View source for A Stir of Echoes

{{Short description|Novel by Richard Matheson}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox book | <!-- See [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels]] or [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Books]] -->
| name          = A Stir of Echoes
| title_orig    = 
| translator    = 
| image         = Image:STRFCHSZBF1958.jpg
| caption       = First edition
| author        = [[Richard Matheson]]
| illustrator   = 
| cover_artist  = 
| country       = United States
| language      = English
| series        = 
| genre         = [[Horror fiction|Horror]]
| publisher     = [[J. B. Lippincott & Co.]]
| pub_date      = 1958
| media_type    = Print 
| pages         = 224  
| isbn          =
| preceded_by   = 
| followed_by   = 
}}

'''''A Stir of Echoes''''' is a  [[supernatural fiction|supernatural novel]] by American writer [[Richard Matheson]], published in 1958. It served as the inspiration for the 1999 film ''[[Stir of Echoes]]''.<ref name="fangoria">{{cite magazine |last=Grey |first=Ian |date=September 1999 |title=''Stir of Echoes'': A Chicago Ghost Story |magazine=[[Fangoria]] |volume=186 |pages=20–24, 82 |issn=0164-2111}}</ref>

==Plot synopsis==
Tom Wallace lived an ordinary life, until a chance event awakened [[psychic abilities]] which he never knew he possessed. Now he is hearing the private thoughts of the people around him and learning shocking secrets which he never wanted to know.

But as Tom's existence becomes a waking nightmare, even greater jolts are in store. He becomes the unwilling recipient of a message from the [[afterlife]].

==Reception==
[[Galaxy Science Fiction|''Galaxy'']] reviewer Floyd C. Gale praised the novel, saying "Matheson expertly builds a mood of horror and terror that only on one occasion exceeds credulity."<ref name="glxsf58">{{cite news |first=Floyd C. |last=Gale |authorlink=Floyd C. Gale |url=https://archive.org/stream/galaxymagazine-1958-08/Galaxy_1958_08#page/n127/mode/2up |title=Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf |work=[[Galaxy Science Fiction]] |date=August 1958 |page=127}}</ref> [[Damon Knight]], however, dismissed it as "a thin and banal [[ghost story]] with psi trimmings, written in a [[Chinese Chippendale (architecture)|Chippendale Chinese]] style."<ref>"In the Balance". [[If (magazine)|''If'']]. December 1958, pp.110</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Richard Matheson}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stir of Echoes}}
[[Category:1958 American novels]]
[[Category:1958 fantasy novels]]
[[Category:1950s horror novels]]
[[Category:American fantasy novels]]
[[Category:American horror novels]]
[[Category:Dark fantasy novels]]
[[Category:Supernatural novels]]
[[Category:Novels about psychic powers]]
[[Category:Novels about the afterlife]]
[[Category:American novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Fantasy novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Horror novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Novels by Richard Matheson]]
[[Category:J. B. Lippincott & Co. books]]
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