3.0
Mr. X
ByPublisher Description
BRAM STOKER AWARD WINNER • The acclaimed thriller of supernatural horror from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Ghost Story, Koko, and The Talisman.
“Ghastly, hide-your-eyes horror; when Peter Straub turns on all jets, no one in the scream factory can equal him.”—Stephen King
BRITISH FANTASY AWARD NOMINEE FOR BEST NOVEL
Every year on his birthday, Ned Dunstan has a paralyzing seizure in which he is forced to witness scenes of ruthless slaughter perpetrated by a mysterious figure in black whom he calls Mr. X.
Now, with his birthday fast approaching, Ned has been drawn back to his hometown of Edgerton, Illinois, by a premonition that his mother is dying. On her deathbed, she imparts to him the name of his long-absent father and warns him that he is in grave danger. Despite her foreboding, he embarks on a search through Edgerton’s past for the truth behind his own identity and that of his entirely fantastic family.
But when Ned becomes the lead suspect in three violent deaths, he begins to realize that he is not the only one who has come home. . . .
“Ghastly, hide-your-eyes horror; when Peter Straub turns on all jets, no one in the scream factory can equal him.”—Stephen King
BRITISH FANTASY AWARD NOMINEE FOR BEST NOVEL
Every year on his birthday, Ned Dunstan has a paralyzing seizure in which he is forced to witness scenes of ruthless slaughter perpetrated by a mysterious figure in black whom he calls Mr. X.
Now, with his birthday fast approaching, Ned has been drawn back to his hometown of Edgerton, Illinois, by a premonition that his mother is dying. On her deathbed, she imparts to him the name of his long-absent father and warns him that he is in grave danger. Despite her foreboding, he embarks on a search through Edgerton’s past for the truth behind his own identity and that of his entirely fantastic family.
But when Ned becomes the lead suspect in three violent deaths, he begins to realize that he is not the only one who has come home. . . .
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesMr. X Reviews
3.0
“Atmospheric, weird and sometimes confusing. The mystery is cool, the pacing is chaotic, and the story swings between “love this” and “please focus.” Fun enough, just not unforgettable.”
“Wow this wasn’t what I expected. Kind of existential dread and fear meets frantic thriller with a little slasher movie and a hint of magical realism to round it out. This was definitely a thinker and the first book of his that I’ve had the pleasure of reading.
The prose is beautiful and his setting is so full of life that I couldn’t believe it ended after only like a week of in-universe time. The characters are rich and full of life and fully realized. This is some of the best fiction I’ve ever read.
My one complaint is that the climax happens much earlier than I expected and it caused the tail end of the book to drift to a stop before I realized I was through with it. Never not entertaining and thoughtful, I was just caught off guard by it. I’ll never not recommend this to someone looking for a horror adjacent literature recommendation.
This is a work of art.”About Peter Straub
Peter Straub (1943–2022) was the author of seventeen novels, which have been translated into more than twenty languages. They include Ghost Story, Shadowland, Koko, Mr. X, In the Night Room, and two collaborations with Stephen King, The Talisman and Black House. He has written two volumes of poetry and two collections of short fiction, and he edited the Library of America’s edition of H. P. Lovecraft’s Tales and the Library of America’s two-volume anthology, American Fantastic Tales. In 1998, he was named Grand Master at the World Horror Convention. In 2006, he was given the HWA’s Life Achievement Award. At the World Fantasy Convention in 2010, he was given the WFC’s Life Achievement Award.
Other books by Peter Straub
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