The Search for Joseph Tully

Hallahan's first occult novel, 'The Search for Joseph Tully' (1974), has a lot going for it. It is certainly better than the second, 'The Keeper of Children' (1978) which I have reviewed elsewhere but I cannot say that I am enormously motivated to go for the third, 'The Monk' (1983).

The reason is that, while the second was a tolerable but flawed potboiler with some fine moments of writing, the first is interesting and well structured, more conventional novel than horror, but it is ruined at the end (no spoilers) with a weak resolution. Things are clearly going downhill.

The bulk of the book deserves better as two narratives converge in ways that are unclear until the very end. Hallahan shows, however, a consistent weakness in his lack of show more discipline and imagination - his sound realism emerges from within absurd implausibilities much as it does in 'Keeper'.

The first narrative is set amongst a group of middle class inhabitants of an apartment block from which they all have to depart as the locality is developed. New York in the 1970s saw a great deal of older property knocked down. This often appears in the popular culture of the period.

In this case, there is not the usual trope of wicked landlords but just sadness as a loose community of people is dispersed. Richardson, the central figure of this narrative, is last to leave. Hallahan is very good at expressing the man's growing paranoia at a strange noise in his apartment.

This narrative is used to introduce the idea of the occult but mostly as tension between those who believe in it (a defrocked priest, a tarot reader, an artist, a psychic) and those who do not and who even resent the idea (a management consultant and Richardson himself).

As the tenants leave (still on friendly terms), Richardson is left the last and the question becomes whether he is going mad as much as whether those committed to the occult are deluded or insightful. Richardson's paranoia is fuelled by the concern of the psychic types for his future.

The other, apparently unconnected narrative, is a genealogical search for the descendants of Joseph Tully, an eighteenth century English wine merchant, by an English lawyer called Willow for reasons that are not made clear until the end.

Hallahan, much as he would give a detailed itinerary of the characters in 'The Keeper of Children' (in that case, Philadelphia), is very specific about location. You can trace Willow's search around the North East United States and, incidentally, learn a lot about American ancestral record-keeping!

The apartments in the block and the slow but steady destruction of the buildings opposite it are also described meticulously while the two narratives share an insistent, repeated but never dull setting in a description of the coldest winter in 15 years.

In short, Hallahan turns out to be a much better writer of character and of situation than he is of plot. We have said that the plot ultimately ends as a disappointment (more like a short story shocker in 'Weird Tales') but the journey there is not an unpleasant one. show less

This book was not what I was expecting. I don't normally read horror novels but I wanted something spooky to read in the spirit of Halloween and my husband recommended this one and I was entranced by it. Its s short read with two different story lines that come together in the end. Each story will keep you interested and guessing and then you won't expect what actually happens to happen. The writing isn't perfect. There are some grammatical errors but the story is so intriguing it doesn't matter. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for something a little different.

3.5

Ils vous traqueront. De réincarnations en réincarnations... Un vieux quartier de New York qui devient la proie des démolisseurs. Les habitants d'un immeuble condamné qui s'apprêtent à déménager. Déprimant, mais rien d'inhabituel. Et pourtant, tandis que les appartements se vident, quelque chose semble prendre possession des lieux.
Il y a ce bruit inexplicable qui pousse Richardson au bord de la folie. Puis son voisin Ozzie qui disparaît mystérieusement, non sans laisser sur les murs de sa chambre une fresque morbide, terrifiante, peuplée d'un grouillement de moines, de démons et de suppliciés, et, en larges lettres, jeté à la hâte, un ultime avertissement : Richardson ! Fuis ! Sauve-toi !