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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
Horror violence; supernatural deaths; the menace escalates to graphic moments
Language
Some
Moderate adult language; literary prose throughout
Sexual Content
Some
Adult sexual content as part of the backstory; some scenes are vivid
Substance Use
Some
Significant drinking among the elderly protagonists
Emotional Intensity
Very heavy
Extreme psychological horror; the sustained dread of something returning for you after fifty years is almost unbearable; the most frightening literary ghost story in American fiction
What this book is about
Four elderly men in upstate New York meet regularly to tell ghost stories—but one of them has a real ghost in his past, something terrible that happened to a woman fifty years ago. Peter Straub's masterpiece of literary horror is lush, literary, and genuinely frightening, weaving together multiple timelines and narrative voices into a ghost story that earns its title.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Extreme psychological horror throughout
Supernatural violence and deaths
Reader Verification
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