Rating: 
Summary: Typical Latter-Day Straub
Review: That Booklist fellow, I regret to say, biffed the old nail squarely on its head. The adjectives "lumbering" and "ramshackle" describe everything this misguided author, whom by the way I have known since early childhood, has produced over the past two decades. Long, long ago, he knew how to tell a story - simply, I mean, and in a manner progressing from A to Z unimpeded by digressions, whimsical interludes, and authorial pretensions - but he either has forgotten or chosen deliberately to ignore the most elementary rules of his craft. Here we have a tale of a Doppelganger told in the first person, and what does our hapless author decide to introduce? A second narrator, that's what, and even worse, this intrusive voice is that of the Doppelganger's father! One shakes one's head at such witless bravado. I agree, the novel does contain a small number of agreeable jokes, but these witticisms serve in no way to redress the pervasive air of ramshackle lumbering, in fact they lend it a certain wistful poignancy. Putney Tyson Ridge, Ph. D.
Rating: 
Summary: Booklist
Review: Booklist must be a significant contibutor to Amazons payroll, to receive such a visible review by an otherwise onknown ray olson, although admittedly less of a no-name than frank from cleveland.
Rating:
Summary: UNFORGETTABLE
Review: Well frank from cleveland you are even more inglorious, renownless, overlooked, and neglected than the booklist reviewer. Stephen King's comments are insightful. This book is UNFORGETTABLE.
Rating:
Summary: Frank from Cleveland
Review: There are no errors in my grammer that I can see, Cleveland must be doing a brisk audio books business, Frank.
Rating: 
Summary: Unfortunate "Review"
Review: Not having had the opportunity to read Straub's latest (as it isn't yet published), I left the rating squarely in the middle of the "star pack." I have found Straub's past work fairly engaging, though hardly unforgettable. In any case, I merely wanted to remark that the "reviewer" from MA would do well to brush up on his/her grammar before making further attempts at reviewing. I'm sure Mr. Straub would hardly be flattered by such ignorant "praise."
Rating:
Summary: Literature
Review: Stephen King's description is effective & accurate. If the Booklist reviewer believes that a novel that has depth & complexity, and is to hard for him to understand, should be blue penciled than listen to abridged audiobooks.
Rating:
Summary: Flawed but Fun
Review: "Mr. X" is typical Straub, at times frustrating, at other times amazing. His style is decidedly not readily accessible at times, but he does possess a superior command of the English languague (which doesn't always make for quick reading....)Ned Dunstan is a likeable enough sort, and his adventures in the search for "the truth" are convoluted but interesting. The book takes wild twists and turns, he inherits large sums of money, his mother dies, he hooks up with various women. But the biggest question of the book is, what of his double, Robert? Working in a bit of Lovecraft fare is a cool technique also. This book really cooks in the first half, especially Dunstan's college experience, completely surreal and bizarre. "Mr. X" is not an easy read by any means, but is ultimately worth it.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Come Back
Review: I began reading Peter Straub books with the book "Ghost Story". I read it because my mother told me it was ultimately frightening, and I found that she was correct. It was intricate, and the plot was well done, but most, the characters were well developed and pleasing. After I finished that one, I began to read his books one after the other, and what I found was that his "Under Venus" through "Shadowland" age was his shining moments. Each one of the books in that period was almost as pleasing as "Ghost Story". However, the few books following that, "Koko", and "Mystery" for example, lost what makes Straub so intriguing: his excellent writing style. These books were enjoyable, though not as pleasing to the senses. Lately, with "The Throat" and most of all by far, "The Hellfire Club", Peter Straub lost everything going for him, and sank to the levels of Dean Koontz, with overly described gore and rape, etc. However, "Mr. X" finally puts an end to that. The book, I found, stands up right beside his earlier books, "Ghost Story" and "If You Could See Me Now" being his best. The character is well thought, likeable, human. The plot is simple and pieced together orderly, one of the things he lost in later books. The writing style is so fluent and beautiful that I finally enjoy one of his books. This book is for those of you who prefer the adult, mature, thought-provoking Straub, and is a good starting place for any curious, new Straub readers. This book is not for those of you who are looking for simple, "book candy", not requiring much thought or vocabulary. This book is for those of you looking to read difficult, well-written fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Well, not an encouraging review I think
