The Basement [Paperback]

Bari Wood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1996

Living a privileged life in a fine Connecticut community, Myra Ludens becomes aware of a sinister force that resides in her basement, resists all her barricades and renovations, and has given her the power to kill. Reprint. PW. LJ.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Wood (Doll's Eyes) gives us more reasons to not go down into the basement in this chilling but painfully old-fashioned horror novel. Superwealthy New Englander Myra Ludens knows that her cellar instills a sense of foreboding in nearly everyone who enters it. What she doesn't know is that the contractor who's just redone it found the bones of one Elizabeth "Goody" Redman, who was hanged in 1695 for witchcraft and buried in unhallowed ground under the basement flooring. After Myra has a horrible vision in which these relics animate themselves and go after her, she asks Arlen Pinchot, one of her circle of eight wealthy friends who have been inseparable since kindergarten, for a book on raising and denouncing evil presences (Arlen's father was an aficionado of the occult). The ensuing exorcism seems to work, but then disaster strikes a number of people whom Myra doesn't like. Her cantankerous neighbor is stung to death by bees; the abusive husband of one of her friends is attacked by ticks, to fatal effect. Help in sorting out the mayhem arrives from Manhattan alchemist Job Landau and, especially, from Myra's psychiatrist friend Reed Lerner-but there's apparently nothing they can do to prevent a conclusion that's as confusing and unsatisfying as it is gory. Wood's fast pacing and ability to write a spooky scene will engage most readers, at least until the climax, but, except for the excessive bloodshed, there's little here-including a coy reference to the horrorscape of H.P. Lovecraft-that wasn't a staple of horror fiction 20 years ago.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Avon Books (Mm) (June 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380723050
• ISBN-13: 978-0380723058
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,150,683 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible, horrible! Not worth your money!!, July 6, 2004

By 

Amer Mattar (Aloha, or United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Basement (Paperback)

I read this book and had a really hard time getting as far as I could into it (I finished two other novels before getting back to this book). I was two or three chapters away from finishing it and I just could not bring myself to wasting my precious time reading something this awful. It has to do with a fat spoiled rotten lady who really has nothing better to do in life but THINK there is something in the basement. The characters were done okay, needed some improvement. Plot sucked, story sucked. I do not recommened this to anyone.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating read., July 5, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Basement (Hardcover)

Even a $30,000 renovation doesn't stop the chill along the back of the neck and an overwhelming need to escape the basement. The basement was a joke among the bridge club members; they called it the black hole. Even the woman who designed the renovation summed everyone's reaction in a simple word: vile. So Myra Ludens must summons the courage to do something about it. Meanwhile, Myra also attempts to summon the courage to deal with the rest of her life. The neighbors have a noisy, yippy, obnoxious dog that never stops barking from early morning until after dark. The first time Myra attempts to ask her neighbor to do something about the dog, the Pastoris' rude behavior sends her scurrying back across the road. The second time, she finds herself uttering an ominous warning. Shortly thereafter, the man and his dog are dead. As other unnatural deathsfollow, they only have one thing in common; that is, every victim offended Myra. As Mrya researches her house, she learns that the woman named Goody Redman was hanged for witchcraft and buried on her land. Convinced that the spirit of the witch haunts her basement, Myra determines to do something about it. With the friends she grew up with, the other seven members of the bridge club, she attempts to banish the spirit that haunts the basement. The Basement is an addictive read that kept me up in the wee hours of the morning with the need to finish it. The quick pace and curiously detailed characterizations along with a marvelous authorial voice combine to create a tale of horror that both fascinates and repels. While I wasn't entirely satisfied with the ending, The Basement is a fascinating read.

Cindy Penn Reviewer

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Rich, bored, and dumb, January 17, 2010

By 

Evan the Dweezil (A Place-Sort Of, Montana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Basement (Paperback)

The Basement is a stupid story about a bunch of idle rich idiots from Connecticut. Myra, the mostly main focus, is a pathetic excuse of a person who's conflictingly described as drop-dead gorgeous and fat/pink at the same time. There's a ghost in her rich basement which she sics on her not so rich enemies. Bloodshed and hilarity ensue as the story is so unbelievable it's laugh out loud funny in places.

Poorly written, full of indistinguishable (and numerous) characters, this book is groan inducing, dull, and silly.