Black House

by Stephen King

Paperback, 2001

Status

Available

Call number

F Kin

Call number

F Kin

Barcode

3265

Publication

Pocket Books (2012), Edition: Reprint, 848 pages

Description

Fiction. Horror. HTML: Twenty years ago, a boy named Jack Sawyer travelled to a parallel universe called The Territories to save his mother and her Territories "twinner" from a premature and 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, WI. 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 earlier by a real-life madman named Albert Fish, the killer is dubbed "The Fisherman" and Jack's buddy, the local chief of police, begs Jack to help his inexperienced force find him. But is this 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 that 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 track of forest, there to encounter the obscene and ferocious evils sheltered within it..… (more)

Original publication date

2001-09

User reviews

LibraryThing member sturlington
In this novel, King returns to his classic style of storytelling: an epic tale, a band of great heroes, a powerful child, parallel worlds and enormous stakes. The added bonus is that it returns us to the world of the The Dark Tower saga, adding another important piece to that super-epic tale. In
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fact, I find it hard to believe that Straub wrote more than the first 20 pages or so, since the style is so clearly vintage King.

Billed as a sequel to The Talisman, Black House doesn’t really continue that story so much as pick up the thread of its main character’s (Jack Sawyer) life as an adult. King aficionados will relish this novel as a full-force return to the type of story King tells best.
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LibraryThing member aketzle
Good, classic King, but not the thrilling saga The Talisman was.
LibraryThing member StephenBarkley
Having just finished The Talisman, I decided to jump into the sequel. This book surpasses its predecessor in every way possible. The writing style is mature and polished. The horror is truly horrifying. The plot is captivating. The character development is rich, without slowing the pace of the
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narrative.

To make things even better, there are no subtle allusions to the world of the Dark Tower: it’s explicitly part of the plot. Hearing about the beams, the Crimson King, the Gunslinger, and the breakers all over again brought me right back into that world.

If that last sentence made no sense, you should really read the Dark Tower books followed by The Talisman before opening up this one. It’s worth the time.

Now we wait for the anticipated third book of the trilogy.
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LibraryThing member Carol420
I've always considered Stephen King as the ultimate "Master of Horror". Team the Master up with Peter Straub ...another noteworthy horror writer and you should have a winner..right? Unfortuantly Black House just falls short. The killer is perverse,but not frightening at all. Actually he is more
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comical than ominous, and his thoughts read more like mischievous adolescent rage than visions in a psychotic mind. The fact that he is not in complete control of the evil occurring throughout the county also diminishes his character’s powers as evil. Overall The plot is predictable and the characters have neither the fear-factor of the clown from "It", nor the sheer evil presence of Tak from "Desperation". Even the dead cat from Pet Sematary had more punch. I expected more from these two authors. Worth 3 stars but no more IMO.
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LibraryThing member kw50197
My only complaint about the book is the opening chapter and the occassional parts where the story is written as if we are hitching a ride on a crow. I feel that these parts have been made unnecessarily wordy and are a distraction from the flow of the story. The best parts are when Mr King and Mr
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Straub is simply telling a story about wonderful characters such as Jack Sawyer and his best friend Henry Leyden. Honourable, dependable Jack and wise Henry.
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LibraryThing member Duranfan
I wanted to really love this book, but it fell short of expectations. It stays true to King form with his wonderful character descriptions and development, not to mention some downright creepy and disturbing scenes. But I just don't think it had the emotionally-moving power The Talisman had.
LibraryThing member BarbaraWebb
Travelin' Jack Sawyer is all grown up, but has forgotten the adventure of his youth. Now, after a short but brilliant career as a police detective in Los Angeles, Jack has retired to a small town in Wisconsin to try to escape a shock he cannot understand. But Jack has touched the Talisman, and the
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other side doesn't release those who know its secrets so easily. As a serial killer drives the local police to seek his help, Jack comes to realize that the true darkness that threatens this small town could spell catastrophe for this world and many beyond.

THE BLACK HOUSE, by Stephen King and Peter Straub, is a sequel to THE TALISMAN, and you probably need to read the first one to get the most out of it. It also makes reference to the Dark Tower series, but not in a way that's integral to the plot. In fact, I almost found the Dark Tower references distracting – they came across in a wink-wink-nudge-nudge sort of way.

The pacing in this book I found poor. High action scenes were weighted down with so much description I found myself skimming a lot to try to find out what was happening. After all the buildup, the final confrontation with the villain sped by and was over before I fully realized what was going on. The beginning of the book seemed to go on and on for chapters before anything happened, filled with minute details about the town and characters who didn't necessarily end up being central to the story.

Like most King books, the characters were intricate and interesting. Even bit players had personality. Jack Sawyer is one of King's favorite characters, and it shows. Maybe a little too much. There were a couple of times where other characters made huge sacrifices for information that Jack figures out all on his own, diminishing their contributions. For me, that sucked out some of the drama of the book.

