If You Could See Me Now Audiobook By Peter Straub cover art

If You Could See Me Now

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If You Could See Me Now

By: Peter Straub
Narrated by: Mark Deakins
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One summer night, a boy and his beautiful cousin plunge naked into the moonlit waters of a rural quarry. Twenty years later, the boy, now grown, flees the wreckage of his life and returns to Arden, Wisconsin, in search of everything he has lost.

But for Miles Teagarden, the landscape he knew so well has turned eerie and threatening. And the love he shared has become very, very deadly....

©2016 Peter Straub (P)2016 Random House Audio Genre Fiction Ghosts Horror Literary Fiction Psychological Scary

Critic reviews

"Electrifying." (Stephen King)
"Compulsive reading.... Marvelous atmosphere, suspense, and a truly grand guignol ending." (Dorothy Eden, author of Sleep in the Woods)
"Straub is terrifyingly accomplished in the art of horror." ( Entertainment Weekly)
All stars
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nothing appealing in Miles. I do not care for story lines that require alcohol for dramatic effect. Loved the regional accents

DNF

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Straub can set up some quietly humorous situations and dialogue that doesn't derail the scare.

sense of humor in horror

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I used to be a big fan in the 70s, but today I think it's a little outdated.

Doesn't make sense

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I appreciate a slow burn, but this felt very slow. it was a good story, just slow paced.

Twist and turns in a midwestern town

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If there is one theme in common with most Peter Straub novels is most people don't like them. Count me among them. The best I can say is I slogged my way through 'Koko' and can't tell you a single thing about it except Vietnam. Peter were you in Vietnam by any chance ? Amazing as it may seem most of us weren't and found our own understandings of that war. What I'm saying is we don't turn to our horror authors to enlighten us. Also it's not exactly relatable and what makes a scary story scary - the warping of what is familiar, relatable is important. One of the best examples of this is 'Ghost Story'. By Peter Straub. He does for upstate New York what Ramsey Campbell does for Liverpool. Reality refuses to stay still and every sentence has dark and menacing undertones.
Without giving too much away because I can't (not done yet) IYCSMN has that same atmosphere of paranoia and nothing being quite what it seems. This time the setting is rural Wisconsin and, though I've never been, Straub fills it with character and unique regional traits. It may not be 'Ghost Story' but it's clearly the same author and not the writer of those awful doorstops we all tried to read.'Mr X' 'Mystery' 'The Throat' :A Dark Place'. Ugh to them all. Yes The Talisman is great (maybe King helped a bit) but I don't hear many who'd say the same about 'Black House' which totally crushed my high expectations. So I hope Straub gets his mojo back before it's too late. Meanwhile read this from when he was good and winding up for 'Ghost Story'.

A decent Peter Straub novel ! Tell your friends !

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There were too many loose ends left at the end. And (maybe a spoiler) I don’t understand the point of the interviews. Nothing came of them. The narrator gave a really good performance and he kept me engaged more than the story.

Ok

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I couldn’t finish this garbage. The interactions between the urban douchebag protagonist and the completely unrealistic rural caricatures he encounters is laughably stupid. One scene includes a minister who gives an entire sermon about the evil big city outsider that has invaded their idyllic country home. It’s like Blazing Saddles except not one bit funny.

Ridiculous character interaction

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