A Special Place: The Heart of a Dark Matter

by Peter Straub

A Special Place will come to stand as one of Peter Straub's most deeply unsettling works of fiction. A rumination on the nature of evil, the story centers on a boy, Keith Hayward, who is drawn by his nature to an irresistible fascination with death and the taking of life. His father’s brother, the good-looking, suave Uncle Till—the infamous ladykiller, who has led a shadowy career as a local celebrity of dubious and dangerous repute—recognizes his nephew’s innermost nature and gleefully tutors him in art of doing ill without getting caught.

Even a cold-blooded sociopath must learn some lessons in survival, in seems, and Uncle Till is only happy to provide a tutorial, in the latest imaginative and disturbing work from one of America's most celebrated horror writers.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Mystery, Crime, Thriller, Dark, Novella

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Peter Straub was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Gordon Anthony Straub and Elvena (Nilsestuen) Straub.

Straub read voraciously from an early age, but his literary interests did not please his parents; his father hoped that he would grow up to be a professional athlete, while his mother wanted him to be a Lutheran minister. He attended Milwaukee Country Day School on a scholarship, and, during his time there, began writing.

Straub earned an honors BA in English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1965, and an MA at Columbia University a year later. He briefly taught English at Milwaukee Country Day, then moved to Dublin, Ireland, in 1969 to work on a PhD, and to start writing professionally

After mixed success with two attempts at literary mainstream novels in the mid-1970s ("Marriages" and "Under Venus"), Straub dabbled in the supernatural for the first time with "Julia" (1975). He then wrote "If You Could See Me Now" (1977), and came to widespread public attention with his fifth novel, "Ghost Story" (1979), which was a critical success and was later adapted into a 1981 film. Several horror novels followed, with growing success, including "The Talisman" and "Black House", two fantasy-horror collaborations with Straub's long-time friend and fellow author Stephen King.

In addition to his many novels, he published several works of poetry during his lifetime.

In 1966, Straub married Susan Bitker.They had two children; their daughter, Emma Straub, is also a novelist. The family lived in Dublin from 1969 to 1972, in London from 1972 to 1979, and in the New York City area from 1979 onwards.

Straub died on September 4, 2022, aged 79, from complications of a broken hip. At the time of his death, he and his wife lived in Brooklyn (New York City).

Reviews

[Dan Corey]

I’m not really sure how to rate this, so I’m not going to. Bottom line: this was well-written, but also super disturbing and off-putting to me. It crossed several lines that I’m not comfortable crossing. I’ll leave it at that.

[William Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

in researching a novel I had a mission to read the majority of first person accounts of serial homicide, stream of consciousness-style fiction. Here is my list.

1. Killer on The Road by James Ellroy
2. A Special Place: the heart of a dark matter by Peter Straub
3. The Killer by Colin Wilson
4. Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite
5. Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates
6. The Girls he Adored by Jonathan Nasaw
7. Head Hunter by Michael Slade
8. Stray Bullets (series) by David Lapham
9. The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson
10. I AM Not a Serial Killer (John Cleaver) by Dan Wells
11. Frenzy by Rex Miller
12. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
13. American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis
14. Slob by Rex Miller
15. Psycho by Robert Bloch

Hopefully my new novel, Blood Related (Nov/Dec release), might perch on the end of this list one day (audible sigh). Check out the list, will update as more come to mind.

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent novella. Sort of like a portait of a sociopath as a young man. Great introduction to Straub, finally an author who lives up to his reputation and accolades. As I understand, this is a prequel (which can be read as a stand alone) to A Dark Matter, in which case way to whet the appetite. Really like the narrative style and great detailed character descriptions. Quirk dark disturbing read. Recommended.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://anaslair.wordpress.com/2015/0...

That is a whole lot of emotion packed in such a small book.

First of all, that cover is stunning. I was in love with it from the moment I first saw it.

Now..
This book was terrifying. It chilled me to the bone. Straub is a master weaver of tales and, most of all, characters. It's a novella, there cannot be much room for elaboration, but you can definitely tell that, after such a seemingly innocent set of a boy and his uncle perched on a tree stump having a conversation, something crucial is about to happen to our main character.
You can see he is twisted from an early age, but as the story unfolds you also realize there are some tenuous remains of humanity left, and can see him struggle with it.

The writing is superb. Even if I felt it dragged on a bit at times, it all served a purpose. The suspense kept me constantly on edge and the character development of Keith intrigued the heck out of me. There is psychological terror and there is physical one, but most of the latter is hinted at, not exactly shown. You know the characters are depraved, but never really fully to what extent.

There isn't much more I can say about this book without spoiling it. It's one of those that you really need to slowly discover yourself. Also, as a prequel, there isn't much closure, so you need to read it for the ride. And boy, what a ride.

A few thoughts: I am not quite sure why Keith wanted Miller to meet his uncle when he did, or if Keith's parents suspected Till since they knew the cops were looking for him and had to protect him at least to some degree. I kept rooting for Keith till the end, particularly when he found out what his uncle was doing. I wanted him to go to the cops. I wanted him not to leave Miller with him. I wanted him not to kill Miller and take him to the hospital. But I suppose it was all inevitable.

A Special Place is an amazing, very disturbing novella. In the end, I could not help mourning for Keith, and wondering what his life would have been like without Uncle Till in it.

[Corey Woodcock · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a tough book to rate. It’s definitely an uncomfortable reading experience, but I think Peter Straub does it well. However, this is not a book for everyone.

We get a front row seat in a somewhat stream-of-consciousness style, inside the sick and twisted mind of a psychopath and serial killer in the making. It’s short-about 100 pages, with rather large font. Despite some of the content, I’m giving it a high rating for a few reasons. This was entertaining in the sense that it flowed really well. Straub makes it look effortless, and does it all with some of the best prose in the horror genre. Also, as far as Straub goes, this is relatively stripped down, straightforward and easy to understand.

While it’s not really overly gory, there is nonetheless a content warning here. We are inside the head of a sick, sick individual for the entirety of this novella, so if having a likable main character is a necessity for you then you may want to skip this one.

Overall, I liked it, but in a different kind of way. It’s not the kind of book you revisit because you loved the characters so much, lol, but if you’re interested in a peek into the mind of a dangerous psychopath, then it’s worth checking out.

[Jinky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Horror is definitely out of my comfort genre zone but this is a short book so I was figuring it’d scare me quickly and I’d move on. And perhaps the scare will get me out of my reading rut! Well, it was intriguingly sickening. As I understand it, this is a background on a character in Mr. Straub’s novel A Dark Matter. Having not read the full length novel (and most likely won’t since I’m too much of a wuss) and thinking that A Special Place is a good indication of what that novel would be like, so no thank you! Again, I’m not into horror so I say this but if you are, then this is definitely your book! It’s a quick well written novella. Incredibly fascinating in its own right.

Oh, by the way, it didn’t get me out of my reading rut! I haven’t figured out what’s wrong with me. Something in the air? Ugh. And it doesn't help either to be having Internet problems!! Double ugh.

**Find this review and more at Jinky is Reading

[Erika Schoeps · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

I own the Peter Straub/Stephen King collaborations, but I haven't read them yet... while I was at the library, this cute little novella caught my eye. So, I had my first taste of Peter Straub.

I liked Straub's writing style, basic and suspenseful, with the occasional punch. I also enjoyed the narrator's thought-provoking and insightful inner reflections... but even as the narrator thinks interesting thoughts, I just couldn't connect with him. In fact, I couldn't connect with any of the characters, who were just mere sketches. I loved reading this, but by the end, I felt I had been built up for naught. "A Special Place" could have been a great full-length novel, but instead, the reader is just treated to a shadow of a novella, full of ideas and half-finished character examinations.

But I will certainly not give up on Peter Straub.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just saw this and realized I never added it--I read it a year or two ago. I never got around to reading the book (A DARK MATTER???) that it was supposed to be a "prequel" of sorts, too.

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the introduction:

[….] I wanted to portray the demonic, but in the form of psychic and spiritual demons instead of literal ones. I had defined myself as a horror writer, and now I wanted to see what horror could do when you stripped away the metaphoric layer, where evil beings were literal entities, and dealt entirely in the realistic mode—to let myself enter the thoughtless world itself, where men and women were stuck with each other, or not, and went off to their jobs every day, or not...

[Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extremely well written, truly horrific book, "A Special Place" is compelling enough (and short enough) to be read in one sitting, but the disturbing after-images will linger for much longer.

Though this book is filled with violence -- physical, sexual, and psychological -- the majority of it is implied, as Straub describes its aftermath and lets his readers fill in the gaps.

The story he delivers is something of the Anti-Dexter, as budding sociopath Keith is encouraged in his interests by his magnetic uncle Till. Keith is presented as thoroughly dislikeable and corrupted from the start, but there are moments of shocking sympathy as he loses his last tenuous connections to humanity. There may not be any world in which Keith Hayward could have been a GOOD man, but Straub still conveys a sense of loss as Keith becomes a monster.

As a piece of horror fiction this is masterful, but I would hesitate to recommend it to anyone who wasn't committed to taking a very dark ride.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl · Rating 5 out of 5]

"If you get a special place all your own, you should be able to lock it up, so no one else can get in. What goes on in that room is private. Nobody should know about it but you. See, if let's say you happen to go down this path, you're gonna have all kinds of secrets."

Quite Disturbing! A Special Place is intriguing in a twisted, perverted sort of way.
Not recommended for those sensitive to violence upon animals or people.
Lots of references to Alfred Hitchcock: Vertigo, Shadow of A Doubt.

After reading A Special Place, I immediately immersed myself in the full-length novel, A Dark Matter, which A Special Place ties into. Both books feature a same character and A Special Place provides a backstory for him. I had bought this novella (just over 100 pages) when Borders closed in 2011. It took me until the 2020 Pandemic to get around to finally reading the short book.

Favorite Passages:

"I don't know how they'd do it, but for sure, if it was me, I'd use a knife."
_______

A tangle of thoughts and emotions rolled from his chest to his head and back again. He felt as though Uncle Till had sunk a branding iron into his brain.
_______

I kicked that cat into the fence and then I grabbed it by the neck and shoved the carving knife into its belly.
_______

Cooper's transparent duality, the thin folksy surface over the merciless granite of his actual self, frightened Keith more than what he was saying. The detective's inner self seemed to be swelling up, growing larger and larger, threatening to engulf the outer man.
_______

"Thank you for your cooperation, Keith. And on a personal note. Just let me say this. I think you have the right to know that you are undoubtedly the ugliest kid it has ever been my privilege to meet. That is the truth, Keith. You are one ugly-lookin' boy. Puke on the sidewalk is handsomer than you. If they gave out trophies for terrible faces, you'd win every time."
_______

When Keith speculated about specific crimes Uncle Till might have committed, he dared go no further than the assumption that his uncle had a "private" room wherein he, much like Keith in the last few years of grade school, dissected other people's pets. Beyond that, he could not think; beyond that lay an abyss.
All this time, the conversations in the backyard and the extra bedroom, which had been the best conversations of his life, coiled through his mind like smoke, now and then shining with meanings that in seconds melted away. He felt as though he stood trembling before a great dark door, too terrified even to reach out his hand. Keith had never seen the Alfred Hitchcock movie his uncle loved, for Shadow of a Doubt was too old for the cinemas and too disturbing to be shown during the family hours on network television.
_______

