Ghost Story

Peter Straub

Average Rating 9/10 (1 Review)

One of the great classics of modern horror!

It began shortly after the party at which one of their members, Edward Wanderley, had died - or was killed. The Chowder Society, who for years had met in customary evening dress with the object of telling each other tales of every kind, now found themselves drawn towards the supernatural. It was some sort of solace for Edward's loss. They began to tell ghost stories, extraordinary ghost stories... ghost stories that did not always stop when the teller finished speaking... Then came the dreams, shared simultaneously by the Chowder Society members, forecasting horrors the four ageing men can scarcely bring themselves to discuss. And now they are about to learn what happens to those who believe they can bury the past - and get away with murder.

Review by Annett Grosser-Rogoff (310813) Rating (9/10)

Review by Annett Grosser-Rogoff
Rating 9/10
Peter Straub's classic bestseller Ghost Story is without doubt one of the best ghost stories ever written. The novel focuses on four men, Sears James, John Jaffrey, Ricky Hawthorne and Lewis Benedikt, in the autumn of their life who are haunted by an accident that happened in their youth. They realise it is impossible to cover up the past and cannot move on. It’s certainly one of the finest books written in this genre and manages to bring out primitive fears and catch the attention of the sophisticated reader at the same time.

Peter Straub is clearly a master in what he does and reminds one very much of the brilliant Stephen King. The biggest accomplishment this novel has to show for is the creation of a timeless tale of horror and supernatural revenge. The four young men, panic when they accidentally kill a mysterious young woman, and decide to hide her death by planting her body in a car and pushing it into a lake. Somehow there’s is always the possibility she could still have been alive, as a glimpse of her face haunts them into the present. They cannot get away from what they’ve done, however, like they have to realise fifty years later.

According to Straub he received a lot of his ideas from the story Salem’s Lot. Readers who know this can clearly see this is true. There are a lot of similarities. However, Straub manages to give the story his own touch and just uses certain ideas without copying anything in too great a detail. He uses Salem's Lot as a canvas to paint his personal scenarios of horror and combines two stories into one, the pure dramatic side which was inspired by Stephen King's novel and the more ambitious one which extends over the boundaries of a typical ghost story. As a summary one can say this is one of the stories that make you cover up your eyes, but still hold on to the book and peek through your fingers because you simply can’t help wanting to know how it ends.
Annett Grosser-Rogoff (31st August 2013)