Product Description
Summer in San Francisco and a killer is on the loose. Twelve victims so far. Scrawled in each victim's blood, a single word: "Morningstar." Two innocents suddenly find their lives swept up in a maelstrom of madness and murder. Shelley Masterton -- her dreams invaded by a dead friend, one of the killer's victims -- becomes an unwitting recruit in a plan for revenge from beyond the grave. And freelance journalist Donovon Moon receives a phone call offering the scoop of a lifetime: Morningstar is on the line...and wants to talk. When Peter Atkins' debut novel Morningstar was first published in the U.K., the praise was unanimous. Clive Barker called it "Vividly imagined and stylishly realized -- a mingling of thriller and horror story that makes for an irresistible ride" and Neil Gaiman declared it to be "The best first novel I've read in a long time." Morningstar now reveals its terrors and wonders to a new generation of readers.
From Publishers Weekly
Atkins's background as a writer of artistic splatter moviesAhe worked on the first Wishmaster film and three Hellraiser filmsAis obvious in this fast-paced but disjointed horror-suspense novel, first published in the U.K. in 1992 and now receiving its U.S. debut as the launch title for Stealth Press. A serial killer who signs the word Morningstar in the blood of his decapitated victims is stalking the streets of San Francisco. Donovan Moon, a flat-broke freelance journalist, gets a tip from a friend that Morningstar's crimes are marked by one other notable detail: his victims are all staked through the heart, killed as legend says vampires must be slain. A fortuitous phone call takes Moon to the penthouse apartment of Jonathan Frost, highly respected real estate developerAwho also claims to be Morningstar, aka Matador (the Spanish for "slayer"). Frost dreams of a hunter on his trail, and fears he will not survive their meeting. He offers Moon $50,000 to write his life story if he dies. Overall, the text reads more like a film outline than a novel, but Atkins knows how to tell a story and keeps this one thrumming with tension. Devotees of dark suspense will find it to their liking, and it's a good bet for the big screen. (Nov.) FYI: Stealth Press, which launched on November 1, offers high-quality bound books sold direct from publisher to reader on the Web. Other November 2000 Stealth releases include reprints of Peter Straub's Under Venus, Robert Vaughan's The Valkyrie Mandate and Robert H. Fowler's Jim Mundy.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
Peter Atkins is also the author of
Big Thunder (first US edition forthcoming from Infrapress) and, as screenwriter, three of the
Hellraiser movies and
Wishmaster.
Review
"Atkins writes with elegance and wit... and springs one or two awe-inspiring surprises." --
Roz Caveney, The London Times

"Atkins... keeps this one thrumming with tension. Devotees of dark suspense will find it to their liking..." --
Publishers Weekly

"Morningstar is a wonderful book--intelligent, well-written and filled with memorable scenes and images..." --
Bentley Little, Hellnotes