From the #1 New York Times bestselling authors of The Talisman , "an intelligent...suspenseful page-turner" ( The Wall Street Journal ) from "two master craftsmen, each at the top of his game" ( The Washington Post ). Twenty years ago, a boy named Jack Sawyer traveled to a parallel universe called the Territories to save his mother and her Territories "Twinner" from an agonizing death that would have brought cataclysm to the other world. Now Jack is a retired Los Angeles homicide detective living in the nearly ...
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From the #1 New York Times bestselling authors of The Talisman , "an intelligent...suspenseful page-turner" ( The Wall Street Journal ) from "two master craftsmen, each at the top of his game" ( The Washington Post ). Twenty years ago, a boy named Jack Sawyer traveled to a parallel universe called the Territories to save his mother and her Territories "Twinner" from an agonizing death that would have brought cataclysm to the other world. Now Jack is a retired Los Angeles homicide detective living in the nearly nonexistent hamlet of Tamarack, Wisconsin. He has no recollection of his adventures in the Territories, and was compelled to leave the police force when an odd, happenstance event threatened to awaken those memories. When a series of gruesome murders occur in western Wisconsin that are reminiscent of those committed several decades ago by a madman named Albert Fish, the killer is dubbed "the Fishman," and Jack's buddy, the local chief of police, begs Jack to help the inexperienced force find him. But are these new killings merely the work of a disturbed individual, or has a mysterious and malignant force been unleashed in this quiet town? What causes Jack's inexplicable waking dreams--if that is what they are--of robins' eggs and red feathers? It's almost as if someone is trying to tell him something. As this cryptic message becomes increasingly impossible to ignore, Jack is drawn back to the Territories and to his own hidden past, where he may find the soul-strength to enter a terrifying house at the end of a deserted tract of forest, there to encounter the obscene and ferocious evils sheltered within it.
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Add this copy of Black House to cart. $159.39, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2012 by Simon & Schuster Audio.
While I do not generally look to Stephen King for eloquent writing, he can create and describe a mind-bending nightmare world as no one else. This novel, which follows the previous Straub-King effort, is very engaging. Many of the scenes and characters are nearly cliché and predictable. The twisted aspects of the plot and the bizarre nature of the crisis go far in making up for this. An old geezer wearing a dressing gown and shifting between alternate realities while wreaking havoc is a novel idea. The pace of the novel is fast. The writing is a bit more polished and comprehensible than most King work, due most likely to the Straub collaboration. This book is self-contained; it is not necessary to read Talisman first. King does provide a unique point of view and periodically makes a comment or an observation that is immensely real, capturing the essence of the situation. The bikers and their dialogue are shallow, but the queen in the asylum and the dream connection with Jack are very good. The notes from the Fisherman, signed ?your fiend? and the snatching of a kid leaving a sneaker are haunting. I enjoyed the book, but King?s real talent is writing short stories. His ideas have a variety and range that are practically unmatched.
