Perdido: A Fragment from a Work in Progress

Perdido, a fragment from a never completed longer work, is a rare and unexpected gift for Peter Straub's legion of fans. Even in this fragmentary form, it offers the sort of vivid, unexpected pleasures that only the finest imaginative fiction can provide.

On one level, Perdido tells the story of a troubled family: a discontented husband and wife and the teenaged son who was--but is no longer--a musical prodigy. On another, it is the story of the isolated Norwegian resort known as Perdido, an...