Here was the great dark door before which he had quailed; here was the true, the real abyss. And as he stood before it, the door swung open, and the abyss yawned wide. Lit with bright, wandering fires, his entire body seemed to tremble from within. A great confirmation rang through him and seemed to lift him off the ground. His head reverberated. For a moment he was conscious of nothing but his blood coursing through his brain and body in a continuous, racing stream. Then his knees went rubbery, and he began to slip toward the floor.
A female voice called, "Sir! Are you all right?"
It was like being pulled back to shore. A woman with piled-up hair and cat's-eye glasses stood perhaps ten feet down the aisle, extending one hand and one foot as though poised between flight and approach. She had big freaky eyes, and her mouth was a beak.
_______

Could you have a conversation like that? One that acknowledged the great open door and the shimmering license that lay beyond it? Or were such conversations conducted in the silences between ordinary words and phrases? With the sense of standing on the lip of a great precipice, Keith rushed down the last aisle past displays of ribbons, pins, elastic bands, and buttons on long cards, seeing nothing.
_______

The town looked as though it had been stolen by aliens and set down in a desolation.
_______

"Did it all myself," said Uncle Till, answering an actual though unasked question. "If I'd hired workmen, I would have had to kill 'em, and that was an unacceptable level of risk."
_______

Not long after, they were driving back home through a world that looked both exactly the same and utterly transformed.
_______

"Decent people don't live that way."
"There isn't just one way to be decent," he said.
There this conversation ended.
_______

. . . wasn't it obvious that this guy, Oswald, had more or less changed the rules? You could come up out of nowhere, you could appear to have led a misguided and wasted life, and yet all it took was a gun to place you on the same level as the President of the United States - if he was the most powerful man in the world, then you were right beside him.
_______

"Unlike you and me, most people hide their real motives from themselves. They have no idea why they do the things they do. Oh, they talk all day long about what made them do this and that, but what they tell you isn't even close to the truth. Because they don't know the truth. And why is that? They can't let themselves know it. The truth is unacceptable. Every human being on earth tells millions of lies in the course of his life, but most of those lies are to himself about himself."


Afterword by Gary K. Wolfe"FRACTAL EVIL"

Put simply, it is this: the closer we think we are to understanding the shape of the dark forces that often surround his characters, the more we learn that we've only glimpsed a portion of the whole picture. Like a fractal coastline that at first seems to be a clear border but upon closer inspection reveals a near-infinite complex of inlets, bays and outcroppings, the nature of evil in Straub's world is forever receding from any definitive view: there's always another story, and behind that, yet another.
_______

What might be relevant is this: anyone who has read much of Straub's fiction, particularly stories like "Bunny is Good Bread" which are related to larger narratives, is aware of the relentlessness he brings to his most disturbing scenarios, his refusal to pull the camera back when we would expect a decorous edit from most writers. This almost loving attention to detail has the same effect as a traumatic experience.

[Amanda NEVER MANDY · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was brief and to the point, gruesome with zero surprises. The blurb pretty much gave you everything there was to know so it was a sit back and enjoy the ride kind of deal. I wasn’t terrified, more disgusted than anything else. That has been the trend with me as of late, not tolerating the chosen material as well as I used to. Hmm…I wonder if it’s a phase or if my tastes are changing.

The writing style is so-so with me, as my past ratings of this author’s books show. It’s like almost there but just not quite. Close to the end of this one I finally felt the roller coaster car clicking into place, only to discover the ride was over. If memory serves me correct, this is the usual trend with his books and evidently I need more to keep me intrigued.

[Alondra Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 - 5 Stars

I am torn on the amount of stars to give; mainly, because this was a novella. I love and hate short stories and novellas. Many pack a powerful punch, which leave you wanting more! This story does much of the same.

Ladies and gentleman, a guide to how serial killers start out; maybe not all, but some. If you have a "friend" of the family or family member, who sets your teeth on edge and creeps you out, this may be why. Better yet, that family member that has your sixth sense on fire. You know the one.

This book is not scary. Not creepy. It is probably a serial killers factual account of how they got started. Definitely interesting and sad for the victims.

