Mr. X - Softcover

Straub, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0449149900 ISBN 13: 9780449149904

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2000

Synopsis

During the week that culminates in his thirty-fifth birthday, Ned Dunstan experiences a series of extraordinary events that expose the long-hidden secret of his identity and his family's true nature, in a novel of the supernatural that explores the theme of the doppelgSnger. Reprint.

About this title

Review:

Ned Dunstan's shadow has always been up-front:"You won't even be able to go out by yourself at night for another six or seven years. When do we have our first cigarette? Our first drink? When do we get to have actual sex?...I want darkness, I want night". "Without me, you can't get them at all", replies Ned. Coming home years later Ned begins to uncover the strange history of Edgerton, and the even stranger secrets of his bizarre family. Meanwhile Mr X, bad novelist, crimelord, seducer, serial-killer, self-appointed harbinger of the apocalypse of HP Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror, plans one very special murder before bringing the Cuthulu mythos to earth. Witty, shocking, beautifully written and completely absorbing, Mr X is an intricately plotted puzzle-box of sex, death, music, teleportation, and eccentric aunts.

With a large red X on the jet black cover the marketing department are targeting X Files fans and Peter Straub's book is certainly inventively weird enough to appeal to followers of foxy scullyduggery; the author penned such modern horror classics as Ghost Story and Shadowland while the FBI duo were still in grade school. There is a subtle homage to Stephen King's The Dark Half--the two writers collaborated on The Talisman--while aficionados of Christopher Priest's ingenious contortions of reality, particularly The Prestige, will be intrigued by this mystery. If you are looking for page-turning horror novel that's not afraid to have some post-modern fun stretching its genre to the limits, vote for Mr X. --Gary S. Dalkin

Review:

‘Mr X marks Straub’s triumphant return to the tale of the paranormal and the supernatural... When Peter Straub turns on all his jets, no one in the scream factory can equal him.’ STEPHEN KING

‘Straub returns with panache to the supernatural which he has made so much his own. It’s a must for every horror aficionado, but also recommended for anyone who enjoys a meaty, meandering whodunit.’ Daily Express

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0449149900
• ISBN 13: 9780449149904
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 510