that sends shivers running up and down your spine, you're going to be let down. (but seriously, this was never the sort of book that Straub writes anyways and you should know that already). This book is far more introspective and subtle than any of his other books.

The plot itself, the story of Lee going around and collecting the stories, interpretations and experiences from the people who were there on that insane night in the meadow, is really interesting and engrossing. it's the story of a person trying to understand something that is essentially impossible to comprehend.

The stories themselves, are a means for the reader to really look at how people interpret things differently, and what they do with the terrible and reality-defying things that they've seen and experienced. It's a taste of the metaphysical, and in those stories you are put in Lee's place. You are given multiple chances to try and comprehend things that cannot truly be comprehended. Lee's journey is really your own in the book.

Of everything that Straub has written, this is probably the most literary. In a lot of ways it his probably his most abstract book, and for people who don't realize that or are not expecting that, I can only imagine that they're going to be pretty put off by that. I'd suggest anybody picking up this book do so with an open mind. You need to set your expectations aside and see the book for what it is, and not for what you wanted it to be.