Watch out for Uncle Till. He ain't right.

[Greg Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very frank and brutal account of the very nature of human evil.
There's something about Straub that magnetises you...he paints such a thorough picture that you can't help but get inside the characters' heads, see what they see, feel what they feel.
If you want to read the penultimate tale of how a serial killer is born then read this.

[Julie Tridle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm just going to come clean now and admit the reason I didn't give this book it's fifth star is because it disturbed me too much, which is precisely what it was supposed to do. I really liked the clean, straightforward writing style and the overall simplicity of the novella as a whole. (The reason I don't read more Stephen King is because he can be way too wordy and descriptive for me. That may sound stupid, but it's true.) I know I will seek out more books by Peter Staub. Just not ones about budding serial killers. Ghost Story is probably the one I'll seek out next.

[Chris Cangiano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Straub’s writing is always a treat, and this short novella is no exception. I understand that this is an outtake from his novel A Dark Matter (which I have not yet read), and serves to elucidate the backstory of one of the villains of that piece. It works just fine on its own though as a short study of the corrupting power of evil, and a sort of inverted love letter to Hitchcock and Thornton Wilder’s wonderful movie Shadow of a Doubt. Highly recommended.

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hey! This is disgusting! And I LOVED IT. great pov. Great almost stream of consciousness vibe. Great horror.

[Giuliane Souza · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Aurora Dimitre · Rating 5 out of 5]

peter. my guy. apt pupil WHO

[Eyehavenofilter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Extremely disturbing story of how deviance,violence,and disposable behavior is condoned, pampered, and even applauded by relatives.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
How an older male relative initiates a younger male relative into a life of violent secret crime. Starting with a "supposition" that he might need a special place to put his special things.
Most serial killers start out with small animals, and then proceed on up the food chain. The young boy in this story has already stood on that step, and is ripe for someone like his "Uncle Till" to pat him on the back and tell him that everything is just fine, and how to get better at what he does.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Every budding psychopath needs an "Uncle Till" to sooth out his fears and set him on the right track to becoming everything he can be. Unstoppable, uncatchable, and totally without guilt. Since Till knows this path by heart he is a great role model. Making sure that his actions don't cause too much attention, and he keeps his own
urges in check, to only once or twice a year.
This was so hard to read, terrifying to process, and very uncomfortable to know that this is such a common reality.
YIKES!

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book is like being inside the head of a serial killer...except we meet him when he's only 12 years old. And he's being coached by his uncle. It's shockingly realistic and at times extremely disturbing. I've read True Crime that upset me less than this book.

All that being said it was excellently written. The prose is tight, compact. This is a novella and really a character study of a boy who will later appear as a man in a full length novel. It can be read as a stand alone. It's about the relationship between an uncle, who is a sociopath, training his nephew in the ways of not getting caught and of how to acquire and manage "a special place."

[AmberBug com* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but enormously terrifying!!! My stomach is quite unsettled after this read and that feeling is hard to come by with all the prior books I've experienced. This is not a book for someone who sickens easily. I'm not one of those and I think this book will stay with me awhile, maybe even haunt my dreams.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this made me sad. There was no safety in the fiction, it was raw and real. Like a holodeck with the safeties turned off. A tremendous achievement by Peter Straub. After being so deeply affected by this short novella, what else could I rate it but five stars?

[Rhonda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Definitely dark, and was about killing and sexual perversion......

[Maicie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A terrific novella. Straub is a great author.

[Robin Hobb · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, Peter Straub creeped me out. Not a book to read when in the house alone.

[Candy · Rating 4 out of 5]

FREAKY!!!! FREAKY!!!!!
If you want to read about the development of a psychopath, this novella is for you. The advice Keith receives from his uncle is chilling and disturbing

[Leninha · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Todo ser humano conta milhões de mentiras no decorrer da vida, mas a maior parte destas mentiras é sobre si mesmo e para si mesmo."

[Stephanie Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet