Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #58594 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-31
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 384 pages

Customer Reviews

Dan Simmons returns to horror/mystery in good form
Dan Simmons is a good author who has produced excellent novels in several genres ( SF, Horror , Spy/Thriller).

A Winter Haunting is nominally horror, but more in the Henry James model than James Herbert.
The basic premise is not new. A writer/lecturer (Dale) with emotional problems decides to get away from it all and returns to a deserted farm in his old home-town.
Something bad happened to him and his friends way back when they were 11 and his friend (Duane) was killed in a mysterious accident.
Dan Simmons plays with the conventions of the haunted house novel/film and while there are plenty of strange and spooky goings on, the central question is ,"is Dale crazy, or is he being haunted (or perhaps both)?".

While the book is a quasi-follow-on to "Summer of Night" but it isn't necessary to have read that first (by any stretch) and I personally preferred Winter Haunting (of the two).

All in all it is not quite up with Dan Simmons best works, but none the less it is a good read and I would happily recommend it.

A winter Haunting
From the first page I was hooked. Dan Simmons writes a wonderful tale of fiction, and this one has a bite. It is a tense spooky read, keeps you guessing until the end, and it's the kind of book you don't want to put down.

Great discovery ...
I have to admit I never heard of Dan Simmons before I bought this book. The cover attracted me, the first line (my usual final decider on unknown authors) hooked me. So, I went into this book without any preconception of how it should be ...

What I liked about the book was the style (the first three pages rank amongst the best first three pages I ever read, alongside "Needful Things", "Black House", "Tale of Two Cities" and "Bleak House") and the different viewpoints, wish were confusing allright. But, hey, this guy is losing the plot big time, so shouldn't we partake of his confusion?

Apart from that, I was speculating about the real "scariness" in the book - for me the demented skinheads would be far more terrifying than any of the supernatural characters popping up. You see, Dan had me thinking ... not a bad thing about any novel, especially a "HORROR" genre branded one.

I wholeheartedly recommend the book and will read more Simmons ... with equallt clean slates, that is: without preconceived idea on what exactly to expect.