Midnight Sun

by Ramsey Campbell

Book Overview

Ben Sterling brings his wife and children to his childhood village, where in a great forest, an old house holds the promise of all their dreams. But among the pines something seems to be gathering, glittering in the icy air. A masterpiece. . . .--Kirkus.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812518039
• ISBN13: 9780812518030
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 374 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Feel the chill of the Midnight Sun

A creepy chilling tale of supernatural horror. Perhaps not one of Campbells best but still very good. This tale will have you bolting your doors and locking your windows- as well as turning the furnace up to ward off that evil chill in the air that this book is sure to deliver.I found that this book is a great read but does have some slow parts. Definitely worth reading.

Something Frigid This Way Comes...

Ellen is worried about her husband, successful children's book author Ben Sterling. Ever since inheriting the family house in isolated Stargrave, his old childhood demons have been reemerging. Ben's father was crazy - he traveled to the ends of the earth researching legends of the midnight sun, and committed suicide by stripping naked in a snowy clearing - and Ellen is beginning to be afraid Ben might just be a chip off the old block.But soon something starts scaring her worse - Ben's insistence that an eldritch god is awakening in Stargrave to reshape the planet in its image seems less a fantasy than when he and his crazy father first started spouting the idea. Stargrave is changing. It's getting colder. More isolated. The trees, the snow, the very frost itself, increasingly appears to be rearranging itself into that god's own image. Which means, perhaps, that Ben isn't a madman at all, but a genuine prophet - and if that is the case, then the end of the world is at hand...This is one of Campbell's best, and that's saying a lot. The novel is uneven, and could have been structured better, but overall it's a steadily mounting masterpiece of menace. It's most reminiscent of Algernon Blackwood and H. P. Lovecraft, in that its horror is genuinely cosmic and never truly seen except for the effects of its presence. Dramatically, it's highly reminiscent of Stephen King's The Shining, in that a snowbound woman protects her children from her increasingly unstable (and quite possibly dangerous) husband, with an unseen supernatural being influencing events from the frozen shadows.Sadly - like most of Campbell's best work - this book is out of print, but it's well worth trying to find anyway if you're a fan of well-crafted, creep-up-behind-you horror.

very good horror

Outstanding horror novel. Campbell has a gift, and, when he's on, he can write some of the most subtle, exquistely unsettling horror around. This novel is an excellent showcase for his skill. Things don't make sense in Campbell's world. Even when the beasties come out of the closet, you won't get a sense that you understand the forces at work, or that you can somehow predict what they're going to do next. This has a way of keeping you on your toes, and keeping you scared.