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Oxrun Station #10
The Long Night of the Grave
A mysterious creature, brought back to life through the use of some ancient Egyptian artifacts from Isle Hall, stalks the gaslit streets of Oxrun Station, bringing death with it
160 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
3 people are currently reading
249 people want to read
About the author
Charles L. Grant
309 books262 followersCharles Lewis Grant was a novelist and short story writer specializing in what he called "dark fantasy" and "quiet horror." He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Geoffrey Marsh, Lionel Fenn, Simon Lake, Felicia Andrews, and Deborah Lewis.
Grant won a World Fantasy Award for his novella collection Nightmare Seasons, a Nebula Award in 1976 for his short story "A Crowd of Shadows", and another Nebula Award in 1978 for his novella "A Glow of Candles, a Unicorn's Eye," the latter telling of an actor's dilemma in a post-literate future. Grant also edited the award winning Shadows anthology, running eleven volumes from 1978-1991. Contributors include Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, R.A. Lafferty, Avram Davidson, and Steve Rasnic and Melanie Tem. Grant was a former Executive Secretary and Eastern Regional Director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and president of the Horror Writers Association.
Grant won a World Fantasy Award for his novella collection Nightmare Seasons, a Nebula Award in 1976 for his short story "A Crowd of Shadows", and another Nebula Award in 1978 for his novella "A Glow of Candles, a Unicorn's Eye," the latter telling of an actor's dilemma in a post-literate future. Grant also edited the award winning Shadows anthology, running eleven volumes from 1978-1991. Contributors include Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, R.A. Lafferty, Avram Davidson, and Steve Rasnic and Melanie Tem. Grant was a former Executive Secretary and Eastern Regional Director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and president of the Horror Writers Association.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 27, 2022
Charles Grant gets a lot of love, but also some snickers, in the horror community. But when I read the opening lines to this classic paperback from hell, I was immediately captivated. Beautiful, descriptive prose sets the stage, immediately followed by:
"Spring, whose afternoons are the time for walking, dusk the time for heading home. And night the time for listening for someone moving behind you. Silently."
This is old-school horror, folks, centered around my second favorite old-school horror icon, the Mummy (Frankenstein's monster being my number one). Grant does a great job capturing the gothic feel of the early film depictions of this undead nightmare. I would say this book draws mostly from the first Hammer remake as well as Universal's "The Mummy's Tomb" and "The Mummy's Ghost."
This novel is part of a series of books set in the town of Oxrun Station, Grant's literary equivalent to Stephen King's Castle Rock. But the world of Oxrun Station is one that feels more like the old Universal shared Monsterverse, where everything seems in a transitory phase from feudal times to the early 20th Century. Thus, the action is set in an America where horse-drawn carts share treacherous roads alongside electric motor cars, police sergeants are drinking ale in cozy taverns with amateur detectives, and where people speak with a distinctive English or Transatlantic cadence and vocabulary. "The Long Night of the Grave" is actually the 10th of a 12 book series, and the last of a trilogy of novels where Grant introduces classic Universal monsters into his Oxrun town. But you don't need to have read any of them to enjoy what are otherwise standalone stories.
Gore hounds will be quite disappointed in this entry. Though there is some considerable carnage throughout the book, even as early as the opening scene, the narrative tends to cut away or to be light on the descriptors. This is more for the fans of monster movies from the 30s through the 60s, a late night cozy read for Halloween or just to unravel. I don't mean to say this book isn't scary, as it does have it's surprises and mayhem, but the chills are mostly in the atmosphere it evokes. That was the trademark style of the Mummy stories following the original Boris Karloff classic and before the more comic adventure/romance of the 1999 reboot. The Mummy was an early precursor to the silent unstoppable slashers like Jason Voorhees, which I found very frightening as a kid when done correctly in various media. A great example is the classic Doctor Who episode "The Pyramids of Mars," which scares me to this day. This book captures much of that timeless creepy feel.
The negative aspects are what you'd expect. Much of the book is just silly. People encounter the mummy and try to run away. Then they fall, and the mummy catches up to them. There's a lot of falling down in this story. Someone needs to fix the sidewalks and the potholes in Oxford Station. The plot is unecessarily convoluted to disguise the fact that there isn't much of one. We spend a lot of time listening to Victorian types argue and fret over tea and brandy. I don't have a problem with that, but it can get a bit dull for such a short novel.
