In the Night Room, by Peter Straub

Respected and acclaimed children's author Willy Patrick is losing her mind. Several years after her husband and daughter were killed in a vicious gang-related attack; she's convinced that somewhere, her daughter Holly is still alive. Helpless in the face of a manic compulsion controlling her every move, Willy finds herself obsessed with an empty, abandoned warehouse, knowing that somehow her dead daughter is hidden in its dark depths. Plagued by strange nightmares, gaps of "missing time", and doubts about her upcoming marriage to the enigmatic and mercurial Mitchell Faber, Willy is desperate to unravel the heart-wrenching tangle of lies her life has become.

At the same time, successful yet haunted suspense author Timothy Underhill is headed for another "bad patch". His life has always been entwined with the supernatural; he's haunted by his dead sister April's ghost, attuned to a world most don't realize exists, and over time he's made an uneasy peace with these state affairs - but something's changed. Suddenly, people from his past are sending him strange, barely intelligible emails....but that's impossible, because all these folks are dead. Also, April's ghost is everywhere, silently warning him of something, what he doesn't know, but instinct tells him he's at the eye of supernatural hurricane the likes he's never seen before. It doesn't help matters that he's falling behind on his current novel and he's being stalked by an obsessed fan that's possibly insane and dangerous, but no one said being a bestselling author with a connection to the spirit world would be easy.

By chance or fate Willy and Tim meet, and when both realize the chilling parallels between Willy's life and the novel Tim's writing, they form an unlikely partnership to combat the evil that's slowly but inevitably creeping into their lives. When they reach the heart of the supernatural storm that buffets them, they'll be shocked, amazed, and horrified - as they come to an understanding of the universe that'll change them forever.

Peter Straub has once again written a marvelous metafictional work that blurs the line between reality and fiction, blending storylines to create a tapestry that's confounding and enlightening all at once. Peter Straub revisits his haunted author Timothy Underhill, (Throat, Divided Man), with grace, continuing to flesh out his version of the "reluctant hero" - a literary counterpart of Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas, (Odd Thomas, Forever, Odd, Brother Odd), and T.L. Hines's Jude Allman, (Waking Lazarus), and he switches back and forth between the first and third person narrative effortlessly, which lesser writers wouldn't be able to do. As a winner of the Bram Stoker Award, In The Night Room has a chilling touch, one that makes the reader look over their shoulder on a rainy day and think twice about leaving their closet open at night. Readers probably won't view spam email the same way ever again after reading this story, and Straub's musings on the metaphysical nature of creating through writing is thought-provoking, to say the least. Willy and Timothy Underhill do have several sexual encounters through the tale, but they are tastefully and tenderly written. As with his other Underhill novels, Straub leaves behind signs that we'll see more of his haunted writer as the nefarious and diabolical Mitchell Faber promises Underhill that he's not seen the last of him. The best thing about In The Night Room - it's unpredictable. So many novels - both Christian and mainstream - are far too predictable these days, and it's hard to find a good read that takes you places you'd never imagine. This novel is one of those favored few, but it will be up to you to decide if you're ready to brave the night room.

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