Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #506237 in Books
• Published on: 1998-09-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 338 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Josh Spiller is a long-distance truck driver. Although his girlfriend is pregnant, he's got no major personal problems--until the day he rolls into a small town called Furnace, where a middle-aged woman pushes a baby carriage straight into his wheels and then vanishes. The dead baby's teenage mother and other passers-by swear the wind caused the carriage to roll, and the police take Josh for a troublemaker when he insists on writing a statement to the contrary. Shaken, Josh hits the road again, only to find that it's not so easy to get away from Furnace; something inhuman is hot on his heels. A pretty hitchhiker recognizes a mysterious scrap of writing in his truck as ancient runes spelling out--on human skin--a horrific curse. From then on, all roads lead back to Furnace as Josh races to unscramble a weird puzzle involving a wealthy town councillor, the Philosopher's Stone, and a demon who will destroy Josh in three days unless he returns the runes to their rightful place. The rotating point of view can be confusing, and the language occasionally doesn't ring true to a non- Scottish ear. Nevertheless, this is a grand, terrifying tale.

Synopsis
When truck driver Josh Spiller pulls into the small town of Furnace all he wants is food and rest. But Furnace has something special in store for Josh. Amongst the affluent houses and townsfolk lurks the stuff of living nightmare. A world of sorcery and malice is waiting to gather him in.

Customer Reviews

Genuinely scary horror with a brain
This was one of the best books I've read in a long time. Not only did it scare me to the point I thought twice about getting up in the night to go to the bathroom,it really kept me thinking long after I've finished it. It's about a truck driver who witnesses a murder, but then finds that everything is not quite as it seems. He is then chased by the most terrifying half-seen, half imagined thing, wondering all the time if he is going mad. I couldn't put this down. What a triumph.

Terrifying and completely compelling
I have never come across this author before, but now I have I'll be sticking with her. this is what horror should be all about. It concerns the light of a truck driver who sees something he shouldn't and ends up being pursued by something he most certainly doesn't want to see! What makes the book really work is that his own personal demons are as real as the half-seen threatening ones of mythology. The world of American truckers is also opened up and described in fascinating detail. I noticed from the thanks at the beginning of the book that Gray must have actually been on a trip with a trucker. It shows. Brilliant brilliant and briliant.

Chilling horror/thriller
I was unsure what to expect of Muriel Gray but I found this novel terrifying and original. This is a horror set in the world of American truckers and this world is very well captured, particularly considering Gray is a British writer. The supernatural aspect of the book is powerfully dark and there is a great twist at the end. One critcism is the book is rather formulaic. I would recommend it to those who enjoy Clive Barker and Stephen King.