So overall, this is just very familiar territory for classic horror fans. There's nothing shocking, or transgressive, or disturbing, or enlightening. It's just old-fashioned spooky good times that is written very well. Burn some incense, brew yourself a cup of tana-leaf tea, and forget about your troubles for an evening or two.
"Spring, whose afternoons are the time for walking, dusk the time for heading home. And night the time for listening for someone moving behind you. Silently."
This is old-school horror, folks, centered around my second favorite old-school horror icon, the Mummy (Frankenstein's monster being my number one). Grant does a great job capturing the gothic feel of the early film depictions of this undead nightmare. I would say this book draws mostly from the first Hammer remake as well as Universal's "The Mummy's Tomb" and "The Mummy's Ghost."
This novel is part of a series of books set in the town of Oxrun Station, Grant's literary equivalent to Stephen King's Castle Rock. But the world of Oxrun Station is one that feels more like the old Universal shared Monsterverse, where everything seems in a transitory phase from feudal times to the early 20th Century. Thus, the action is set in an America where horse-drawn carts share treacherous roads alongside electric motor cars, police sergeants are drinking ale in cozy taverns with amateur detectives, and where people speak with a distinctive English or Transatlantic cadence and vocabulary. "The Long Night of the Grave" is actually the 10th of a 12 book series, and the last of a trilogy of novels where Grant introduces classic Universal monsters into his Oxrun town. But you don't need to have read any of them to enjoy what are otherwise standalone stories.
Gore hounds will be quite disappointed in this entry. Though there is some considerable carnage throughout the book, even as early as the opening scene, the narrative tends to cut away or to be light on the descriptors. This is more for the fans of monster movies from the 30s through the 60s, a late night cozy read for Halloween or just to unravel. I don't mean to say this book isn't scary, as it does have it's surprises and mayhem, but the chills are mostly in the atmosphere it evokes. That was the trademark style of the Mummy stories following the original Boris Karloff classic and before the more comic adventure/romance of the 1999 reboot. The Mummy was an early precursor to the silent unstoppable slashers like Jason Voorhees, which I found very frightening as a kid when done correctly in various media. A great example is the classic Doctor Who episode "The Pyramids of Mars," which scares me to this day. This book captures much of that timeless creepy feel.
The negative aspects are what you'd expect. Much of the book is just silly. People encounter the mummy and try to run away. Then they fall, and the mummy catches up to them. There's a lot of falling down in this story. Someone needs to fix the sidewalks and the potholes in Oxford Station. The plot is unecessarily convoluted to disguise the fact that there isn't much of one. We spend a lot of time listening to Victorian types argue and fret over tea and brandy. I don't have a problem with that, but it can get a bit dull for such a short novel.
So overall, this is just very familiar territory for classic horror fans. There's nothing shocking, or transgressive, or disturbing, or enlightening. It's just old-fashioned spooky good times that is written very well. Burn some incense, brew yourself a cup of tana-leaf tea, and forget about your troubles for an evening or two.
December 26, 2025
Quick, atmospheric, and unusually brutal for Grant. The mummy in this book is pretty much a slasher villain, who stalks the foggy countryside, trampling people to death after he's ripped their throats out!
July 29, 2016
Of all the classic movie monsters, I'm least familiar with the mythology of the mummy, but as I think about it now, it seems to be reflective of the golem in Jewish folklore. Each is raised into being by magic, unstoppable, on a singular mission, and nearly indestructible, and once they're let loose, they usually wind up doing as much harm to their creators as to whoever they've been set upon. Either way, though, these kinds of stories are usually told so that the reader wonders what could be causing the kind of mayhem witnessed in the story, with the clues leading us down the road toward the mummy. With The Long Night of the Grave, we already know this is going to be a mummy story, so a lot of that tension is lost on us.
Still, the story succeeds despite that, thanks again to Grant's characterization skills, and how deftly he builds the atmosphere of his story. I'm not sure I ever felt outright dread while reading, but there was definitely a general feel to the novel that supported the subject matter. Plus, I realized with this book that Grant's characters are astute, saying to us what we already knew but hadn't realized we knew.
