Burnt Offerings [Hardcover]

Robert Marasco (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1973

The Rolfes -- Ben, wife Marian, son David, and Aunt Elizabeth -- are a pleasant family from New York seeking to escape from the doldrums of a summer in their Queens apartment. They find a beautiful old country mansion on Long Island -- restful, secluded, with pool and private beach -- perfect, for the right people. But their "perfect" summer home hides terrors beyond their wildest imaginings. During that long summer the house becomes a nightmare from which there seems to be no escape.

--This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

8 1.5-hour cassettes --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Doubleday; First Edition edition (February 1973)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440009286
• ISBN-13: 978-0440009283
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,951,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GREAT, SCARY, FIRST NOVEL, December 9, 2003

By 

s.ferber (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Burnt Offerings (Hardcover)

For all those folks who have at times felt that their home and possessions owned them, rather than the other way around; for those folks who love a good haunted house/possession tale; and even for those readers who simply enjoy a well-told thriller of a pageturner, Robert Marasco's 1973 novel "Burnt Offerings" will be a real find. This was Marasco's first novel in a sadly unprolific career; he came out with only two more titles--"Child's Play," a drama, in 1970, and "Parlor Games," a Gothic-style mystery, in 1979--before succumbing to lung cancer in 1998, at the age of 62. A real loss, if "Burnt Offerings" is any indication of the man's skills. In this work, we meet Ben and Marian Rolfe, a nice, ordinary couple from Queens, who, with 8-year-old son David and elderly Aunt Elizabeth in tow, rent an aging mansion on Long Island's North Fork. This property is let for the unbelievably low price of $900 for the entire summer, with one proviso: The renters' mother will remain in her room for the duration, but will stay out of sight and quite low maintenance. Marasco then begins to gently turn the screws, and before long, but insidiously, horrible things start to transpire. Marian becomes obsessed with keeping house, while her hair quickly grays; Ben starts to physically abuse his son uncontrollably and to suffer morbid hallucinations; and Elizabeth, once spry, starts to age at an alarming rate. It soon becomes obvious to the reader that the house is leeching the life out of its occupants, while in the process of revivifying itself. And that is just the start of this amazing story.
Marasco writes extremely well; it is hard for me to believe that this was his first novel. Yes, he is sometimes guilty of the faults of a beginning writer, such as an occasional bit of fuzzy writing and some instances of poor grammar and punctuation (granted, those latter are more the fault of Marasco's editor). But what he excels at is beautifully rendered, realistic dialogue; I've seldom read better. His descriptions of Queens are also dead on the money (I should know; I live there); one can tell that Marasco was a native New Yorker. Perhaps I should also mention here that this book was chosen by no less a luminary than Stephen King for inclusion in Jones and Newman's excellent overview volume "Horror: 100 Best Books." It is easy to see the influence that "Burnt Offerings" had on King's similarly themed "The Shining," which came out four years later. But "The Shining" has always struck me as an excellent exercise in suspense, rather than being really scary (that bathtub scene excepted, natch), whereas "Burnt Offerings" has more scenes guaranteed to send shivers coursing down the spine. Every time Marian goes into mother's sitting room, and looks at the eerie photos on the table, and at that strangely carved door, and listens to the weird hum coming from mother's bedroom...well, it just keeps getting freakier and freakier. Although perhaps not as chilling as Shirley Jackson's classic "The Haunting of Hill House" (but then again, how many books are?), "Burnt Offerings" can even hold its own in that august company. The folks in Richard Matheson's "Hell House" go through no greater horrors than the Rolfes do, either. The Rolfes are a sweet couple, and the reader roots for them, and hopes that they come through their ordeals okay. But with the creeping, living forces of the Allardyce mansion ranged against them, the odds are certainly not in their favor! Anyway, let me just say that I more than highly recommend this book to all amazon.com readers.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic horror novel., June 26, 2002

By 

Jim Lay (Knoxville, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Burnt Offerings

Ben and Marian Rolfe are anxious to get out of the city. They've had it with noisy neighbors, traffic, and the heat. Along with their young boy, they search for an old house to spend the summer in the country. They find what appears to be an absolute dreamhouse, at an amazing price. So what if the owners seem like they're absolute crackers? And the old woman who will stay in the upstairs room won't be a burden, will she? Naaahhhh. So the knuckleheaded family settles into this creepy mansion and find themselves prey to some dark force that permeates the house. And hell hath no fury like the crazy old broad in the upstairs room...This is a classic from the old school of horror. Stephen King cited it as an influence on his masterwork THE SHINING and I could see several similarities. And like that classic, this is a kind of slo-motion slide into madness that really creeps into your psyche while you read it. Highly recommended for horror fans who want to appreciate the old school stuff.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seminal Horror Classic, March 22, 2001

By 

R. W. Rasband (Heber City, UT) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Burnt Offerings (Audio Cassette)

In his book on the horror genre, Stephen King's Danse Macabre, Stephen King graciously acknowledges this masterpiece as a precursor to his own "The Shining." Both books are about an Evil Place that devours a family. Marasco's classic because is quieter, more insidious, and ultimately more frightening on a deeper level. We only get glimpses of what is really happening: even the title is an unexplained allusion, although its meaning becomes horrifyingly more clear as the novel progresses. Shirley Jackson came close to this with "The Haunting of Hill House." I am also reminded of the numberless victims throughout history of forces beyond their control--people who were destroyed in wars and purges without ever understanding why. Perhaps that is Marasco and King's real subject. My favorite detail: the eyeglasses found in the pool, with the hole in the lens as if punctured by a sharp instrument. Chilling, indeed.