The Terror: A Novel (2007)

Author: Dan Simmons
Title: The Terror: A Novel
Publication Date: 2007
Genre: Historical Fiction / Horror

What it's about: Noted horror and science fiction author Dan Simmons (Hyperion) imaginatively recreates the ill-fated 1840s Franklin Expedition.  The expedition, under the command of John Hope Franklin, consisted of two ships, the Erebus (commanded by Franklin) and the Terror (skippered by veteran Royal Navy captain Francis Crozier).  The plan was to find the elusive Northwest Passage.  Unfortunately, the two ships become encased in ice, Franklin dies, and as years pass without their ships breaking free from the ice, the men must contend with shrinking rations, bitterly cold conditions, and, most terrifyingly, a creature utterly beyond anything they’ve imagined. As his men become more desperate, and the creature begins killing off any crewmember that strays from the ships, Francis Crozier must try to find a way out from his frozen hell, as the creature and cold conditions begin killing his men.

Who will like this book: Simmons takes what historians have pieced together about the lost Franklin Expedition and adds elements to make a convincing, horrific story.   He weaves together historical fact, brilliant conjecture, and Native American myth to make the tale truly frightening.  Historical Fiction buffs who would never be caught reading a standard horror novel, will find this tale utterly gripping – the historical conditions Franklin and Crozier’s men find themselves trapped in are horrifying enough (rotting food, temperatures near -100 degrees, mutiny, possible cannibalism).  Horror and speculative fiction readers will respond to the more supernatural elements in the book.  Great and scary stuff.

Website of interest: PBS’s NOVA aired a program last year on the Franklin expedition.

More frigid horror available through the Library:
The Hour Before Dark by Douglas Clegg
The Shining by Stephen King
A Winter Haunting by Dan Simmons
Ghost Story by Peter Straub