Bram Stoker Award Best Novel Winner
A Dark Matter
by Peter Straub
Summary
Decades after a group of friends took part in an occult ritual led by a charismatic guru in a Wisconsin meadow, a writer sets out to learn what truly happened on the day that left one man dead and the survivors forever changed. Each participant remembers the event differently, so the story unfolds through clashing testimonies that circle a single act of cosmic horror. Straub uses this fractured structure to explore memory, friendship, and how a moment of transcendence can curdle into lifelong trauma.
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Historical Context & Significance
Peter Straub, a longtime collaborator with Stephen King, drew on the counterculture of the late 1960s for this novel that earned him a Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel.