Elsewhere [Hardcover]

William Peter Blatty (Author), Alex McVey (Illustrator), Bruce Haley (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2009

An incredible haunted house novel from William Peter Blatty, the legendary author of The Exorcist! Disturbing, unsettling, chilling, and laced with a nasty streak of dark humor, Elsewhere is a must-have for all fans of dark fiction! Sure to become a time-honored classic in the genre!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Horror old-timer Blatty (The Exorcist) takes a new route down an old road in this disorienting tale. Realtor Joan Freeboard, trying to dispel the title mansion's creepy reputation, arranges for a psychic, a parapsychologist and a noted author to move into Elsewhere with her and declare it ghost-free. Isolated by a storm from civilization, they become absorbed by the house and its growing sense of strangeness; exploring its secrets exposes their own. Ultimately, Elsewhere forces them to accept the individual realities that they have created for themselves. Blatty neatly entwines the twin branches of psychological and supernatural horror, and save for a late scene of violence, the work is more life-affirming than shocking. Includes otherworldly b&w illus by Alex McVey. (Mar.)
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Review

"...a witty ghost story of Jamesian complexity." -- The Boston Herald

"...an eerie new novel by William Peter Blatty." -- Library Journal

"...may be the first truly original haunted house story in decades." -- Denver Rocky Mountain News

"Innovatively constructed and skillfully written, the short novel is witty, scary, touching and thought-provoking." -- Chicago Tribune

"William Peter Blatty's excellent haunted house/ghost story, Elsewhere, certainly brings into question Stephen King's recent assertion... that the traditional ghost story is dead. It's Topper-like ending even injects an appropriate dash of humour." -- Michael Revel Reviews

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 220 pages
• Publisher: Cemetery Dance Publications; 1st edition (May 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587670836
• ISBN-13: 978-1587670831
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #571,390 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Worth it for the humor and dialogue..., September 14, 2009

By 

Vaughan (Brentwood, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elsewhere (Hardcover)

I am not one of those reviewers who write unstellar reviews simply due to thwarted expectations. I know this story was not supposed to be The Exorcist, so I approached it with an open mind to read it as a story in its own right.

And there are some good points to it:

-Blatty's humor is my type of humor. Lots of call backs and quirkiness. "Fyook."
-Unlike some of the reviews, I find Blatty's use of language unique and entertaining - I, for one, like his use of metaphor.

But I have to admit that I wanted the story to at least be unsettling. Instead, what's offered is something that borders on heart-warming. This is somewhat understandable, as Blatty is now in his 80's and the story seems to be written partially as an acceptance of the concepts of death and dying. I just wish that for one of his last (and one of his few) works he would have chosen to give us something as fascinating as his famous treatise on demonology.

"Dimmie, why you do this to me?"

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, March 28, 2010

By 

J from NY (New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Elsewhere (Hardcover)

Not surprisingly, William Peter Blatty sets up a cast of characters who are either tortured, losing their faith, or obsessing over what may or may not happen after death. Dr. Cole, a kind freelance physician (after the death of his wife, spends most of his time with an Electronic Voice Monitor hanging around haunted houses) Joan Freeboard (a real estate agent whose characterization just smacks of Regan's mother in "The Exorcist")--always smoking, defiant, witty, swearing a lot, and Terry Dare, a gay novelist with two puppies and a flair for acting just like the stereotype of a homosexual. Morna is the mysterious, beautiful house servant who is almost entirely absent for the slim read. Anna Trawley, a psychic we know very little about other than the abrupt loss of her daughter to a tragic car accident and her indispensable knack for knowing that something is just *wrong* with the house in Elsewhere.
(Finally, Blatty drops Ernest Becker's name and the title of his titantic work, "The Denial of Death". I was waiting for that to happen.)

The more you follow Blatty's written work the more you notice recurring themes and how he manages to creatively work them out with variations worthy of a true devotee to mankind's central metaphysical issues. In "The Exorcist" we are overwhelmed with terror, paranoia, and pity for a young girl defiled by forces seemingly out of her control. In "The Ninth Configuration" we see the Single Individual before God in the Kierkegaardian sense--Col. Vincent Kane battling with his own monstrosity and the most unGodly problems of mental illness and insanity. "Legion" successfully carries Blatty's main point of contention with life--the Problem of Evil--and entwines it with the original plot of "The Exorcist". ("Dimiter" is a different story, probably his best theological work, which grapples with the issue of where Christ is and isn't present.) Here, he sort of comes full circle to the question nihil, nothing, or the hand of faith guiding us "Elsewhere", out of meaninglessness.

Describing the plot at any length sort of spoils the novel since the whole thing is one big twist, but a lot is successfully borrowed from Matheson's "Hell House" and the film "The Haunting". This is a meditation on loss and how, as believers or non believers, we go on after loss--the loss of a loved one in particular. There are frightening parts indeed (when Dare and Freeboard are holed up in a room of the house, assailed by pounding sounds which they experience as "malevolent", kind of puzzling considering what the source of those sounds are?)

For anyone even casually interested in "the big issues" or fans of William Peter Blatty, "Elsewhere" is a must.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An atmospheric read., May 8, 2009

By 

Robert Busko (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Elsewhere (Hardcover)

Elsewhere is the first William Peter Blatty novel that I've read since the Exorcist, which I read after seeing the movie. Though not a long book at just over 200 pages, Elsewhere's story will make you feel it's much longer.....but in a good way.

Okay, there are a few clichés used in delivering up the story, but don't let that keep you from enjoying the story. I mean, if you've read enough of these stories, every device an author uses can seem like a cliché.

Elsewhere is a house and it has a problem. On the real estate market for an extended period the house is hard to move because it has a reputation of being haunted. Enter Joan Freeboard, a realtor who decides to prove the house is free of spirits. She recruits a psychic, a parapsychologist, and an author to spend some time in the house and deliver the verdict that all is okay with the manor. And all does go well, for a time.

I believe that Elsewhere is more a psychological thriller than a mere ghost story, but it does pretty well on the latter. Elsewhere is well written but I had a hard time really getting to know the characters. There are a number of twists in the story, not so many as to make the story seem phony or contrived, but enough to make the read rewarding and interesting.

William Peter Blatty certainly isn't a stranger to well written stories. "Exorcist" on anyone's resume speaks loud and clear. Is Elsewhere that good? Read it and see for yourself.

Peace always.