Customer Reviews

The House That Jack Built

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was pleasantly surprised with how great this book is. It's full of haunting set pieces that will stay with you -- to describe them at all will ruin the thrill of surprise for you (and there are a host of nasty surprises throughout the book). I was reluctant to start this novel, thinking, "What can he possibly do with the haunted house theme that we all haven't seen before?" Well, Masterson has come up with something new here -- a fresh twist on the traditional ghost story, with lots of interesting ideas and a terrifying villain that you won't soon forget.

I read many horror novels each year -- it's one of my favorite genres. Like many reviewers here on Amazon, I'm always on the lookout for something I haven't seen before, something exciting and original that will have me flipping the pages as fast as I can. By that standard, this book delivers. It's my first book by Masterson, but it definitely won't be the last!

Sorry fellow scare seekers, this one just didn't cut it for me. It really isn't a "haunted house" story at all, more like a time travelling possession story. I say this because the "haunting" if you can call it that is not limited to the house, but rather inhabits the characters of the story who travel around and do some very nasty bidding on behalf of the house (or should we say on behalf of Jack) The premises of time and ones perception of it were very thought-provoking, but the actual rationale behind some of the events just didn't ring true. I agree with another reviewer who mentioned the killings of some of the characters that came totally out of left field with absolutly no motivation behind them. Now don't get me wrong, there are truly disturbing scences here, and many that are fraught with such a level of misogyny that some individuals may have a hard time reading them. But as a lover of ghost stories, there is a real difference, between being shocked or repulsed by what I'm reading, and being scared by it. This one covered the repulsion factor just fine, but it sure didn't keep me up at night. I'm going to suggest "The Ghost Writer" by John Harwood as a much better example of the genre.

I have read other works by Graham Masterton, and I found him to be a very good horror writer. In his latest work, The House That Jack Built, it starts out a bit slow at first, but picks up the pace. The setting in New Orleans is what really made me pick up this book since I have read other horror stories by Anne Rice and Poppy Z. Brite that took place in the same area. It was a good ghost story and I found myself finishing it in what seemed to be a day and half. It isn't the greatest book of horror that I have read so far, but it was enjoyable and I think it was worth my time.

Masterton, is one of the great storytellers of horror. He writes America better than Americans. In fact I found my self confused by the Brittish syntax of the text. Anyhow, the finer points of this novel are origin of the haunting and atmosphere. I found the house especially scary in that it was in disrepair and not quite livable. If you've ever been dragged to the country to a house supposedly haunted, it was likely in this state. The emptiness and openness of it without the comforts of home make the people that much more vulnerable. The origin of the hauntings I'll let you read for yourself. The only thing I'll say is that it has to do with the overlapping of time. Great read all the way through.

Craig and Effie Bellman are your typical upscale New Yorkers. Craig heads up his own law firm, specializing in international law with an emphasis on Japanese corporate clients. Effie works at a modern art gallery. Life is going well for this wealthy couple until horror descends on Craig one rainy March evening. While in route to an important meeting with one of his clients, Craig makes a tragic mistake by mouthing off to his cab driver. After being thrown out of the cab, Craig stupidly helps a young woman who claims one of her friends is being raped in an abandoned store. Big mistake. Craig just got set-up and takes the fall when two thugs associated with a local gang rob and mutilate him. Craig's sense of manhood is permanently shattered by these terrible events, and his relationship with his wife teeters on the brink of disaster until the Bellmans take a vacation in the Hudson River Valley. During the course of this stay away from home, Craig and Effie discover Valhalla, a decaying estate built by the famous business tycoon and gambler Jack Belias in the 1930s. The house is a disaster, with collapsed sections of roofing, decayed floors, shattered windows, and rodent infestations. Even worse, the locals believe evil spirits wander the halls of the house.

Although Effie takes an instant disliking to Valhalla, something about the estate calls to Craig through the depths of his depression. As he says several times during the course of the story, the house "is me," that this money pit speaks to him on a fundamental level. Craig quickly decides he must have this house even though the restoration alone will cost several million dollars. He enlists the help of Norman Moriarty, a local man with a penchant for using the word "like" in every sentence and a whiz at restoring old properties, to help him refurbish the building. As Craig becomes increasingly involved in restoring the house, his personality and physical appearance begin to change. He becomes downright belligerent towards his wife and total strangers, eventually resorting to terrible outbursts of violence.

