The 16 short stories in Peter Straub's Interior Darkness are pulled from many of his previously published collections and showcase his macabre sense of horror. To Straub, terror comes in many forms: an older man preying on a young boy at the movie theater; the kindergarten teacher with a penchant for fantasies featuring kings, queens and evil stepsisters; the truth that lies between dreams and reality experienced during childhood; and the manipulations by an older brother of his younger sibling, which lead to an intense and vicious incident in the attic.
Straub expertly manages ghosts, fetishes, perversions and violence in many forms, while his focus is on the interior, psychological dilemmas and battles each character faces, an emphasis reflected in the title. Though the stories are rich in concrete details that set the scenes, what Straub leaves out of these pieces is at least as disturbing as what he writes, allowing the reader's imagination to fill in mysterious and ominous blanks in the stories. Some readers may wish for more detail and find Straub's style of writing difficult to follow, but the effort needed to comprehend the plot line in each of these gems is well worth the investment. This is a fine collection for those who want to experience the best Straub has written. --Lee E. Cart, freelance writer and book reviewer