Description
'ALICE IN WONDERLAND MEETS THE SHINING' Kirkus
'A FINE ADDITION TO THE CREEPY HOTEL THRILLER GENRE' Independent
'SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO STAY A WHILE IN GOOD NIGHT, IDAHO, THEN - UNLIKE THE ADDISONS - YOU WON'T REGRET IT' Guardian
The Addisons - Julia and Tonio, ten-year-old Dewey, and Uncle Robbie - are driving home after collecting Robbie from yet another trip to rehab. When a terrifying blizzard strikes outside the town of Good Night, Idaho, they seek refuge at the Travelers Rest, a formerly opulent but now crumbling hotel.
With nowhere else to go, they decide to stay the night. But once inside, the family becomes separated and the hotel begins to work its eerie magic. As Julia and Tonio drift through the maze of the hotel's spectral interiors, Dewey ventures outside. Meanwhile, a desperate Robbie quickly succumbs to his old vices. As they desperately try to reach each other, they relive the same day over and over again.
The mother, Julia, holds the key to their release - but can she save her family from the fate of becoming Souvenirs - those citizens trapped forever in Good Night-or, worse, from disappearing entirely?
About the Author
Keith Lee Morris is a professor of English and Creative Writing at Clemson University, South Carolina. His previous book, THE DART LEAGUE KING, was selected for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers programme. His work has appeared in numerous publications including TIN HOUSE, the SOUTHERN REVIEW and the NEW ENGLAND REVIEW.
Reviews
Keith Lee Morris knows what fiction is made for: in Travelers Rest he creates an intriguing world, poses big questions, and gives us sentences that by themselves are worth the read. What happens, he asks, when the person who goes missing is yourself? -- Charlotte Rogan, author of the NEW YORK TIMES bestseller THE LIFEBOAT
Echoing the fantastic work of Shirley Jackson and Stephen King, Travelers Rest is both fiercely gripping and deeply unsettling, a perfect mixture of horror and fairy tale . . . a novel that pulls you in immediately and refuses to let you go -- Kevin Wilson, author of the NEW YORK TIMES bestseller THE FAMILY FANG
It won't take long - a page, maybe two - before you feel wondrously disquieted by Keith Lee Morris's Travelers Rest. The novel traps its characters in the town of Good Night, Idaho, and the reader in its shaken snow globe of a world. The language dazzles and the circumstances chill and put this story in the good company of Stephen King's The Shining, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, and David Lynch's Twin Peaks. This book will earn Morris the wide readership he richly deserves -- Benjamin Percy, author of The Dead Lands and Red Moon
Morris handles the spooky materials deftly but his writing is what makes the story really scary: quiet and languorous, sweeping steadily and inexorably along like a curtain of drifting snow identified too late as an avalanche. * Publishers Weekly *
Alice in Wonderland meets The Shining...weighty, suspenseful, and even wistful * Kirkus Reviews *
There's no ghouls here, no rotting women reaching out of bathtubs - just the town, the snow and an inexplicable evil leaking up from beneath the hotels foundations. The prose is appropriately disorientating. His sentences are long and labyrinthine; they seem to reach up off the page, trying to drag the reader down into the depths...it's a stunning read - just not for reading late at night * Sci-Fi Now *
Keith Lee Morris's prose has a hypnotic rhythm that perfectly captures the uncanny ambience * SFX *
Reminiscent of King's Desperation and Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, Keith Lee Morris' latest novel - the first to be published in the UK - is an intense and gripping story that succeeds in its aim to unsettle the reader, to turn what we think we know on its head and leave us stranded with the Addison family in the strange little town of Good Night, Idaho. * Reader Dad *
The characters are complex, and their relationships even more so. Morris manages to breathe new life into a dusty old tale, and capture the reader from the outset. * The Bookbag *
A fine addition to the creepy hotel thriller genre...It says much of Morris's skill that he's able to keep us bewitched and beguiled in a topsy-turvy world with endless corridors, twisting stairs and Escher-like surroundings. The novel culminates in an almost operatic grand finale where past and present meet in a satisfying conclusion * Independent *
The writing is persuasive, the characters are rich, and there are moments of great emotional resonance. Should you choose to stay a while in Good Night, Idaho, then - unlike the Addisons - you won't regret it. * The Guardian *
a subtle, meticulous examination of strained relationships, the effects of isolation on the mind, and the persistent hold memory has over us...it exerts a powerful hold * The Financial Times *
The children's characters are well sketched, the supernatural element is unsettling and the action has pace...he is certainly a rising star in the genre and one to watch for. So, if you like Stephen King-esque stories, don't bypass Travelers Rest! * Fantasy Book Review *
Book Information
ISBN 9781780228853
Author Keith Lee Morris
Format Paperback
Page Count 368
Imprint Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Publisher Orion Publishing Co
Weight(grams) 256g
Dimensions(mm) 199mm * 175mm * 26mm
