Customer Reviews

The House in the High Wood: A Story of Old Talbotshire

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Jefferey Barlough is without a doubt the most creative writer that I have encountered in the last year. "House in the High Woods" along with "Dark Sleeper", his first novel, is set in a 19th century Earth (at least developmentally speaking) that has been plunged into a dark ages of sorts, by an undefined cataclysm (although indications are that it was an extraterrestrial impact). At the same time, familiar fauna from the Ice Ages never went extinct; wooly mammoths, saber tooth tigers and giant sloth, among others, still roam the Earth. These differences make for a unique, and yet disturbingly familiar world.

However, it is not Barlough's surplus of creativity that sets him apart, rather, it is his writing. Everything about it is incredible: his use of language is superb, his pacing strings you along at a perfect level of tension, and his characterizations are without parallel. What I enjoy most, however, is something less concrete...he creates a world of detail that would be excruciating to describe, and that is yet fascinating to read. Every aspect of the characters' lives are examined: meals, style of dress, mannerisms, their surrounding geography, etc. Barlough definitely values the journey as much as the destination. While not all of the pages in this novel are directly pertinent to the conclusion, it is an absolute pleasure just to visit his world for a while.

As for "House in the High Woods" in particular, fans of his first novel will not be disappointed. While it exists in the same world and general chronology, it is by no means a sequel. Rather, it is what looks to be a series of examinations of a familiar, and yet fundamentally different Earth from a variety of perspectives. Of particular note, I found that "House in the High Woods" was much more disturbing, much more likely to keep you up at night than its predecessor. As the characters delve ever deeper into the dark mysteries of the small town of Shilston Upcot, the reader will find it almost impossible to put the book down.

Fans of "Dark Sleeper" will definitely enjoy this novel, perhaps even more than the original. Barlough's writing, already very solid in "Dark Sleeper" is even sharper, and the plot is much more engaging. To those readers new to the author, I highly recommend both novels, and I see no particular advantage to reading one or the other first.

Enjoy!

In The House in the High Wood, Barlough has crafted a compelling and unique novel that defies classification. One can say, I suppose, that it represents a delicious blend of Lovecraft, Collins or Poe's version of tension and horror, Brooks ideas of a modern, dark, urban fantasy and the very best of Dickensian characterization, complex and intricately described environments with superbly comic dialogue and story-telling. But to say that is to suggest somehow that Barlough's efforts are derivative and that is selling him far too short. These thumb-nail descriptions of style can only serve to whet an appetite and, I hope, encourage a potential reader to pick up a novel that I guarantee will be impossible to put down!

Shilston Upcot is a small town set high in the mountains nestled in a volcanic caldera which, like so many other small communities, has its share of dark secrets. Long-time residents like Mr Shank Bottom, a stone cutter by trade and the parish sexton, or Mr Nim Ives, the good humoured landlord of the Village Arms take exception to newcomers or outsiders seeking to open the door to any closets that might contain long dead skeletons. But Mark Trench, the squire of Dalroyd, and Oliver Langley, his long-time friend and confidant, have tumbled onto one of these skeletons in the story of a young girl, pregnant out of wedlock, who took her own life almost thirty years earlier. Mark becomes determined to get to the bottom of the story as he comes to believe that her suicide is somehow related to the untimely death or disappearance of his own father so many years ago.

I suspect that, like me, many readers will be quite surprised when they come to the realization they've been frantically turning pages on a novel whose plot actually moves at a positively glacial pace. But, they'll also quickly understand that it's the compelling, sustained level of tension, the superb characterizations, the exquisitely detailed descriptions of scenery, people and the minutiae of their daily lives, the masterful use of foreshadowing and exactly the right doses of the creepy stuff - ghosts, a mysterious owl hovering in the night sky, mournful voices, eerie nightmares, the suspicious house on the hill with the new reclusive tenants - that actually is what is keeping you awake reading until the wee hours!

Readers with eclectic tastes will be thrilled by this one! And the ending, by the way, is worthy of the finest horror flick!

Over the span of two novels Jeffrey Barlough has become one of my favorite writers. Barlough's strengths lie in his picturesque depictions of a world in the aftermath of a great cataclysm (that either hasn't been fully explained yet or that I have unfortunately missed) and his marvelously vivid characters. Barlough's charming characters have great names like Mr. Nicodemus Binks, Mr. Shank Bottom, Miss Cherry Ives, and Mr. Alfred Snorem.

Barlough writes with a non-traditional writing style. Both of his current novels read much like a Charles Dickens novel. But Barlough's novels have entertaining plots too. In _The House in the High Wood_, Barlough introduces the reader to the small town of Shilston Upcot, which has a dark and mysterious past. The reclusive squire, Mark Trench, sets out to uncover the hideous secrets behind the disappearance of his father many years past.

