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Summary
Summary
A Special Place, Peter Straub's first published novella, will come to stand as one of the author's most deeply unsettling works of fiction. A rumination on the nature of evil, the story centers on a boy, Keith Hayward, who is drawn by his nature to an irresistible fascination with death and the taking of life. His father's brother, the good-looking, suave Uncle Till--the infamous ladykiller, who has led a shadowy career as a local celebrity--recognizes his nephew's innermost nature and gleefully tutors him in art of doing ill without getting caught.
Even a cold-blooded sociopath must learn some lessons in survival, in seems, and Uncle Till is only happy to provide a tutorial, in the latest imaginative and disturbing work from one of America's most celebrated horror writers.
Author Notes
Author Peter Straub was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1943. He earned degrees in English from the University of Wisconsin and Columbia University. He taught English at his former high school for three years and worked for a time on his doctorate in Ireland. He began writing in 1969 and published two books of poetry in 1972. His novel Julia (1975) was an attempt to find a successful genre in which to work, after his first novel, Marriages (1973), did not sell well.
He found that he had a talent for writing horror thrillers in the Gothic tradition. His stories are complex and well paced, with authentic settings that add to the believability of the plot. He is particularly good at creating grotesque characters and gruesome situations; the eeriness of his work is captivating. He has won numerous awards including the British Fantasy Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the World Fantasy Award.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Creepy to the core, this novella shines a terrible light on the backstory of Straub's acclaimed A Dark Matter (2010). Young Keith Hayward idolizes his charming, charismatic Uncle Till. When Keith's mother asks Till to talk to Keith after the boy is found dismembering a dead cat, Till recognizes a kindred spirit and begins to instruct Keith on smart, secret ways to pursue his evil endeavors. As the years pass, Keith grows older and bolder in his sadistic pleasures, and when Till comes back into town, Keith finds the perfect way to impress him. Vivid but never overly graphic or grotesque, Straub's words paint horrific pictures of two depraved men. The violence is minimal, but understood in the most subtle of ways. This beautifully horrifying, delightfully disturbing tale of a family tree of evil will stay with the reader long after the last page is done. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Straub's fandom will soon feel a frisson of déjà vu reading this, his first singly published novella. It's an extract from Skylark (2009), the limited-edition long version of A Dark Matter (2010), which relates the backstory of the college student, Keith Hayward, sensationally killed at the novel's climax. By then, Keith is a sociopath on the verge of following his uncle's lead into serial murder. The novella lays out the course of his education for the trade by Uncle Till, right up to his Keith's first murder. To Keith, beginning at least at age 12, Till is utterly fascinating, but when the handsome, apparently footloose man returns the interest in the wake of a neighbor's suspicion that Keith has killed her cat and suggests that the boy find and use a special place for his possibly compromising pleasures, fascination becomes enthrallment. A lowering aura like that of the high-school scenes involving the hero's son in David Cronenberg's film A History of Violence broods over this immaculately written portrait of a maculate-to-the-max character in formation.--Olson, Ray Copyright 2010 Booklist
Kirkus Review
This extremely creepy and disturbing novella is either a pendant to, or, more likely, an outtake from Straub's most recent full-length novel A Dark Matter, published earlier this year.This story focuses on that book's ill-fated secondary character Keith Hayward during his adolescent years in Milwaukee. Keith's disturbing misbehavior, spurred by his non-affectionate obsession with his neighbor's pets, stirs his mother Maggie to hope her only child will benefit from the steadying influence of his frequently visiting Uncle Tillman. But, as we know from the opening pages, "Uncle Till" is a charismatic drifter whose unexplained nightly excursions have attracted the attention of local police. Nevertheless, Keith cherishes Till's counsel that a boy soon to be a man needs "a special place" to store his secretsand the boy's "experiments" with animals take over his life. Straub sticks closely to Keith's roiling thoughts, as he enters high school, where severe acne and an aura of menacing stoicism discourage would-be bullies. No such luck for his forlorn classmate Tomek Miller, whose gratitude for Keith's "protection" knows no bounds. Soon Keith masters homosexual sadism (graphically, gratuitously described), forcing the weaker "Miller" to aid the researches he conducts in his secret room (the special place Uncle Till had urged Keith to create). Meanwhile, news reports about the reappearance of a serial murderer ("the Ladykiller") enable Keith to recognize "the meshing of two separate calendars, his uncle's and the murderer's." Keith confides his suspicions to Uncle Till, draws Miller deeper into his web, and, at Christmas, presents his mentor with the ultimate gift. The book is unquestionably an efficient nausea-inducer, but it contains many more shocks than surprises and is propelled by sexual imagery so pronounced that it usurps and dissipates the story's horror content.If this was an episode severed, so to speak, from the body of A Dark Matter, it's easy to understand why. This is very, very close to Straub at his very, very worst. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
This short but visceral read by a master of the horror genre (A Dark Matter; Ghost Story) ponders whether sociopathic behavior may be inheritable. Enthralled for years by the visits of his mysterious Uncle Till, troubled young Keith comes to recognize that he shares some unsavory characteristics with his handsome relative. Till immediately senses Keith's special needs and assures his nephew that any young man with Keith's rare and wonderful urges must discover a secret place in which to satisfy those needs. Keith's mother worries about him, but the boy is adept at diverting her concern. Part of the power of Straub's story lies in the banality of the setting and the fact that Uncle Till and his nephew might well be our neighbors. While there are no supernatural elements here, Straub effectively sustains a creepy atmosphere. The conclusion may be expected but is nevertheless unsettling. Verdict This is high-quality disturbing horror. Recommended not only for horror fans but for those who appreciate outstanding writing.-Jonathan Pearce, California State Univ. at Stanislaus, Stockton (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
