Black House (original 2001; edition 2003)

Black House is the sequel to The Talisman. It doesn't feel like it, though. The style is very different, and slightly odd, emphasising the nature of the reader as observer. It feels to me like that gimmick gets fairly tired and also made me keep some distance from the characters, instead of losing myself in them as usual. It's also different in tone to The Talisman: it feels darker. I know a lot of bad things happen in The Talisman, but Black House has more of it. I didn't like it as much, even though I read it much faster. It was nice to see Jack Sawyer again, but so much time has passed for him that he doesn't quite feel like the boy we knew at all. I didn't really care about his love story, either: I didn't really see the point in it, plot-wise. That goes for several other points in this book -- sometimes it was just too wordy.

One thing I loved a lot about this book, though, was Henry Leyden. I believed in him as a character, and in Jack's feelings for him, and I nearly cried when he was hurt. Some of the deaths in this book do still hit you hard, but I didn't find many of the characters all that memorable. More could have been done with Dale and the Beez, etc. But Henry was brilliant.

I also didn't like the constant references to the Dark Tower. Maybe if I'd finished reading that series, I'd enjoy the little nods to it, but it felt like it wasn't necessary for this story, didn't quite fit, and I feel like Stephen King is far too much in love with that creation of his.

I feel like if this book had been pared down a bit, or characters like Henry getting bigger parts, or more characters like Henry, I'd have enjoyed it a lot. As it was, it was fun enough to read, but it wasn't The Talisman or particularly like The Talisman, and I'm not sure if I'd have read it without that connection.

(Probably. Who am I kidding? I'm reading basically everything Stephen King has written.) ( )

King's most schitzophrenic book. I started this book 3 times before I finally made it past the first 100 pages of inexplicable narration (I'm sure this was Straub's contribution). Then it becomes a terrific supernatural police procedural. The last act is a Dark Tower tie-in that is just bizarre. Not looking forward to a 3rd book in this series. ( )

This is a fantastic book! It started a little slow for me, but after the first 50 pages or so it got going and didn't slow down.
Jack Sawyer, a retired LA detective, has recently relocated to a small town in Wisconsin. Some of the town's residents are acting very strangely and the town's children are being kidnapped and devoured by an evil monster. Jack is recruited by the inexperienced local police force to help solve the horrific crimes. He, along with the local police, a group of bikers and a blind radio personality face unimaginable evil in order to try to save the newest victim.


5 stars ( )

I absolutely loved this book. It's funny, because I picked it up immediately after reading The Talisman, and at first I was put off by the shift in tone and feel of this one. I wanted more Talisman style fantasy adventure, with the lovable young Jack Sawyer. What I got was a cold, detached, present-tense narrative that watched everything from above and showed a landscape that was totally out of place with the book I had just finished. This is supposed to be a sequel!

But am I ever glad I stuck with it. The present voice grew to become a comfort, and as the narrator became more attached to the characters, so did I. This is still not the same book, but oh my, what a book it is.

I said that The Talisman reminded me somewhat of a blend of Lord of the Rings and Tom Sawyer. Well, for this one, throw in some Silence of the Lambs and even a touch of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The villains were delightful in how wicked-evil they could be. The heroes were flawed, yes, but so human and I couldn't help but pull for them all the way. There were even a few times near the end where I wanted to pitch the book out the window. But I couldn't, as I had to keep reading until there was no more.

I've heard that King and Straub are planning a third collaboration. After reading Black House I must say I hope they do. And I won't wait 9 years to read the next one, I can say that much. ( )

I like thorough characterization as much as the next person, but is it really necessary to see the same scene from five different points of view when all those different points of view are having the same damn reaction? And the constant smug references to Bleak House got a little thin after a while. Other than that, pretty solid Stephen King fare, lots of Dark Tower references and some marginally-to-mildly-creepy stuff. Decent time-waster. ( )