Welcome to another kind of terror as Peter Straub leads us into the outer reaches of the psyche. Here the master of the macabre is at his absolute best in seven exquisite tales of living, dying and the terror that lies in between . . . The terrain of this collection of stories is marked by brutality, heartbreak, despair, wonder and unexpected humour.
'Bunny Is Good Bread' takes us into the mind of a small boy trapped in grotesque circumstances to portray the creation of a serial killer in a manner that compels pity, sorrow, comprehension and grief - as well as judgment. 'Hunger, An Introduction', narrated by the ghost of a pompous, self-pitying murderer, evokes a profoundly beautiful vision of earthly life, one appreciated far more by the dead than the living.
While the award-winning novella 'Mr Clubb And Mr Cuff', a masterpiece of black comedy, is a revenge tale in which torture is a moral art and the revenger undergoes a transforming, albeit painful, education. In the words of Mrs Asch, the narrator of 'Ashputtle', "the main feature of adventure is that it goes forward into unknown country".
Straub's devotees will be entranced by what their fearless guide has in store for them.