I think that a reader coming to this novel without a great deal of patience will not fully appreciate it. Barlough's story moves at a leisurely pace with frequent digressions to explain a character's backstory. One of the complaints that I heard frequently with regards to Barlough's first novel, _Dark Sleeper_, is that the plot was subsumed by Barlough's characters. Those who agree with this statement will likely find much of the same in this novel. Those of us who enjoy intriguing characters and wonderful stylistic differences will love both of Barlough's first novels.

_The House in the High Wood_ is one of my favorite fantasies of 2001. Highly recommended.

Sadly the horror field produces so very few great writers. Most of those working the genre at present are poor King immatators (though King himself should be given his due as a remarkable storyteller) who relay on stock tricks and grue to create what little terror thier books engender. Here then is something decidedly, brilliantly different. Mr. Barlough provides a story filled with full deep characters and plenty of sunshine that is only slowly undermined by the brooding horror at the its heart. His style is fresh, his pacing masterful, his language artful and the resulting creation enjoyable while at the same time being deeply distrubing. I highly recomend this title to any finds of thinking horror or dark fantasy.

Where have all the people of the village on the lake vanished away to? One man remembers the horrific truth...

Barlough creates an astonishing--one hesitates even to call it an imitation--believably nineteenth-century gothic style in this novel, which is more horrific in theme than its similarly styled prequel. His chosen style means that Barlough sacrifices something in characterization perforce, but he manages to do a fair amount. In this second book the plot is less unwieldy than in the first, and is timed and handled gracefully. Though the style will put off some readers, I found this an enjoyable book, strikingly original in its combination of period and fantastic detail.

Barlough's virtues have been well listed by the other reviewers. His characters are compelling and his style, often compared to a Dickens-Doyle-Lovecraft blend, is different and absobing. The world of these books, however, is a bit odd. Although sometimes described as psuedo-victorian, in fact it feels older, perhaps 18th or early 19th Century. Curiously, unless I missed it, there appears to be no gunpowder, and the cities do not have railroads or any other late 19th Century devices. And how does the "sundering," be it comet strike or something else, explain those prehistoric animals? Perhaps the next book will explain, perhaps not. In any event, these are certainly worth a look.

Barlough has crafted a book of dichotomies; every good balanced by some major failing.

His characters are memorable and surprisingly sympathetic, but still somewhat two-dimensional, and described with annoyingly Dickension catch-phrases: a character with a "bald pate" will be described with a "bald pate" every time he appears. His world feels deep and intriguing, often described beautifully but then, as with the characters, referenced in tiring, repetitive ways. The dialog is quirky but not out of place...but then key exchanges -- or pieces of exchanges -- will be glossed over: what someone says will be summarized, as will someone else's reaction. I know it's a cliche, but show don't tell, right?

The plotting is quick (perhaps why he decided to elide conversations) and gradually builds suspense and a sense of ominous dread; while also being something like an English mystery; so the jacket's comparison to Lovecraft is not totally inaccurate (thankfully, fewer adjectives). But all of this over-promises; the ending -- without giving anything away -- is far less dark or scary than anything I was imagining. It was surprising only for being relatively bland, compared to earlier events; and contains some events that make no sense. Worse maybe, is how abruptly it all ends. Huge build up...swept away in a stroke.

So while I enjoyed much of the book, I was also irked regularly, and sorely disappointed at its conclusion.

A man who lives in the seaport city of Crow's-end has inherited land in the mountain town of Hoole. He knows that he has to go to Hoole as soon as possible so he gets his affairs in order and boards the carriage that will take him to the isolated mountain town. There is a passenger in the carriage, a taciturn reticent person, who doesn't allow his fellow passenger to draw him into conversation until the carriage reaches an unexpected town.

The man who is traveling to Hoole sees a destitute and deserted village with no traces of life, either human or animal. The quiet passenger tells him that he was in Shilston Upcot eleven years ago when the isolated village was populated with people until the horrible events happened that turned a happy little village into a ghost town. Later that night, at a regular stop at an inn he tells his acquaintance the terrifying and dark events that destroyed a thriving community.

The growing feelings of foreboding and the supernatural events that happened to the villagers are reminiscent of the works of Lovecraft. THE HOUSE IN THE WOODS is a gothic like, slow moving work that allows the audience to fully comprehend events and the growing horror that absorbed the villagers. Jeffrey E Barlough has not written an action packed thriller but an atmospheric novel that digs deep inside the guts of the reader.

Harriet Klausner

I picked up "The House in the High Wood" because I had read and enjoyed "Dark Sleeper". I was drawn in by the Dickensian language and mysterious "event" that somehow changed the landscape of this alternate earthlike place and the dark & mysterious adventures of its cast. Especially Mr. Pumpkin Pie.

Sadly, HITHW is just more of the same. While the writing is technically marvelous, a dead ringer nineteenth-century style and syntax, the tale itself seems padded and out of place.