Combining the quaint old-town sensibilities of Oxrun Station with Egyptian lore seems odd. They don't go well together, and while I understand why Grant concluded the trilogy here -- the classic Universal movie monsters were Dracula, the werewolf, Franeknstein's monster, and the mummy (and the Frankenstein monster would have been even more out of place) -- the story feels forced into the setting. Grant drops historical hints to give us a sense of the timeframe of the story, which is later than 1895, thanks to a mention of Trilby, but not later than 1897, as Grover Cleveland is still in office. This puts it far ahead of the ancient Egypt craze that took place in the 1920s, which I thought maybe could account for the oddity of the story in this particular setting, but it doesn't work out that way.
The chronology of this story follows The Soft Whisper of the Dead, though it only references characters from that book in passing. It seems unusual that Grant chose to shift the chronology around, but it seems to work well enough. I didn't like this one as much as I did the other two books in the trilogy, but that might be due to knowing less about mummies than the other horror archetypes. Regardless, anyone who read the first two should finish the series out with this one, too.
Still, the story succeeds despite that, thanks again to Grant's characterization skills, and how deftly he builds the atmosphere of his story. I'm not sure I ever felt outright dread while reading, but there was definitely a general feel to the novel that supported the subject matter. Plus, I realized with this book that Grant's characters are astute, saying to us what we already knew but hadn't realized we knew.
Combining the quaint old-town sensibilities of Oxrun Station with Egyptian lore seems odd. They don't go well together, and while I understand why Grant concluded the trilogy here -- the classic Universal movie monsters were Dracula, the werewolf, Franeknstein's monster, and the mummy (and the Frankenstein monster would have been even more out of place) -- the story feels forced into the setting. Grant drops historical hints to give us a sense of the timeframe of the story, which is later than 1895, thanks to a mention of Trilby, but not later than 1897, as Grover Cleveland is still in office. This puts it far ahead of the ancient Egypt craze that took place in the 1920s, which I thought maybe could account for the oddity of the story in this particular setting, but it doesn't work out that way.
The chronology of this story follows The Soft Whisper of the Dead, though it only references characters from that book in passing. It seems unusual that Grant chose to shift the chronology around, but it seems to work well enough. I didn't like this one as much as I did the other two books in the trilogy, but that might be due to knowing less about mummies than the other horror archetypes. Regardless, anyone who read the first two should finish the series out with this one, too.
August 2, 2024
The final Oxrun Station novel, and the third book in Grant’s ode to Universal/Hammer trilogy. He brought a vampire to the Station, then a werewolf, now, of course, he had to do a mummy.
I know mummies are generally considered less cool than the other classic monsters, but I really love them. They’re always a blunt tool being used by conniving schemers to kill people who get in their way, and I like that dynamic. I also think it’s just damn cool to picture a mummy stalking around New England graveyards.
In my reviews of the prior two books, I mentioned that the characters and plot are not the strong points in these things, and that it’s really all about mood and atmosphere. I still stand by that, but reading this one I also realized just how much I took the stock characters for granted. They weren’t groundbreaking and didn’t provoke great introspection, but they got the job done very effectively. I also didn’t realize just how deceptively well-plotted the previous two books were.
Here, we aren’t following Sheriff Stockton Sr or Jr—we only get brief mention of Ned at the beginning and end. We get a whole new cast of characters, and damn I kept getting them all confused. There’s so many, and we never spend much time with any of them for their personalities to rub off on me. Who are these people? What exactly is their relationship? Are they friends, because they don’t really seem like it. And why doesn’t our lead, John Vicar, fit in? We’re told he helps his buddy Ned Stockton investigate crimes, and we’re led to believe it’s because of his intuition, but we never really see that put into play during the actual events of the book. And John’s love interest is so far less developed than even the previous two.
I kind of got the feeling that Grant had become less enamored with this chore he had given himself here, and he’s really racing for the finish line. It’s about 20 pages shorter than the others. Still, as flawed as this was, I had a great time reading it. He was writing these things specifically for readers like myself, and I ate it up.
3.5
I know mummies are generally considered less cool than the other classic monsters, but I really love them. They’re always a blunt tool being used by conniving schemers to kill people who get in their way, and I like that dynamic. I also think it’s just damn cool to picture a mummy stalking around New England graveyards.
