Book review: "In the Night Room" by Peter Straub

Tweet

“In the Night Room” (2004, Random House, 330 pages) by Peter Straub is a major disappointment. A contemporary of Stephen King’s (they collaborated on “THe Talisman” and “Black House”), Straub is a psychological horror and mystery writer who is far less prolific than King but a more literate author. His exceptional works include “Ghost Story,” “Shadowland,” “Koko” and “Mystery.” Mood and atmosphere are his strong points while expertly generating horror from preying on the mind to literally having the boogeyman climbing out of a mirror. A sequel of sorts to “little boy lost girl,” “In the Night Room” features Straub’s alter ego gay Vietnam vet writer Timothy Underhill who is still haunted by the death of his nine-year-old sister April and disappearance of his nephew. The novel begins in very promising fashion before fading away at midpoint and totally collapsing in the end. Underhill is preparing for a book signing tour to promote his latest novel and reluctantly planning to attend his brother’s wedding. He begins receiving bizarre email messages which he traces back to dead people form his past. So Underhill is being contacted by the dead for what purpose? Actually the dead people angle becomes meaningless since the source of the messages is Cyrax, a being from the after world known as the Realm. Cyrax explains in gobbledygook about the various levels of the Great Hierarchy of the Realm and that a mistake Underhill has made in his new novel has angered a Realm being who now seeks retribution. Okay. This is all uninteresting nonsense not really having any bearing on the story except for the angry being. Taking the form of a creepy fan calling himself Jasper Dan Kohl, the being gives the promise of being a great evil thing to be reckoned with but Straub fails to do much with him. Kohl never develops into a strong menacing presence. The other storyline follows Willy Patrick, a successful children’s author still grieving over the murders of her husband and daughter yet engaged to a sinister man who wants to possess her. But we never discover why he wishes to possess her because it is revealed Willy is Underhill’s creation and he did not finish the story. Somehow all this is tied to Underhill’s dilemma. Straub awkwardly brings creator and creation together. For awhile it is interesting as Willy has to gorge on candy bats to keep from disappearing and they engage in wild sex despite his supposedly being gay. It is all just nonsensical and builds to a highly unsatisfactory conclusion. No thrills or chills. All the reader is left with is a feeling of wasting time and wondering what went amiss with a usually reliable writer.