A classic tale of supernatural horror from the acclaimed author of Koko, The Talisman and Mr X. Now reissued in a new cover style. 'Floating Dragon racks you with suspense! Straub is a master at having whole communities rocked by the forces of wickedness.' Observer The terrors afflicting the sleepy town of Hampstead, Connecticut, were beyond imagination. Sparrows dropping dead from the trees like rotten fruit, disfiguring diseases spreading like wildfire, inexplicable murders and child drownings shattering the lives of the citizens -- never can such a list of horrors have afflicted one town. But the evil madness had a long history. A catastrophe had struck Hampstead every thirty years since its foundation 300 years before -- yet only Graham Williams, a writer and descendant of one of the original founders, had looked into the 'black summers' and their mysterious origins. When he discovers that descendants of the three other original settlers are back living in the town, he knows it will be the blackest summer yet!
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'His best, his most horrifying. Straub seems determined to create a richer, more complex fictional world! Vastly entertaining.' New York Times Book Review 'The most deliciously frightening horror novel to come along in years.' Spectator 'Straub takes horror a long way beyond the obvious, but keeps his terrifying events down to earth.' Mail on Sunday
About the Author
Born in Milwaukee, Peter Straub is the author of fifteen novels, which have been translated into more than twenty languages. He has won the British Fantasy Award, two Bram Stoker awards and two World Fantasy awards. His most recent publications are his acclaimed novel Mr X, a collection of short stories, Magic Terror, and Black House, the international bestselling novel that he co-wrote with Stephen King.
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First Sentence
May 17, 1980; a wonderful day, you would have said if you lived in Patchin County. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
May 17, 1980; a wonderful day, you would have said if you lived in Patchin County. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
By hippo
Format:Paperback
Synopsis:
Every thirty or so years a series of brutal murders and catastrophic events devastate a small town caused by some unknown evil force within the town. Four families originally settled the town and now a descendant from each has returned to the town and the massacres are becoming worse than ever. Can they combine to defeat this force?
Opinion:
As many people have said, the plot has many parallels with Stephen King's 'It'. I'm not sure which was written first (and therefore who inspired who) but King's book is the better of the two.
This is a tough read. Many times I had to force myself to continue to read on which is a very bad sign, a book should just flow but there are some very dull info dumps within the book. The story is told from different time periods and the novel switches to different characters and their particular story and point of view. The problem with this of course is that some characters are fleshed out better than others and when the story deviates from them you become disappointed.
The main problem however is that the evil force within the book just isn't tangible, compare this to 'IT' where the image and scenes with Pennywise the Clown stay in the mind.
It's not all bad though. Some of the main characters- namely a young kid named Tabby Smithfield and an old writer named Graham Williams are interesting to read about and you can empathize with their plight to an extent.
Overall this is not a great read but Straub does have something about his writing, there is a germ of a good idea here, it's just not executed well. So if the synopsis interested you, I'd recommend King's 'IT' and if you want to try Straub go for 'Shadowland' or 'The Hellfire Club'.
Every thirty or so years a series of brutal murders and catastrophic events devastate a small town caused by some unknown evil force within the town. Four families originally settled the town and now a descendant from each has returned to the town and the massacres are becoming worse than ever. Can they combine to defeat this force?
Opinion:
As many people have said, the plot has many parallels with Stephen King's 'It'. I'm not sure which was written first (and therefore who inspired who) but King's book is the better of the two.
This is a tough read. Many times I had to force myself to continue to read on which is a very bad sign, a book should just flow but there are some very dull info dumps within the book. The story is told from different time periods and the novel switches to different characters and their particular story and point of view. The problem with this of course is that some characters are fleshed out better than others and when the story deviates from them you become disappointed.
The main problem however is that the evil force within the book just isn't tangible, compare this to 'IT' where the image and scenes with Pennywise the Clown stay in the mind.
It's not all bad though. Some of the main characters- namely a young kid named Tabby Smithfield and an old writer named Graham Williams are interesting to read about and you can empathize with their plight to an extent.
Overall this is not a great read but Straub does have something about his writing, there is a germ of a good idea here, it's just not executed well. So if the synopsis interested you, I'd recommend King's 'IT' and if you want to try Straub go for 'Shadowland' or 'The Hellfire Club'.
By Mr. G. Battle
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
The concept of a whole town subjected to evil promises so much, yet this Straub effort delivers so little. A chemical weapon leak creates confusion in a small coastal town at the same time a recurrent malevolent presence turns up to subvert the town to it's own despicable end. Ultimately, it is not the plot of the novel nor the plethora of characters that make this such a tough read; it is the time shifting as Straub tries to paint the real-time events that actually stop you becoming engaged. Also much of the content is redundant, this book is just too voluminous. In summary, Floating Dragon offers nothing new to the horror genre, it's unoriginal and at times is poorly executed.
By LaCatalina
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I recently found this book in storage at my father's house. I read it again after 13 years, and noticed that it's not nearly as good as I remembered it. Having read most of Straub's books, I think that this is one of his weaker books. Having said that, it was still a page turner and good fun.
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3.9 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not A Ghost Story
Not as good as some other books by Peter Straub ('Shadowland', 'Ghost Story', 'If You Could See Me Now') it still can impress with the style, some very dark scenes (like the sea of... Read more
Published on 28 Jun 2003 by B. Paszylk
2.0 out of 5 stars
Ignore and go straight to Ghost Story
Ignore the comments regarding the similarity with Stephen King's "It"; "Floating Dragon" was written several years before King's novel. Read more
Published on 7 Mar 2003
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