This is my second time reading a Peter Straub novel, the first one being perhaps his most successful one, Ghost Story. I thoroughly enjoyed Floating Dragon as well.

The “dual threat” concept is intriguing: This is a story of a town going through an absolute hellish nightmare as they are both victim of a toxic gas cloud and an ancient evil. It gives a vibe of the author having had two separate ideas and ultimately decided to combine them. However, it does raise the stakes significantly and makes the story all the more unique.

Having these elements affect an entire town also means this story has an ensemble of characters, and the narrative constantly switches between several of them. This can be an interesting trope if done right, and I've seen Straub do it before in the aforementioned Ghost Story.

Speaking of the narrative, though... to me, it was a slightly odd choice by the author to suddenly have one character break out of third-person and claim to be the one who is really narrating this entire novel, which I'm not sure entirely makes sense when the narration has otherwise been that of an omniscient perspective. For lack of a better term, it gave the narration a sense of inconsistency. But in the end, that's a minor detail that's easy to let slide.

One contrast that I do appreciate with the narration, is the fact that the wording is somewhat formal, having a certain sophistication about it, yet we are suddenly thrown into brutally violent and grotesque scenarios. It raises the shock factor of the horrors that unfold without overdoing them. But things definitely feel more and more unhinged as the story develops, but it is a very deliberate way to make the story go “all over the place.”

To me, it works, although it has a weird, paradoxical feel of both being a slow burn and a non-stop chaos simultaneously. The parts of it that feel like a slow burn are probably due to this story being a bit lengthy and dense at times. If you can endure the occasional slow pace, you are rewarded with serial killings, horrifying hallucinations, ghostly hauntings, supernatural abilities, and more.

As for Straub's overall style, one can easily tell why he and Stephen King were not only friends but also ended up collaborating on two novels. They both have their unique identity and writing style, but there are enough similarities for them to still harmonize.

A superb read, and it makes me want to check out even more of Straub's book in the near future.