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Floating Staircase by Ronald Malfi
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Floating Staircase (edition 2011)

by Ronald Malfi

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23421114,107 (3.91)19
Following the success of his latest novel, Travis Glasgow and his wife Jodie buy their first house in the seemingly idyllic western Maryland town of Westlake. At first, everything is picture perfect--from the beautiful lake behind the house to the rebirth of the friendship between Travis and his brother, Adam, who lives nearby. Travis also begins to overcome the darkness of his childhood and the guilt he’s harbored since his younger brother’s death--a tragic drowning veiled in mystery that has plagued Travis since he was 13. Soon, though, the new house begins to lose its allure. Strange noises wake Travis at night, and his dreams are plagued by ghosts. Barely glimpsed shapes flit through the darkened hallways, but strangest of all is the bizarre set of wooden stairs that rises cryptically out of the lake behind the house. Travis becomes drawn to the structure, but the more he investigates, the more he uncovers the house’s violent and tragic past, and the more he learns that some secrets cannot be buried forever.… (more)
Member:DavidLDay
Title:Floating Staircase
Authors:Ronald Malfi
Info:Medallion Press (2011), Paperback, 464 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:*****
Tags:None

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Floating Staircase by Ronald Malfi

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» See also 19 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 21 (next | show all)
This entire thing is filled with whiny spoilers.

That ending. I was disappointed, then thought he redeemed himself with the sad ending, then he went all WTF. I still enjoyed the book. But I got the feeling Malfi had a hard time picking the way to end things. So, why not ALL the endings?

I liked the sad ending. Narrator was a nutter, guilt-ridden and overcompensating for his own brother's death. Elijah's death was a horrible accident. The police were trying to protect two people they knew were innocent of wrong-doing. Travis was causing immense pain to the community and Elijah's family. That would have been the best twisty ending.

The book had a horrible set up. Why would Adam recommend that his brother, Travis, purchase a home in which a child has recently died in a way that closely resembles the death of their own brother. Adam also neglects to tell his brother about the death, despite knowing that Travis holds himself culpable, and has had two nervous breakdowns over their younger brother's death. It really made no sense.

Okay, despite being fun to read, this was a bad mystery. It's also not horror. There wasn't a scary moment. ( )
  rabbit-stew | Dec 31, 2023 |
Another great one by Malfi. If you haven't read this author, you are missing out. ( )
  TheTrueBookAddict | Mar 22, 2020 |
I finished reading this with my Shelfari horror group on Friday. I've been mulling it over for a few days and this is what I came up with.

Floating Staircase is a well written tale about Travis Glasgow, a man who is haunted. Haunted by his new home and the things that may have been done there and haunted by the death of his brother, (which occurred when they were both very young). On top of all that, he is struggling to feel worthy in the eyes of his remaining brother, who is a cop. We join Travis as he tries to unravel these mysteries, while at the same time trying to come to terms over what happened to his brother all those years ago.

This was an atmospheric tale, but not quite as atmospheric as I would have liked. While I enjoyed the characters and felt for them, (most especially Elijah and Veronica), I didn't feel that this story offered anything new or original to the genre. I guess that's hard to do with things being as they are in the publishing world, but I do think this story needed that little extra something to boost it over the wall of the merely average. With that in mind, I rated this book 3.5 stars, rounded up to a 4 for the quality of the writing. While this is no Shirley Jackson type of tale, I do recommend it for fans of hauntings and mysteries-you could do much worse. ( )
  Charrlygirl | Mar 22, 2020 |
This book was great and I finished it within a matter of days. Everything you want a horror novel to be. ( )
  JamieR78 | Dec 22, 2019 |
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Epigraph
"Because he is my brother, I will suffer a thousand deaths to vindicate his."
--Alexander Sharpe, The Ocean Serene
"All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath."
--F. Scott Fitzgerald, in an undated letter to his daughter
Dedication
For Darin,

Jonathan,

and Samantha--

The beauty of this mystery...
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It has been said that nature does not know extinction.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Following the success of his latest novel, Travis Glasgow and his wife Jodie buy their first house in the seemingly idyllic western Maryland town of Westlake. At first, everything is picture perfect--from the beautiful lake behind the house to the rebirth of the friendship between Travis and his brother, Adam, who lives nearby. Travis also begins to overcome the darkness of his childhood and the guilt he’s harbored since his younger brother’s death--a tragic drowning veiled in mystery that has plagued Travis since he was 13. Soon, though, the new house begins to lose its allure. Strange noises wake Travis at night, and his dreams are plagued by ghosts. Barely glimpsed shapes flit through the darkened hallways, but strangest of all is the bizarre set of wooden stairs that rises cryptically out of the lake behind the house. Travis becomes drawn to the structure, but the more he investigates, the more he uncovers the house’s violent and tragic past, and the more he learns that some secrets cannot be buried forever.

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Book description
To Travis and Jodie Glasgow, the house in the idyllic small town seems perfect, the surrounding woods and lake like a postcard. But soon after they move in, things begin
to . . . change. Strange noises wake Travis at night. His dreams are plagued by ghosts. Barely glimpsed shapes flit through the darkened hallways—shapes bearing a frightening resemblance to a little boy. Footprints appear. Strangest of all are the wooden stairs rising cryptically from the lake.

The more Travis investigates, the more he uncovers the house’s violent and tragic past . . . and the more he learns that some secrets can’t be buried forever.

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Medallion Press

4 editions of this book were published by Medallion Press.

Editions: 1605424366, 1605424595, 1605424609, 160542448X

 

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