Rating: 
Summary: I do believe in spooks..I do, I do, I do.
Review: What is it about the ghost story that makes it such an enduring, perennially popular form of entertainment? From Shakespeare to Dickens, "A Turn of the Screw" to "The Shining," for longer than stories have been written down, audiences have wanted to see dead people. The recent box office successes of "The Sixth Sense" and "The Others" make it clear that the ghost story is alive and quite well in the 21st century. So what is it about these tales of haunted houses and haunted people that makes them so compelling to the human psyche?One might begin to suspect that deeper psychological truths lurk under all those white sheets and rattling chains. In his latest novel, "A Winter Haunting," Dan Simmons shines some light on the very real ghosts of childhood lost and life's choices not taken. A sequel to Simmons' coming-of-age horror epic "Summer of Night," "A Winter Haunting" catches up with the young protagonist, Dale Stewart, 41 years later, in ghostly present day Elm Haven, Illinois. Dale's nasty little secret is that his life at fifty is merely a shadow of the success story it seems to be. A popular novelist and professor of English literature at the University of Montana, Dale is also recently divorced, suffering from clinical depression, and nauseously adrift on the choppy wake of a failed romance and attempted suicide. Much in need of a calming influence in his life, Dale finds himself drawn by the Eden-like memories of his childhood to the once bucolic town of Elm Haven, Illinois. Dale is dismayed to find that Elm Haven, like the rest of the world around him, has become infected by the disfiguring disease of "progress." Part and parcel of the rootless strip-mall/boob-job world of the 21st century, Elm Haven is, like Dale himself, only a ghost of its once innocent self. Still Dale is determined to mine some answers from his past. He decides to write a novel about his childhood, hoping to draw on the familiar surroundings to evoke the spirit of his past-unfortunately, the spirit in question is more than willing to oblige. Dale begins receiving cryptic messages on his laptop computer from his long dead best friend, Duane. Some memories, it would seem, have a life and mind all their own. Yet, is this dialogue with his dead friend proof of a ghostly afterlife, or just the latest manifestation of a mind unhinged? Simmons succeeds in keeping you guessing to the very last. If you're in the mood for a creepy, atmospheric ghost story, you'll want to check out "A Winter Haunting". It bears many surface similarities to Stephen King's "Bag of Bones" while managing to maintain a distinct spirit all its own (much in the same way "Summer of Night" shadowed King's "It"). The only problem I have with "A Winter Haunting" is that it feels too much like a ghost of a novel. There's a gray kind of claustrophobia that arises from being cooped up for too long with a single character and his thoughts. Simmons does his best to alleviate the monotony by interjecting scenes from Dale's recent failed love affair with a precocious grad student. Unfortunately, the inevitable demise of the affair doesn't add much color to the proceedings. It would have been nice to have witnessed firsthand some of the childhood memories from the novel Dale is writing. As it is, "Winter" comes off as a spooky little melody that, given the proper counterpoint, might have made for a richer, more resonating harmony. Still, the book ends well, suggesting an interesting connection with the previous novel, "Summer of Night". If you're a fan of Simmons' writing, or if you're just looking for a compelling, well-written ghost story, you'll want to pick up "A Winter Haunting". It'll have you echoing the Cowardly Lion's famous line: "I do believe in spooks...I do, I do, I do."
Rating: 
Summary: Not a Terrific Sequel
Review: I absolutely loved SUMMER OF NIGHT, and purchased A WINTER HAUNTING expecting more of the same from this "sequel." Granted, Simmons is a heck of a writer, but this was by far not his best book. Much smaller in scope than SUMMER OF NIGHT, A WINTER HAUNTING never really energized me. I finished the book more out of an obligation to the price I paid to purchase it rather than to find out how it ends. Not a great place to start for someone new to Simmons, especially is you're looking for Horror. Try SUMMER OF NIGHT or CARRION COMFORT.
Rating:
Summary: a gripping tale
Review: "A Haunted Winter" will grip you from the first page till the last. For members of the baby boom generation, especially for those from the midwest, the novel will evoke childhood memories of another, sunnier time. When Montana college professor Dale's life turns to shambles, and he lives through a failed suicide attempt, he decides to make a kind of pilgrimage back to the small Illinois town where he grew up, to the farm house of his friend, the astonishingly precocious Duane. Duane's early and mysterious death forty years ago once more haunts Dale as he struggles to write a novel and to piece his own life back together.
Despite some sex scenes and some violent encounters which, though well written, seem obligatory for the genre, Dan Simmons has produced an original and outstanding thriller.
Rating:
Summary: A Decent Sequel
Review: While not nearly as fun a read as Summer of Night, A Winter Haunting is a fairly decent--though depressing--sequel. The book strays far enough from the material in Summer of Night that having read the original novel isn't a prerequisite for enjoying this one. The setting for this may be the same place as the original, but it's forty years later and things have changed drastically--and not for the better. If you were uplifted by all the hope and sunshine and carefree summer days of the first book, you'll be equally disturbed or depressed by the hopelessness and gloom and drizzly winter nights of the sequel. I found Summer of Night to be more effective, but probably only because I had a lot more fun reading it. A Winter Haunting is just as well written--maybe not quite as enthusiastic--but it's harder to digest, especially if you're like me and read mainly to escape from reality. But I'm probably missing the point, because this novel was really effective in that the characters and scenery hit a little too close to home. Like most of Simmons's novels, this one was fairly easy to read. The only parts that were somewhat confusing were the messages written in Old English; some of the translations didn't make a lot of sense to me. I don't want to be any more specific than that so as not to ruin the book for someone who hasn't read it yet. It's been a while since I read Summer of Night, but from what I remember, the character of Duane, the young boy-genius, was more believable in that one than in A Winter Haunting. Simmons talks about how Duane was a better writer at nine years of age than Dale--the star of the sequel--is at age fifty. I'm sure there are some really precocious youngsters out there, but this type of thing seems impossible to me for reasons I won't go into here. Overall, I recommend this novel, even if you haven't read Summer of Night. It's not very long, but what there is of it, is pretty engrossing. It's far from Simmons's best work--I think his novella "The Great Lover" from LOVEDEATH is by far his greatest accomplishment--but I enjoyed it a lot more than Darwin's Blade.
Rating: 
Summary: A Winter Haunting lingers through Spring thaw
Review: Fans of Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and Tim Powers will enjoy this atmospheric yet genuinely scary thriller from masterful writer Dan Simmons. I know I did. This is his 10th book. Find out what you've been missing. And keep the lights on.
Rating: 
Summary: Inferior Simmons
Review: I love Dan Simmons (especially the Hyperion books), but this one didn't work for me. He's a talented writer, and the book moves, but the whole haunting thing has been done soooooo many times that it really takes a fresh idea to make it worthwhile to read another book like this. This ain't it. I admire him for trying to write about a thoroughly damaged (and unsympathetic) main character. At the same time, I didn't like the character at all, which makes it hard to like a book like this. Full disclosure: I read Summer of Night, and didn't particularly like that either.
Rating:
Summary: A Tight, Hair-raising Ride
Review: I was thrilled when I saw Dan Simmons's new book, A Winter Haunting on Amazon. Until I saw the reviews, I had no idea it was a sequel to Summer of Night when I preordered it. That doesn't matter. This book can stand by itself, although you may get to know Dale Stewart better by reading the first book.
Dale is an interesting guy, to say the least. After a failed suicide attempt, he returns to Elm Haven to write a book about his long-dead best friend, Duane McBride and their pack of nerdy friends. This is a last-ditch effort to rebuild his broken life, most of which is his own fault. He moves into Duane's old house, which has ghosts of its own. Whether they are real or imagined is the reader's guess until the very end.
Simmons did a superb job in his depiction of an eerie town, its hostile citzens, and one whacked out main character. This book is a tight, hair-raising ride into terror. I hope Simmons will continue to write more horror stories because he is good. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A Cool Reception
Review: A talented writer goes thru the motions and leaves us unmoved and unsatisfied. A revisit to earlier places without most of the characters who made it interesting. I await the next work.
Rating:
Summary: Good Dan Simmons
Review: Another solid work from Dan Simmons. He does a wonderful job of delivering monsters from the ancient world into modern times . . . and all of it with a clever sense of humor. A fun read.
Rating:
Summary: none
Review: "A Winter Haunting" is effectively chilling, subtly horrifying, and finds (Simmons) back as a master of modern horror... Gary S. Potter Author/Poet
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