Synopses & Reviews
Once upon a time there were seven good friends. They were the forgotten little brothers and sisters of the Big Chill generation, born in the turbulent year when the flames of Watts lit the City of Angels and napalm kissed the war-torn skies of Vietnam. They called themselves The Underground. For Justin and Mia, Josh and Caroline, Amy, Seth, and Simon, there was nothing but drugs and music, combined with boundless cynicism and a deep yearning for something that really mattered.
As graduation rolled around, they knew they would drift apart. By Labor Day weekend, there was just enough time to throw one last private party. But where? Creepy old Custis Manor was temporarily uninhabited. So they motored out to the moldering southern plantation, ready to party the night away.
They could not have known that on the other side of the mirrors, something watched: a corrupt, voracious force, neither fully living nor truly dead. It was a soulless spirit of evil that had spent more than two hundred years cultivating its terrible powers.
It was the Great Night. And Custis Manor was its domain.
In one terrifying night their lives were forever shattered. One died. One disappeared. The survivors were scarred both inside and out. For twenty years, they couldn't face the truth of what had really happened.
Until now.
One has gone back, and through the mirror. And now the remaining friends are forced to confront the demons of their own pasts and a greater nightmare beyond their comprehension. Together they must face the Great Night, lay waste to its vicious legacy, and free the thousands of souls still trapped there, as the reunited Underground meets the Underground Railroad of souls.
A truly original metaphysical thriller---gory and intense, satisfying and unique, Underground is a startling vision of the nightmare dimension from one of the true masters of the genre.
Review
“Craig Spectors untamed talent continues to soar; sophisticated, scathing, effortlessly complex. His newest novel is a formidable trance of poetry and dread. This is the territory of fear taken to unforgivable truth.”
--Richard Christian Matheson on Underground
“This is what Horror wants to be when it grows up, a vision of tragic inevitability rooted in character, ruthless and inexorably unfolding, yet shot through with the possibility of grace.”
--Peter Straub on To Bury the Dead
Review
"In
To Bury the Dead, Craig Spector has achieved a mature, hard-won narrative authority that will be deeply gratifying to all, as well as to the many thousands of readers who have enjoyed his earlier work. The novel moves its protagonist from believable heroism into an equally convincing moral darkness terrible to behold, and it carries us with it every step along the way. This is what horror wants to be when it grows up, a vision of tragic inevitability rooted in character, ruthless and inexorably unfolding, yet shot through with the possibility of grace."--Peter Straub
"Craig Spector's solo debut is a riveting marvel: funny, powerful, and wise. Amid aching emotion are insights almost unbearably poignant, truths transcendent. The writing is exquisitely uneasy and holds the reader spellbound in a harrowing opera of loss and hope. This is a complex world where courage is religion and all things burn except faith. Spector has written a stunning novel."--Richard Christian Matheson on To Bury the Dead
"Spector (The Light at the End) is a strong writer who convincingly re-creates the dark, often gruesome world of paramedics and firefighters. Most impressive is his exploration into Paul's character and how ordinary people cope with extraordinary grief and horror. Not for the faint of heart, Spector's latest is for lovers of the best psychological thrillers, along the lines of Ruth Rendell's."--Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
A truly original metaphysical thriller---gory and intense, satisfying and unique--"Underground" is a startling vision of the nightmare dimension from one of the true masters of the genre.
Synopsis
ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WERE SEVEN GOOD FRIENDS…and they called themselves the Underground. For Justin, Mia, Josh, Caroline, Amy, Seth, and Simon life was nothing but drugs and music and fun…until high school was over and it was time for one final party before moving on.
Creepy, abandoned, isolated Custis Manor seemed like the perfect place for their blowout. But something watched their festivities…something corrupt and voracious.
Neither fully living nor truly dead, it had spent 200 years cultivating its terrible powers…waiting for victims to play with.
On that terrifying night, seven young lives were shattered forever.
Now, twenty years later, the survivors must return to Custis Manor to confront the demons of their past, to do battle with a nightmare beyond their comprehension…and a hideous peril more dreadful than death.
A truly unique thriller—gory and intense, satisfying and original—Underground is a startling vision of a nightmare dimension by one of the masters of the genre.
About the Author
Craig Spector is a bestselling author and screenwriter, with millions of copies of his ten books in print, including reprints in seven languages. His previous work includes the psychological thriller
To Bury the Dead and the modern vampire classic
The Light at the End. Spector's film and television work includes projects for Beacon Pictures, ABC, NBC, Fox Television, Hearst Entertainment, Davis Entertainment Television, and the Wonderful World of Disney. His last feature film project,
Repairman Jack, is an adaptation of the bestselling F. Paul Wilson novel
The Tomb.
Underground is Spector's eleventh book. He lives in Los Angeles, California.