In my reviews of the prior two books, I mentioned that the characters and plot are not the strong points in these things, and that it’s really all about mood and atmosphere. I still stand by that, but reading this one I also realized just how much I took the stock characters for granted. They weren’t groundbreaking and didn’t provoke great introspection, but they got the job done very effectively. I also didn’t realize just how deceptively well-plotted the previous two books were.
Here, we aren’t following Sheriff Stockton Sr or Jr—we only get brief mention of Ned at the beginning and end. We get a whole new cast of characters, and damn I kept getting them all confused. There’s so many, and we never spend much time with any of them for their personalities to rub off on me. Who are these people? What exactly is their relationship? Are they friends, because they don’t really seem like it. And why doesn’t our lead, John Vicar, fit in? We’re told he helps his buddy Ned Stockton investigate crimes, and we’re led to believe it’s because of his intuition, but we never really see that put into play during the actual events of the book. And John’s love interest is so far less developed than even the previous two.
I kind of got the feeling that Grant had become less enamored with this chore he had given himself here, and he’s really racing for the finish line. It’s about 20 pages shorter than the others. Still, as flawed as this was, I had a great time reading it. He was writing these things specifically for readers like myself, and I ate it up.
3.5
February 2, 2025
The Long Night of the Grave is the strongest of Grant's "Universal Horror" trilogy. Perhaps this is due to the relative scarcity of mummy novels, even ones that merely transplant the location of 1930s films.
Like The Soft Whisper of the Dead and The Dark Cry of the Moon, The Long Night of the Grave takes place in nineteenth century Oxrun Station, CT. Long Night takes place in the early 1890s, the period of electric cars, electric light, and the World's Columbian Exhibition. Like the previous novels, Long Night deals with an outsider's arrival, the outsider seeking alliance with a powerful local family.
Our hero is John Vicar, a young and modest landowner. While acknowledged as an equal by the local bourgeois grandees, John has ambitious career plans: to own Oxrun's first car dealership.
But Vicar is also one of three men who purchased an Egyptian curio from a since-disappeared archaeologist named Reskin. John Vicar's friend Jeffrey Isle claims desperately that the three curios belonged to him, but he cannot afford to buy them back.
Soon the group who own the three curios find surrendering them to their original owner has become a matter of life and death.
Like The Soft Whisper of the Dead and The Dark Cry of the Moon, The Long Night of the Grave takes place in nineteenth century Oxrun Station, CT. Long Night takes place in the early 1890s, the period of electric cars, electric light, and the World's Columbian Exhibition. Like the previous novels, Long Night deals with an outsider's arrival, the outsider seeking alliance with a powerful local family.
Our hero is John Vicar, a young and modest landowner. While acknowledged as an equal by the local bourgeois grandees, John has ambitious career plans: to own Oxrun's first car dealership.
But Vicar is also one of three men who purchased an Egyptian curio from a since-disappeared archaeologist named Reskin. John Vicar's friend Jeffrey Isle claims desperately that the three curios belonged to him, but he cannot afford to buy them back.
Soon the group who own the three curios find surrendering them to their original owner has become a matter of life and death.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 21, 2014
What can I say about The Long Night of the Grave that I haven't already said about the first two. Well, not a lot really. They have all been such good reads. Very nostalgic, and make me want to go watch a Hammer Horror movie, of which I have several.
I liked the fact that the monster was nearly always unseen, or just hinted at, almost never in your face. That was a nice touch. I liked the way it made me long for Halloween, and I liked the foggy, creepy, eerie kind of atmosphere that pervaded all three books.
Very well done. If you like the old classic horror movies, and especially if you're a fan of Hammer, then pick these books up. You'll regret it if you don't.
Oh, the first one was still my favourite...
I liked the fact that the monster was nearly always unseen, or just hinted at, almost never in your face. That was a nice touch. I liked the way it made me long for Halloween, and I liked the foggy, creepy, eerie kind of atmosphere that pervaded all three books.
Very well done. If you like the old classic horror movies, and especially if you're a fan of Hammer, then pick these books up. You'll regret it if you don't.
Oh, the first one was still my favourite...
January 11, 2012
Lots of fun, and as usual, the perfect Charles Grant ending...
