Wreckage [Introduction by Susan, Benjamin, and Emma Straub]. What Happens in Hello Jack [Introduction: Linkages, by Gary K. Wolfe]

[Burton, Michigan]: Subterranean Press, 2025. Edition of 500 numbered copies. 447; 141 pp. 2 vols. 8vo. Original black cloth, dust jackets after photographs by Jenny Calivas. As new in publisher's red cloth slipcase with label. Edition of 500 numbered copies. 447; 141 pp. 2 vols. 8vo. Peter Straub's last novel, Wreckage, "to be a near perfect interweaving of Jack the Ripper and Henry James, two of Peter's abiding interests: a timeless unsolved murderous mystery with the ultimate stylist and artist" (from the introduction by his family). The narrative of the 1880s is entangled with the exploits of Tilly Hayward, serial killer in 1950s Milwaukee. The nexus is a painting by Hugo Ayling, a member of the late Victorian movement Das Beben. There are cameo appearances by Sherlock Holmes, Philip Marlowe, and "Little Alex C.", a depraved juvenile Aleister Crowley ready to embark upon mischief and worse.
Unifinished at Straub's death, Wreckage is published in two volumes, the first containing the completed portion of Wreckage, and the second comprising What Happens in Hello Jack, the detailed summary prepared for his editor in 2013 and showing the full arc of the story.
Wreckage was the Endless Bookshelf book of the year in 2025.