Magic Terror

“A powerful gathering of suspense and horror stories”—The Denver Post

“Compelling . . . Magic Terror is bliss for readers whose love of the eerie doesn’t preclude a taste for literary elegance. . . . [Straub] is one of the few fin-de-siècle writers whose stories can stand alongside works by twentieth-century masters of the macabre such as King, Robert Aickman, Shirley Jackson, and Edith Wharton.”—The Washington Post Book World

“There is no safety in this literate and much praised cluster of stories. It’s beautifully written stuff that breaks into the place where you live, breaching all psychologically installed security systems. . . . And although we desire to read it for many reasons, the truest one is that Peter Straub writes with compassion. He gets the link between modern horror and classic tragedy.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer

“The protagonist of each of these stories has had a horrible, frightening life. Yet, the compassion you feel for them doesn’t keep your skin from crawling as you descend deeper and deeper into their terrible, twisted minds.”—The New York Post

“Masterful . . . his plots are as full of twists and turns as they are of shocks and chills.”—Baton Rouge Magazine

“As in all of Straub’s works, the stories here are carefully crafted. This is a book lovers of horror fiction won’t want to miss.”—Rocky Mountain News

“In subtle images, Peter Straub brings back forgotten childhood nightmares. His seven short stories in Magic Terror eat away slowly at the unsuspecting reader. . . . His terror lurks in the cries for help hidden inside victims’ minds. . . . Readers think about Straub’s endings long after they put his books down.”—The Freelance Star

“The most shocking fiction collection in years creates a brilliant kaleidoscope of psychological shadow worlds. The terrain of these extraordinary stories is marked by brutality, heartbreak, despair, wonder, and an unexpected humor that allows empathy to flourish in the most unlikely circumstances.”—The Third Alternative magazine