Petey's Fiction Review

A Winter Haunting

by Dan Simmons

When college Professor Dale Stewart's affair with one of his coed students ends badly, and Dale finds himself divorced, he realizes that he's come to a crossroads in his life. To begin his quest for redemption, Dale, who is also a published novelist, resigns his teaching position in Montana and travels to Illinois, to the slowly dying hometown of his youth, where he plans to spend the winter working on his latest novel.

Soon after Dale moves into a vacant house, once owned by the family of a former childhood friend who died in a tragic accident at age 11, strange things begin to happen. Cryptic messages mysteriously appear on Dale's computer screen, large black dogs roam the property, and his relationships with people he once knew take on surreal qualities.

As Dale confronts his demons, he draws ever closer to the truth—and to the limits of his sanity. In the final moments of this gripping tale, he must either will himself to live, or allow himself to die.

With his imaginative thriller A Winter Haunting, Dan Simmons, author of Hard Freeze and Darwin's Blade, firmly ensconces himself in a niche somewhere between Peter Straub and Stephen King. Come, gather 'round the campfire . . .!

Visit Dan's Web site at www.dansimmons.com/

Review by Phil Hanson

Click on the title to order your copy of A Winter Haunting.

Top of Page

Return to Petey's Bookshelf

Proofreading • Editing • Freelance Writing
www.perfecttext.com