Ghost Story

By Peter Straub,

Book cover of Ghost Story

Book description

#1 New York Times bestselling author Peter Straub’s classic tale of horror, secrets, and the dangerous ghosts of the past...
 
What was the worst thing you’ve ever done?
 
In the sleepy town of Milburn, New York, four old men gather to tell each other stories—some true, some made-up, all of…

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Why read it?

4 authors picked Ghost Story as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I read this book when I was young, maybe 11-12, and was immediately hooked. It’s not written for kids, but I still loved the slow burn of encroaching horror. The sense of the entire town, trapped by a snowstorm, being unwound by the evil entity’s presence, was a masterwork.

This may be the book that made me want to write horror books. Is it actually about a ghost? No. But somehow, it’s still one of the best ghost stories out there.  

From Christopher's list on horror that will keep you up at night.

There are certainly many different types of lists on which this book belongs. I always tell people Ghost Story is the scariest thing I’ve ever read. I was fortunate enough to relay that to the late great Peter Straub at a horror writers’ conference many years ago. Though I’m sure he would have liked praise for a more contemporary work, there’s a timelessness in the terror he evokes in this book. But that’s not the reason I include it here. It’s because I think ghosts are a form of Fate. Violence, injustice, visceral reactions—these are the things we associate with…

From Michelle's list on fate dealing its infamously fickle hand.

One of the greatest horror novels ever written, in my opinion, and a book that has stood the test of time. The book centers on four elderly men who harbor a long-kept secret that comes back to haunt them. The setting of a small New York town in the middle of winter makes it even creepier.

From Mark's list on horror set in the dead of winter.

As a movie producer, I developed the screenplay and produced the movie, Ghost Story, at Universal. The movie featured Fred Astaire, John Houseman, Melvyn Douglas, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Universal bought the rights to the book and asked me to develop the screenplay and produce it. Larry Cohen, who’d written Carrie, wrote the screenplay. What a thrilling experience to adapt a wonderful, complicated book into a movie. I worked very closely with Larry and came to know the book very well. There was too much material in the book for even a long feature film, so we had to find…

From Burt's list on character-driven thrillers.

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