July 8, 2020
This is an attempt at telling an old fashioned mummy tale similar to the classic Universal and Hammer films, and while Charles L. Grant was very successful in reviving Gothic horrors like vampires and werewolves in some of his other Oxrun Station books, this one just doesn't work. The main plotline is pretty thin and yet made overly complicated by some clumsy character interplay, while the characters themselves are not particularly engaging. The villains aren't especially formidable and the scenes involving the mummy are light on action and scares. Grant generally excels at establishing a foreboding mood and Gothic atmosphere and this novel is no exception, but that's really the story's only saving grace. Grant wrote a number of excellent novels, but this one isn't up to his usual standards. It's not terrible, but it is extremely disappointing.
July 27, 2022
Grant, Charles L - The Long Night Of The Grave
Finale to Grant’s homage to golden age, Hollywood monsters.
We are now entering a more modern era. Motorcars are in evidence, and homes are being wired for electricity.
Less welcome, a mummy arrives in Oxrun Station, along with a faithful, handy priest.
A mounting corpse count doesn’t seem to disturb local police.
Character development is all but nonexistent here, which is fine since this echoes Universal characters, who were also one-note.
Of the trilogy, this outing worked best for me, though I will admit I found the mummy dull.
C’mon, best defense, a can of hairspray and a Zippo lighter.
Finale to Grant’s homage to golden age, Hollywood monsters.
We are now entering a more modern era. Motorcars are in evidence, and homes are being wired for electricity.
Less welcome, a mummy arrives in Oxrun Station, along with a faithful, handy priest.
A mounting corpse count doesn’t seem to disturb local police.
Character development is all but nonexistent here, which is fine since this echoes Universal characters, who were also one-note.
Of the trilogy, this outing worked best for me, though I will admit I found the mummy dull.
C’mon, best defense, a can of hairspray and a Zippo lighter.
May 26, 2020
Last (and least) in Grant's series of iconic monsters haunting the fictional Connecticut town of Oxrun Station. This time a classic bandaged mummy seeks out the men who bought stolen Egyptian artifacts.
Grant, as usual, is able to economically create an atmosphere of horror and place, but his characters and plot are thinner than ever.
The Long Night of the Grave had the feel of a middling Hammer movie.
Grant, as usual, is able to economically create an atmosphere of horror and place, but his characters and plot are thinner than ever.
The Long Night of the Grave had the feel of a middling Hammer movie.
May 2, 2024
Giant's Work Should Be Movies! Atmospheric Horror at its Best!
So, now I've read the entire Universe of Horror Trilogy. I can't recommend these books enough. Do you want gothic style horror written in words? Do you want atmospheric horror in the tradition of Amicus and Hammer?
Read this trilogy.
Charles Grant is fast becoming my favorite writer - and I truly mean that! I absolutely love his unique prose.
So, now I've read the entire Universe of Horror Trilogy. I can't recommend these books enough. Do you want gothic style horror written in words? Do you want atmospheric horror in the tradition of Amicus and Hammer?
Read this trilogy.
Charles Grant is fast becoming my favorite writer - and I truly mean that! I absolutely love his unique prose.
June 5, 2024
I really wanted to like this book. The writing was clipped and choppy, and the characters were not even sketched out. There were numerous run-on sentences. Three characters had names that started with J; what made this worse was that first and last names were used interchangeably, sometimes on the same page.
I'm willing to try more of Grant's work, to see if it's any better. I'm hoping this one is an outlier.
I'm willing to try more of Grant's work, to see if it's any better. I'm hoping this one is an outlier.
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August 12, 2019Full review: https://supermonsternovels.com/2019/0...
December 6, 2021
An amazing little novel for lovers of classic horror movies! It has the atmosphere of the old mummy movies and eerie gothic tales. Loved it!
September 18, 2023
An unwelcome visitor in Oxrun Station.
September 24, 2023
Classic horror tale that I enjoyed listening to. Good characters, interesting storyline kept me guessing and the narration was well done!
December 14, 2023
This was the last of the monsters trilogy and was just as good as the first two.
January 14, 2024
Well written atmospheric tale. As always grants prose is wonderful. Couldn't help placing well known Hammer actors in certain roles. Reading Dialing the wind next.
July 18, 2024
A fun little homage to classic horror movies!
May 21, 2016
This book was a good, quick read; however, I felt it was very dated and predictable. That aside, I really enjoyed the story!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews