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The Throat brings Peter Straub's Blue Rose trilogy to an end. A massive volume, spanning almost 700 pages, it requires a solid investment of time, attention and emotions. The curtains are slowly rolled up, revealing a stage set in Millhaven, Illinois, a fictional city modeled on Straub's own hometown of Millwauke. Although very loosely related, the three novels - Koko, Mystery and The Throat do form a coherent whole, along with certain short stories from Houses Without Doors and Magic Terror. Even though Koko and Mystery can be read separately, knowledge of both is needed to fully appreciate The Throat.

Koko was a big novel with a large ensemble cast of characters, taking place in several countries. Some readers complained about its lenght and meandering plot. However, I found the lenght and all plot tangents not only justified but necessary to develop real, human drama. With superb characterization skills and attention to detail Straub's novel literally jumps to life, and ink which forms letters which form sentences on the page are but a window which we can open and look through, and breathe. Straub himself admits that when writing this novel he had a sort of an out of body experience, where he found himself on a street, right next to his characters, hearing their talk, along with all the city squalor, feeling it. Having read the novel I am compelled to believe him. Long and seemingly without focus Koko has proven to be a ghost story of the most terrible sort - the one where all the ghosts are still alive.

Mystery on the other hand was a complete depart from the large scope and volume of Koko. Noticeably shorter, it's set entirely on a small Carribean island of Millwalk, where the rich play and rest. It's focused almost entirely on two new characters - Tom Passmore and Lamont von Heilitz. Set in the 60's, Mystery combines a bildungsroman together with a mystery novel (of course), sparkled with a sort of Ray Bradbury's sense of nostalgia, growing up, endless summers, slanted sunlight and dust moles in the air. The hero, Tom Passmore, becomes fascinated, obsessed with mysteries and crimes literally by accident - he is hit in a car and reads old paperbacks in the hospital. As he is dismissed he decides to explore his newfound passion and seting one foot after the other basically uncovers a deeply troubling secret of the island and its inhabitants. This draws him to reclusive Lamont von Heilitz, a Sherlock Holmes like figure, a self proclaimed "amateur of crime". The two bond quickly and together try to put together the pieces of the puzzle. The theme of a secluded island, growing up and all its troubles and glories, relationships, families and of course the engrossing mystery all combine into a novel which although subtle delivers its punch and works on every level.

The Throat is the final call to arms; it combines the theme of Blue Rose murders, introduced in Koko, drawing a character from that novel, the writer Tim Underhill, and his memories and personal demons. Tom Passmore also makes an appearance and becomes involved in the case; The Throat brings the two novels and several short stories and unites them, standing as a necessary end and a way for them to relate to each other.
Underhill receives a call from his old acquaintance, John Ransom, whose wife has been brutally beaten and is in a coma. What is special about the assault is not the brutality, though, but the fact that the attacker left a message on a wall above the unconscious woman. Just two words - BLUE ROSE - but for Underhill these two words open old and well locked doors of his mind and memory.

I enjoy when writers create their own universe; create worlds where events and characters appear several times, and them and their actions are related to each other, influence the works, make a difference subtle yet visible for a constant reader. Stephen King is a master of this, especially when one reads his masterwork which is the saga of the Dark Tower (BTW. Bango Skank, a graffiti artist mentioned there, originally appeared in a Straub short story). With his Blue Rose novels and stories Straub does the same thing, which gives plenty of opportunity for rereading and what pleasantly comes with it - reenjoyment.
The theme of homecoming - Underhill is drawn from his comfy New York loft where he lives safely just next to his friends, back to Millhaven, his hometown. The rich atmosphere of a small town is well drawn, and a common theme of Straub - past influencing the present - is present more than ever. Though influencing might be a bad word - biting back would be the right one. There is a lot in this novel that bites and leaves marks, these of the non-visible kind, too. As Underhill tries to fit back into the life he once led here, he discovers that even though everything is familiar nothing really is. To discuss the plot would spoil it; each small revelation is a delightful surprise even if the revelation itself is not so delightful, but troubling and disturbing. The THroat isn't a quick read; it's densely written, with long descriptive passages, complex characterization, and a plot which unfolds on several levels. However, it is a necessary book; a book which had to be written to do justice to these characters and their lives and tribulations.

These books are really a peculiar bunch. Even though they were all bestsellers, they didn't seem to achieve the popularity status of other popular authors of the genre, and even though some critics recognized their potential and worth they didn't seem to develop a lasting legacy. They are stated to form a trilogy but this is no Lord of the Rings; the interlinking between them is vague and downright obscure, visible only to the keenest eye. Although they all are separate entities, their full power is only visible when they form a whole. They require a lot of reading time and it's never really clear who the intended reader should be - a reader of general crime fiction? Someone interested in war? Reader of literature? Readers of psychological horror? The only possible answer seems to be: all of them.

Nevertheless, I found these three books and connected stories to be memorable, and the overall effect of reading them lingering; more often than not a phrase or two returns to me, a sentence; a scene flashes across my mind invoking the feeling of dread, suspense, attention or sadness. The style of these books is polished and unique to each one and it's impossible to memorize all phrases and descriptions and dialogues that could possibly catch the eye and emotion; too many scenes are memorable for all sorts of reasons. These books and stories all form a whole but at the same time are all unique, each their own; With passing time I might find it difficult to reconstruct them purely from memory, especially when they all concentrate on the same things in a different way. But these emotions, sentences and scenes keep coming back to me from the depths of my memories and I turn my senses towards them, trying to grasp as much as I can.