Black House [Import] [Hardcover]

Stephen & STRAUB, Peter KING (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: SOLD; Adobe EBook Reader edition (2001)
• ISBN-10: 0007134754
• ISBN-13: 978-0007134755
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (436 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,946,727 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are the Dark Tower novels, Cell, From a Buick 8, Everything's Eventual, Hearts in Atlantis, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and Bag of Bones. His acclaimed nonfiction book, On Writing, was also a bestseller. He is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

136 of 144 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like spending the day with an old friend, September 17, 2001

By 

Frazzled Glispa "frazzledglispa" (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black House (Hardcover)

I was extremely excited when I first heard this book was being released, but as the release date grew closer I began to have feelings of trepidation. The Talisman has been one of my favorite books since it was released when I was fourteen. Jack Sawyer has always been one of my favorite of Stephen King's characters (ok, I realise that this is a collaboration, but I tend to view it as more of a Stephen King creation. This is probably grossly unfair to Peter Straub, but there you have it.)

My great fear was that I wouldn't like Jack as an adult. That there was no way that these two could top the marvelous quest that was The Talisman. Then I heard that Black House would be tied into the Dark Tower series. I wasn't sure how to feel about this either. While I feel that the Dark Tower will prove to be the greatest of Stephen King's works, I have always viewed The Talisman as something altogether seperate, and magical.

My trepidation increased.

Then I decided to just let it go, made a concious effort to view Black House as something unto itself, to not hold it up to the Talisman, or anything else for comparison. I am very glad I did this.

I spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning reading this book, and let me tell you it was wonderful. Jack Sawyer, a little older, a little wiser, a little more lonely and scared, but still the boy with the good heart, grown into a man of integrity.

I will not give away plot points in this review, but let me just say a couple of things. The connection to the Dark Tower series is done very well, revealing some important information without taking you to far afield, and making this into an actual Dark Tower book. It is more akin to Insomnia - related, but not overwhelmingly so.

The characterisations in this book are wonderful. I was a little afraid there, because I was disappointed in that aspect of Dreamcatcher. These characters are like people you would meet on the street. They have their strengths and weaknesses, fears and hopes. At the top of the list is Jack, who after all of these years remains someone I would really like to hang out with.

This is not a rehash of the Talisman. The Talisman was a quest novel, while this is something different. There is a questing element in this novel, but it lies within Jack. His quest is to come to terms with himself and his past. Outwardly, this is more of a crime novel that veers into alternate realms with great effect.

I had great difficulty in putting this book down. Until I realised that I less than 100 pages left, at which point I became afraid to finish. I didn't want it to end, you see, and to me this is the greatest compliment I can give a book.

This was a wonderful addition to the Talisman, and to the Dark Tower pantheon. It has whet my appetite for more of both. Hopefully the wait will not be too long.

38 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hello, my name is TreeRider and I'm a Stephen King-aholic., November 23, 2001

By 

L. A. Chambers "Tree Rider" (Adana, Turkey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black House (Hardcover)

If you're a casual Stephen King (or Peter Straub) reader, or just a fan, this book may disappoint you. Likewise if you're expecting further adventures of Jack Sawyer in the Territories. Jack spends very little time in the Territories in Black House, and most of that comes near the end of the book. I prepped myself for Black House by rereading The Talisman. If you're planning on doing this, too, I won't tell you to reconsider, because it's a very entertaining way to spend your time. And it can help you to understand the authors' otherwise obscure references to events of twenty years ago and their use of seemingly odd phrases like "right here and now" that appeared in the first book. But most folks can get their money's worth from Black House without spending a week (more or less) reading the 700+ page prequel to this novel. And if you're a hardcore horror nut, neither Talisman nor House is up your alley anyway.

Another caveat: King experiments here with a different style of writing that may be off-putting to many readers. (It may not seem so different to Straub fans. I don't know; having read only The Talisman and Koko, I don't consider myself an authority on his works, but I can say I sensed more of his presence in House than I did in Talisman.) The authors use the simple present tense throughout Black House, and yet refer to past events in the past perfect tense, whereas simple past seems more correct to some of us English teachers. (King himself taught English before making a name for himself as a writer, so not all academicians will agree with me on this admittedly minor point.) And I found that their constant use of the first person plural, far from getting me personally involved, kept me from losing myself in the story. Reminded me of King's derogatory remarks about Harold Lauder's writing (second person present tense) in The Stand.

Technical matters and other sniveling complaints aside, Black House is a great read. If you read King for his humor, as I do, you won't be disappointed here. His wry wit comes through on every page. And those of you who, like me, are bizarrely fascinated by his knack for the gross-out also will not feel left out. This story revolves around Jack's attempts to track down the serial killer of children in a small Wisconsin community who eats parts of his victims' bodies and then leaves notes to their parents describing the joy he had in consuming them. The Fisherman is one of Stephen King's sickest creations to date.

For those of you die-hard King addicts (we know who we are) who are going through withdrawal while waiting so impatiently for your next fix of Dark Tower, wait no longer! See your local "dealer" (i.e., bookstore proprietor) today and shoot up with House. Not an official installment of his Dark Tower series, Black House is nonetheless a vehicle for King to give us some background info on gunslingers and the Crimson King. If you were secretly pleased (as I was) when King left horror behind in the late '80s to write modern-day myths, you will love this book. Don't imagine that his letting Mr. Straub into his private Dark Tower world is a sacrilege. The two together have some intriguing philosophical things to say about the metaphysics of that world-indeed, about all worlds. (And in a nod to the late great mythologist Joseph Campbell, their suggestion that a minor character is using alcoholism to "follow her bliss" is a hoot!)

The best reason I can give you for buying Black House is that no one in their right minds would loan it to you. We know we'd never get it back!

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It'll Do, October 15, 2001

By 

Lauren Scaravelli (Halifax, NS, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black House (Hardcover)

For those of you out there who are huge Stephen King fans like myself, you will buy and read this book regardless if every review you can get your hands on tells you it sucks like a vacum. That's just the way we are. But the truth be told, this is not one of the best, and perhaps not even one of the better. The Talisman, part 1 of this story, was great. It had fantasy and suspence and childish innocence to a tee. Blackhouse goes through the motions, in reality it seems like a murder mystery that added the Territories as an after thought so it could be a part 2.
Don't get me wrong it's not a bad book. It has some great story telling in there and some awfully likeable characters like Henry the blind radio announcer with several on air peronalities, and in places it really shines.
For the fans I was talking about earlier there is some insight into the Dark Tower and what might be dealt with in the future Gunslinger books which makes it a worthwhile read.
I guess the singular most annoying thing about this novel, and it is something that I have never seen in a Stephen King Book ever before and hope to never ever have to read through again in one, is that in parts of the book the narritive is described as if the reader is a watching third party to the story. example, "and now we float up away from this scene and go to visit another important character blahdy blahdy blah" believe me this gets mighty annoying mighty quickly. Perhaps its not Stephen King who wrote this way, although I admit it is unfair to blame what I don't like on the one who isn't one of my favorite authors, but oh well.
To sum up, In the absence of other Stephen King writing, any Stephen King is better than no Stephen King.