The Terror
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  • Published: 28 October 2025
  • ISBN: 9781804997482
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 944
  • RRP: $24.99

The Terror

Formats & editions
Paperback
28 Oct 2025
Paperback
2 Apr 2018
EBook
1 Jul 2010
Audiobook
5 Apr 2018
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Inspired by a true story, Dan Simmons' devastating historical adventure has chilled and thrilled readers the world over and has become a classic of its kind - a masterpiece of historical horror.

Hailed by STEPHEN KING as 'a brilliant, massive combination of history and supernatural horror'.

And made into an acclaimed, chilling 10-part Ridley Scott-produced BBC TV series

Hailed as the most advanced scientific enterprise ever mounted, Sir John Franklin's 1845 expedition in search of the fabled North-West Passage had every expectation of triumph.

But for almost two years his ships HMS Terror and Erebus have been trapped in the Arctic ice. Supplies of fuel and food are running low. Scurvy, starvation and even madness have begun to take their toll. And yet the real threat isn't from the constantly shifting, alien landscape, the flesh-numbing temperatures or being crushed by the unyielding, frozen ocean. No, the real threat is far more terrifying.

Because there is something out there in the frigid darkness. It stalks the ships and snatches men. It is a nameless thing. At once nowhere and everywhere, this terror will become the expedition's nemesis . . .

Readers are gripped by The Terror:

***** 'One of the best books I have ever read. I couldn't put it down!'
***** 'A tremendous weighty achievement in atmosphere and storytelling.'
***** 'So beautifully written and well researched. I can't praise this book highly enough.'
  • Published: 28 October 2025
  • ISBN: 9781804997482
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 944
  • RRP: $24.99
Categories:

About the author

Dan Simmons

Winner of the Hugo, Nebula and Word Fantasy awards, DAN SIMMONS is the author of a number of acclaimed and bestselling novels across a range of genres - from suspense and science fiction to fantasy, horror and the supernatural. These include The Song of Kali, Darwin's Blade, Hyperion, Ilium, Olympos and The Terror, Drood, Black Hills and The Abominable. He lives in Colorado.
His website is www.dansimmons.com

Also by Dan Simmons

Hyperion
Fall Of Hyperion
Endymion
See all

Praise for The Terror

A brilliant, massive combination of history and supernatural horror.

STEPHEN KING

Simmons has created a chilling supernatural novel . . . the horrific trials of their impending icy deaths are vividly brought to life.

DAILY EXPRESS

One of the most remarkable things I've read . . . nothing short of a masterpiece. It is a bona fide tour de force.

SFREVU

A revelation . . . Simmons is a giant among novelists.

LINCOLN CHILD

Go out and buy this book . . . a fantastic achievement. Gripping, well-observed, and at times genuinely frightening.

SFX

Dramatic and vivid . . . Simmons has given us a host of colourful, believable characters caught up in a driving, hell-bent narrative. The Terror is a tour de force.

KEN McGOOGAN, author of Lady Franklin's Revenge

Meticulously researched and brilliantly imagined . . . a dramatic and mythic argument for how and why Franklin and his men met their demise . . . a compelling read.

WASHINGTON POST

The best and most unusual historical novel I have read in years . . . a haunting, precisely imagined fictional solution to one of history's most disquieting mysteries . . . brilliantly executed.

BOSTON GLOBE

??Dan Simmons is brilliant.

DEAN KOONTZ

Brilliant . . . Simmons takes this 19th-century tragedy and crafts an imaginative hybrid tale. It's a historical horror novel . . . the kind of rich epic that requires a touch of patience at the beginning but amply rewards the reader by the end.

USA TODAY

A beautifully written historical, which injects a note of supernatural horror into the 1840s Franklin expedition and its doomed search for the Northwest Passage . . . should add significantly to Simmons's already considerable reputation.

PUBLISHERS' WEEKLY

Lengthy and ambitious . . . but gut-wrenching tension, a true sense of fear, and vivid historical detail combine for an unputdownable read.

GOOD BOOK GUIDE
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