Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2040924 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

Stephen King
‘Scary, sad, funny ... A gracefully written, mesmerizing read’

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‘A book that will linger in your head long after you’ve read the final heartbreaking page’

Guardian
‘The Night Country is an intense, spooky, sad ghost story ... a tasty Halloween treat’

Customer Reviews

Haunting dead voices
Stewart O'Nan's 'The Night Country', along with other more familiar novels such as Alice Sebold's 'The Lovely Bones' and Ali Smith's 'Hotel World', is narrated by the dead - the teenage victims of a horrific car crash. The three ghosts follow the two survivors (one unharmed, the other severely brain-damaged) as the Halloween anniversary of the incident approaches. The resulting narrative voice works very effectively, giving the novel an intense, darkly humorous atmosphere. The book seems to get billed as a standard ghost/horror story, but it's about much more than just shocks and thrills: people's lost dreams and unfulfilled lives, the empty rituals of bereavement, and the minutiae of smalltown life. An excellent novel.