“The Terror” by Dan Simmons ‹ Bits

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The Terror by Dan Simmons

Book Review

Reviewed June 21, 2007
Rating: 4 stars

If Jeffrey Blair Latta had written a novel instead of a nonfiction book, it might have read something like this: a story told from the point of view of the members of the last, ill-fated Franklin expedition, trapped in the ice and fighting off scurvy, starvation, and madness… and a mysterious sentient beast that is picking the men off, one by one. Sound scary? It is—particularly if you go into the book with a bit of background info on the fate of the Franklin team, and know that there’s no happy ending in store. Simmons is a deft storyteller, and knows how to pace a plot so that it will keep you reading nonstop (all night, in my case). This is one of the scariest tales I’ve read recently, and might be one of the spookiest I’ve ever read. Given that it started off with a bang and kept up a well-paced tension throughout most of its spinning, I wasn’t entirely surprised when this yarn sagged a bit at the end; that, though, might just be me, and your views may certainly vary. I finished the book yesterday and have been haunted ever since, both by the eerie story and by a nagging question: Is it better to read this book on a warm summer night, or on a cold winter night? It does add a lovely chill to the hot summer, but I have to think that the effect of the story would be even better when read curled up in bed on a cold winter night, while the wind howls round the windows and the snow piles up outside.