I first discovered your books when I read the Hellfire Club as a
teenager (I was attracted to the front cover.) I was too young to get
it, but I remember liking it.
Not long after, I probably read The Talisman. But it wasn't until my
early 20s that I picked up Mystery. And then bought every damn one of
your books. Hell, my local library even has a copy of Marriages,
published in the 70s. Maybe it was meant to be.
I love your style - especially in the way I'm often not quite sure
what's happened. Cite reference, the opening of the aforementioned
Hellfire Club.
Or the way the narrative seamlessly weaves around the plot, almost as
if you're simply re-telling something which has already happened
elsewhere - the feeling of (almost) a horrific kind of journalism
first occured to me when I read Mr X, especially around the fire at
the boarding house (I'm going by memory here - I think it was the
boarding house).
Often, in your writing, vital information is casually passed from
character to character in conversation. Only later does the reader
discover how im****tant a quick comment chapters back was. It's great.
I love it.
In fact, every time I read your books, I want to finish it quickly so
I can: 1) find out the ending, and b) write myself.
So it was with mixed feeings that I finished lost boy, lost girl.
Because, it read more like a bestseller. The language was easier to
read - much easier. I finished it in two days. (I've got to admit, I
probably loved LBLG the least of all your books. But that's a personal
thing. Hey, In the Night Room is brilliant - a whole level up.)
Now that I've almost finished In The Night Room, I felt so moved by
this obvious change I had to write you a letter - an open letter,
because, I'm curious to know if anyone else has noticed the
difference. And everything is open on the Net.
I can't quite put my finger on the exact difference - but what I think
is, the plot and characters are still complete Straub - but it feels
as though you're ru****ng the books. You don't seem to be packaging it
with the same disturbing aura as you used to.
What do you think? HAVE you consciously changed your style?
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