Review: I have never been a fan for Lovecraft or Poe type; a story is frightening for me only if I root for the characters and if they are in peril; other than that, monsters from other worlds, sounds, convoluted giant creatures or some imaginative books do nothing for me. That's why Stephen King did the trick for me. From the moment I read him for the first time (the wonderful "Mist") he grabbed me in total awe. And so far I have yet to find any other horror writer that so daringly, skillfuly and masterfully yields modern horror stories: Salem's Lot, Shining, Pet Semetary and Christine are yet to be exceeded stories. The horror in them is actually the horror of 20th century man: alcoholism, master cards, highways, alienation of people etc. In my humble opinion, King's clever take-on horror literature is a five star one: He understands that strong characters and down-to-earth dialogue and a sense of location make a horror book (at least modern ones) unforgettable. He singlehandedly made a genre stand on its feet and made it his own particularly created a Stephen King genre. But I also gave up to expect any other Salem's Lot or Christine from the Master; I don't know why: He stubbornly rejected producing straight horror stories after the Dark Half. He mostly shifted to fansaty/ dutifulworks and SF. That's not too bad because he is still the best dialogue and character writer in the world with clever observations and a strange type of humor, which I find quite amusing and Mr. King is still very clever, whether or not you make like it (see Dark Tower series) That's why I started to hunt for other horror writers; I've never read anything apart from SK before (except Dean Koontz, whom I think must be the poorest author-caricature in the world) I had read Talisman so I grabbed Ghost Story by Mr Straub. Well, he was as good as the Master but was more unaccessible. No problem there:; if a book keeps you awake until the morning of a long business day then there must be something in it. Ghost Story was followed by Floating Drogan and Shadowland. While the former was very good, the second one left me worried: Straub reflected the best characteristics of a SK-type writing but he also paints a very complex picture; the plotlines, the characters...somehow become hard to follow. But that is a little bit unnecessary in horror literature; because horror books demand to be fast-reading ones so that as soon as a scene grabs you, you should be able to shiver and move to the next scene like a freight train wondering on how the hell this will clear out (try Christine). But Straup sometimes puts huge blocks in front of this freight train. Anyway, my last try was Koko which suffered the same problemb As I really liked Peter Straub (even his bads are not so bad as is the case with the Master), after a long time I tried to read Mr. X The story started very well; there is something sinister in the death of his mother; there are some secrets not revealed; these secrets involve other-worldly things; Ned Dunstant is trying to protect himself against those other-worldly and worldly horrors; the town seems to be full of intricate relations. What starts great beginsg to puff and huff in the middle. May be Mr. Straub is very clever maybe he is starting with a broad sketch of floppy discs: he throws several characters with several no-where-going subplots and then tries to tie each and everyone; but the reader is generally left confused who died why or who was whose servant or who went there etc etc. Even in the middle you keep waiting for a big armageddon between the good (Ned and his aunts) and the evil (Mr X and his masters and servants); but there is a sudden super-homage to Lovecraft; a dream scene, a collusion with the chief police officer and suddenly you face the END. Well characterisation is good; Nel and his aunts are wonderfully drawn out; they talk like real people; but there are some overdone things:; Nel comes to town with nothing and leaves there almost a billionaire; you can't help yourself that all the evil and good in that town served for one purpose: To make him rich and happy. By the way family connections become too complex to understand and care At the end what I felt was: Peter Straub's writing is still high quality, powerful. He writes characters and dialogues well; his level of humor is better than the ones I read; but same problems with Shadowland: Too much symbolism-like things, too many sub-plots; too many unanswered questions;too complex writing for a horror writer. Of course I will go on reading him; next the Lost Boy Lost Girl because he is very good at creating sinister atmospheres (even if they sometimes do not bring any fruitfil thing) but he is far from Ghost Story days or Salem's Lot, Pet Semetary or Nightshift horror. One of the reviewers below claims that Douglas Clegg. Don't believe; he is very weak indeed
Rating:
Summary: Challenging, well-written, a delight
Review: After four mystery-thrillers ("Koko", "Mystery", "The Throat", and "The Hellfire Club"), "Mr. X" marks Peter's return to the domain of supernatural/psychological horror. This is one of his best horror books, second only to "Shadowland". The dialogue is flawless, the characters are as real as one could ask for, and the horror itself is subtle and surreal. The story is about an Illinois family whose members manifest strange powers. It's about a particular member of this dynasty -- Ned Dunstan -- and his doppleganger twin. It's about the twins' disturbed father who knows that he is the center of the world, and his purpose is to kill. It's about Ned Dunstan, at long last, returning home to Illinois and coming to terms with his bizarre heritage. In a way, "Mr. X" combines features of the author's later mystery-thrillers and earlier horror books. Straub is a first-rate writer who refuses to supply us with Harlequin-horror. He towers above authors like Stephen King and Clive Barker. He makes authors like Dean Koontz and John Saul unworthy of mention.
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