Midnight Sun

A children's book writer inherits an old house on the edge of a forest and soon begins to sense something gathering in the woods, a presence that he is destined to help emerge into the world

From Publishers Weekly

"Trees grow," wrote the dying Edward Sterling in the frozen earth of the forest in Stargrave, England, that became his burial ground. As his grandson Ben learns, in Campbell's beautifully poetic horror novel, the elder Sterling was answering a call from a primordial species of snow that devours humans. Ben becomes a conduit for the gluttony of this creeping arctic cold, slowly losing his reason with each victim that the entity claims, as he succumbs to its promise of immortality in exchange for the lives of his neighbors. This icy menace can succeed only through manipulating Ben's consciousness, and he cooperates--until it hunts his family. Campbell's ( Ancient Images ) artful use of metaphor paints a frightening portrait of a world tilting into chaos and the price that must be paid to save it. This absorbing novel again demonstrates the author's mastery of the horror genre. Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA--Midnight Sun is not of the slasher, gorefest variety that passes for horror in much of the genre today. Instead, Campbell has skillfully crafted an intellectual, poetic, yet very readable thriller. Children's book writer Ben Sterling has returned to his boyhood home in the remote English country town of Stargrave. It was there that his grandfather, folklorist Edward Sterling, was found frozen to death and Ben's parents died under mysterious circumstances. Ben, now married with children, is drawn back to Stargrave by an ancient, alien lifeforce that takes possession of him as a gateway to control the world. Campbell expertly uses language to create a coiled, tense atmosphere and produce a chilling tale in the tradition of John Wyndom's Midwich Cuckoos (Ballantine, 1957; o.p.) or John Christopher's Possessors (S. & S., 1964; o.p.) A welcome addition to any horror collection.- John Larson, Fairfax County Pub . Lib . , VACopyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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