http://www.amazon.com/Straight-Til-Morning-Christopher-Golden/dp/0451461061/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255380347&sr=8-22From Publishers Weekly
Stoker Award winner Golden's (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Pretty Maids All in a Row; Strangewood) dramatic and funny coming-of-age story set in the summer of 1981 stumbles off to a slow start as he introduces 13-year-old Kevin Murphy and his delinquent friends. Thankfully, the narrative kicks into high gear midway through, evolving into a horrific and ultimately sorrowful thriller. Kevin has obsessed over his 15-year-old neighbor, Nikki French, for years, and he's crestfallen when she meets and falls in love with a strange older boy named Peter Starling. An avid reader of comic books and fantastic stories, Kevin believes there's something not quite right about Peter. His suspicions are confirmed when, in an abrupt plot shift, Peter kidnaps Nikki and whisks her to Neverland, a grotesque place engaged in civil war and inhabited by slimy seallike creatures, behemoth monsters and others like Peter who are members of a race just slightly less than human. Having witnessed Nikki's late-night abduction, Kevin decides to rescue her and convinces his brother and two foulmouthed friends to journey with him "second to the right... and straight on till morning" the last words Kevin heard Peter utter to Nikki. A bizarre combination of The Wonder Years TV series and The Lost Boys film, this fantastic tale entertains, but a hurried conclusion may leave readers in the dark. Agent, Lori Perkins. (Apr.)paperback ($6.99 0-45120276-7).
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Peter Pan meets The Lost Boys by way of Stand By Me, June 18, 2003
By Matthew King (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
This review is from: Straight on 'Til Morning (Signet Horror) (Paperback)
An interesting blend of horror and fantasy, this book made me long for my childhood, those innocent days of first loves, first beers, first joints and first PB centrefolds. Christopher Golden is quite adept at capturing the mood of summer for young men growing into adolescence. His skill in capturing this mood is almost on a par with the great book Boy's Life by Robert Mccammon(I said almost! Mccammon's THE KING after all...).
In the first half of the book, we are introduced to Kevin Murphy, his brother Jessie, and their friends. They're typical carefree teengagers enjoying their summer. Kevin has a major crush on the girl next door Nikkie but he just can't bring himself to tell her. He loves the time they spend as friends and is hoping for something more. It all comes crashing down when she falls for this dark & mysterious older dude by the name of Pete Starling. Starling and his 3 buddies are troublemakers who are able to do inexplicable things(this is the part that reminds me of The Lost Boys). Starling and his thugs eventually kidnap Nikkie and bring her to "Neverland", an alternate world where few humans have ever ventured. Thus begins the second half of the book where Kevin, his brother and two friends embark on a mission to Neverland to save Nikkie. From now on, the book becomes a full-blown fantasy adventure complete with trolls, goblins, sea creatures and the like.
Straight on til' morning definitely entertains. Should you choose to read this, your eyes will be glued to the pages and you'll be turning them so quickly as to risk several papercuts(be careful!). Of course, there are some minor flaws. For one, this book seems to suffer of an identity crisis. Is it coming-of age, horror or fantasy? What is the intended audience? There came times where I felt I was reading a scholastic young-adult novel (like the author's Buffy books) and others where I felt I was reading something intended for an older audience. I also wish the author had decided to shift the story to Neverland earlier. We don't actually get there until past the midway point of the novel. But once we're there, whoa what a ride! If you're looking for good summer escapism, you'll definitely find what you're looking for through the pages of this fine novel. (amazon.com)
Ich glaube, es gibt leider keine Übersetzung. Aber das Englisch ist sehr einfach, und wer auf Coming-of-Age-meets-Horror-Geschichten im Stile von
Es, Summer of Night, Ghoul oder
Unschuld und Unheil steht, der sollte hier mal kurz überlegen.
Es ist aber ganz anders als die aufgezählten, alles ist ein wenig...weniger tiefgründig. Kein psychologischer Horror. Das Buch ist in zwei Hälften aufgeteilt, weswegen es in der amerikanischen Presse oft mit
From Dusk Till Dawn verglichen wurde. Die erste Hälfte ist völlig normal: amerikanische Kleinstadt, eine Clique von Jugendlichen, das erste Bier, die erste Zigarette, der erste Liebeskummer, die Scheiße, die man so baut..die Protagonisten sind aber noch recht jung, weswegen es in der ersten Hälfte etwas an
Stand by me erinnert. Spielt aber in der Gegenwart, in der heutigen Zeit in den USA (also: Kinos, Shopping Malls usw.)...jedenfalls hab ich's so in Erinnerung.
Die zweite Hälfte ist dann völlig anders. Das Böse kommt in Gestalt von älteren bösen Jugendlichen, wodurch das Buch an Stephen King's
Manchmal kommen sie wieder erinnert. Das Geschehen spielt sich dann nach einer Peter-Pan-artigen Reise in einer ganz anderen Welt ab - hier geht die Geschichte klar in die Fantasy-Richtung (
Peter Pan, Die unendliche Geschichte, Herr der Ringe) - aaaber mit Horrorelementen.
Ich fand es wirklich nicht übel, vor allem wegen der extrem behutsam aufgebauten Geschichte in der ersten Hälfte, und der völlig - aber völlig - andersartigen zweiten Hälfte. Es wird manchen ein wenig zu oberflächlich oder harmlos seien, der Autor hat offenbar Bücher zu Buffy geschrieben, und das merkt man seinem Stil an. Auch scheint er ein großer Freund von Stephen King zu sein (siehe: Ideen) - kein Wunder, er hat offenbar auch ein Sachbuch zu diesem Autor geschrieben.
Alles in allem eine Empfehlung für Freunde des Coming-of-Age-Horrors, die hier allerdings kein Brett wie die oben aufgezählten erwarten sollten.