The beginning was too long and the end was rushed, but the middle of the book was excellent. As the investigation unfolded and Jack re-discovered his own hidden talents, the writing was as rich and lush as I have come to expect from King. If that had held through the whole book, I would have recommended it without hesitation. As it is, this book as a whole doesn't quite pass muster.
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LibraryThing member Bookmarque
For a Stephen King novel, this took me forever to get through. Mostly because it started out so slowly. 100+ pages into it and still nothing had happened. Then when things finally did get going, they got bogged down again in trivialities. I found the ending to be very hurried and kind of
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unbelievable.
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LibraryThing member lesleydawn
I didn't realize when I started this book that it was a sequel to The Talisman. I kind of figured that out part way through reading it, but kept on reading because it really didn't seem to matter that I hadn't read the first book. Overall, I thought it was a good read, and there are several scenes
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that still stick out in my head, even though it has been more than a year since I read the book.
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LibraryThing member freddiefreddie
Dug this one, but it was less successful than The Talisman. I didn't buy Jack's amnesia about his travels as a young boy.
LibraryThing member msleighm
Enjoyable part of the Dark Tower series, sequel to The Talisman or read it on it's own.
LibraryThing member thioviolight
Sequel to The Talisman, I found this story as deeply engaging as the other book. It's quite different in tone though, darker and more horrific, involving a very twisted serial killer and gruesome descriptions. Reading it at night gave me chills!
LibraryThing member klarsenmd
This is another excellent story. The joint effort between these two great authors really pays off.
LibraryThing member Crowyhead
This is an all right, but not great, sequel to The Talisman. For the first couple chapters, I found the narrative voice to be REALLY annoying, but that eased up after a while. I liked individual parts of the plot, but overall it just doesn't have the focused intensity that The Talisman has. I mean,
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I loved the characters (the Thunder Five and Henry Leyden especially), but I didn't feel like they were used skillfully enough and the whole plot didn't really hang together as well as it should have.
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LibraryThing member lalaland
Enjoyed this book. Great structure and characters.
LibraryThing member leslie.holm
Sometimes I like King, and sometimes I like Straub, but together they make pretty good reading. Straubs poetic imagery mixed with King's blatant in-your-face punches really compliment each other. Black House started very slowly and didn't really pick up until the middle - I much preferred The
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Talisman, but this wasn't bad. Not as good as I remembered it the first reading, but not bad.

The story picks up Jack Sawyer's life after forgetting his experiences in the Territories, and after a successful career as an LA cop. He retires to a small town, where he is once more required to save the world through his specialized knowledge of the Territories. There is a visit from Speedy/Parkus from The Talisman, and of course, many references to The Gunslinger series. If you like either The Talisman or The Gunslinger, this should appeal. Not nearly as horrific as many of King's other novels . . .
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LibraryThing member kd9
Some of Stephen King's books are interesting. None of Peter Straub's books are the least bit interesting. The problem is that neither of them can use one word when 400 will do. Every boulder, stone, rock, pebble, and grain of sand is described in excruiating detail. You just wish they would get on
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with the story, but then again, probably not, when the story involves implacable evil doing the most gross and disgusting things (especially to children) that they both could think of. I have no problem with graphic detail, but it seems that graphic detail is all that the book is about. If you are interested in the mythos of The Dark Tower, read the Stephen King books about the Gunslinger, but skip this book.
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LibraryThing member vashlock524
Although the book starts out just a bit slow, the story drew me in quite soon. If you are unfamiliar with Stephen King's other novels involving his "otherworldly" characters and settings, then this book may not make a whole lot of sense to you. I recommend that at the very least you read "The
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Talisman" prior to reading this book as well as "The Black Tower" series as "Black House" makes several references to topics and characters introduced in the series. My favorite character in "Black House" was Henry Leyden. King and Straub describe him so richly and make him such a unique character from his "personalities" to his multi-faceted intelligence, to his manner of garb, it made me sad that I could not know the man in person. In fact, the entire book is written this way-drawing you in and making you feel as though you are experiencing everything along with the characters being described. All in all, a great read.
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LibraryThing member seldombites
Like a lot of Stephen King's books, this book had a slow start but turned out to be a great read. Black House is the sequel to The Talisman but not having read the first book in no way detracted from my enjoyment of the second.

I have little experience with Peter Straub, but Stephen King always
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develops rich, believable characters, and this story is no exception. I especially love the radio host, Henry Leyden. He has got to be my favourite King character yet. He's the kind of person I could see myself falling for in another life!

Black House is written with the flair and style typical of Stephen King, with a slightly different narrative style that I assume is the result of Straub's influence. I picked this book up expecting to be impressed and I was not disappointed.
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LibraryThing member katjabeen
Started out very, very slow. I was afraid I would not be able to get into it, but it turned out to be an engaging story. I cared about the characters and I would love to read more about them.
LibraryThing member Anagarika
An alright sequel. The novel makes a good connection with The Dark Tower. King's novel's are all intertwined.
LibraryThing member whitewavedarling
You can feel the hands of both Straub and King on this work, and it's the stronger for the combination. From the beginning, this is a creepy and engaging exploration of believable characters in the horrifying and beautiful world King and Straub created with The Talisman. You CAN read this without
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reading their earlier collaboration (and I did), but I think you might as well start with The Talisman since I'll be venturing their next. The book might be a bit longer than it needs to be since there are moments when it drags, but on the whole, this is a graceful and perfectly executed horror novel with engaging characters, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Enjoy.
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LibraryThing member mbertsch
After reading this book, which I loved, I wished I had read the Talisman first. The characters are great; a blind deejay, genius bikers? The bikers were my favorite and I would definitely want them on my side.
LibraryThing member skinglist
Dark Tower, without being Dark Tower. Held the space between books well.
LibraryThing member srboone
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.
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Not looking forward to a 3rd book in this series.
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Rating

½ (1376 ratings; 3.8)

Pages

1002
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