Effie is less than enthusiastic about the entire project. She wants to support Craig if it means helping him emerge from his tragedy, but the house completely spooks her at every turn. When one of the surveyors hired by Craig dies in a terribly disgusting way, Effie is even more anxious about the situation she finds herself in. She slowly comes to realize that the house is seriously amiss after hearing ghostly sobbing from an upstairs bedroom and spotting a mysterious figure running through the house. Effie soon enlists the aid of aging hippie Pepper Moriarty, Norman's mother and the owner of a psychic/herb/witchcraft store in town to help her discover what secrets the house holds. The answers are many and most are not pleasant. What seems to be a tale of a simple haunted house turns into, in author Graham Masterton's hands, a complex tale about coincident realities and bizarre theories about the nature of history and time.

Haunted house tales have the potential to fall back on stale conventions. Masterton's unique take on the old "ghost rattling the chains" idea is both enjoyable and exceptionally imaginative. Relying heavily on new age mumbo jumbo and quasi-physics, the author injects new life into an old genre. "The House that Jack Built" quickly turns into a gripping story, an "unputdownable" book that leaves the reader smiling over some of the clever twists and turns Masterton inserts into the story. It doesn't hurt at all that Valhalla has great atmosphere, with its eerie hallways, strange woodcarvings and murals, and cryptic inscriptions ("Gut ist der Schlaf, der Tod ist besser" and "Non omnis moriar"). The villain of the story, Jack Belias, is an interesting character and truly creepy. But the main character of the story is really Effie, as she struggles to understand why the creepy metamorphosis her husband undergoes and how she can reverse the odious influences of the house.

It was the gory scenes in the story that struck my fancy. There really isn't that much in the way of grue, but when it appears it makes you sit up and cheer. Probably the best incident involves the surveyor who suffers an appalling accident while wondering through the house. Masterton refuses to leave well enough alone, however, as he ratchets up the cringe factor. Let's just say that he had this reader moan out loud, "Oh no, not the rats!" Poor Morton Walker. At least he suffered one of the more interesting deaths I have recently read in my jaunts through the horror genre.

This is my first foray into the world of Graham Masterton, and it absolutely will not be my last. I like what he did with this haunted house tale, and if he is able to do the same thing with other horror standards, such as vampire stories, I look forward to exploring his other books. Despite a few slight problems, such as the highly implausible situation of Craig dumbly agreeing to help someone he doesn't know on the streets of New York (I don't even live there and I recognize how idiotic this is) and the difficulty in following Masterton's theories about why the house is doing what its doing, the book is an overall success. With great atmosphere, interesting characters, good gore, and an engaging plot, "The House that Jack Built" delivers the goods.

Until I read this book, there were only two "haunted house" books in the horror genre that I respected -- "The Shining" (of course) and "The Haunting of Hill House".

Now there are three.

Once I picked up this book, I simply could not put it down. The haunted house itself was terrifying. The characters and their lives and problems were unique and intriguing.

Graham Masterson is the master of putting in little bizarre touches that make goosebumps go down your spine. He knows when to push full-throttle ahead with the horror and when to just be weird and spooky.

He's not lazy, either -- he comes up with a full-spectrum explanation of hauntings in this book that is truly paranormal and extremely weird ... "Life is like a book ..."

I promise you, the first chapter itself will grab you by the guts and not let you go ... if you can put this book down you're either sleeping or dead.

Buy this book, horror fans -- you won't regret it!

Graham Masterton wined, dined, and romanced me with his gory, viscerally rich ‘The Devil in Grey.’ Here he makes the past cross the lines with the modern again, this time, as before, dealing with devilish spirits up to no good.

The plot is traditional type of ghost story, with possession, unexplained deaths, haunted houses, and mysterious ‘drawings’ to places and people of the characters. Sure, there’s nothing really new here, but it’s fun anyway.

Pacing doesn’t hurt the book, either. The ending is one that lasts in the readers mind even when the book is read, closed, and locked away on the shelf.Characters are gripping and emotionally driven, particularly the wife Ellie.When violence strikes, it’s bloody, traditional Masterton style. Even though I hold minor qualms with how the ending turned out (not bad writing, just personal grimaces), I rate this book highly. Masterton’s writing style is crafty and addictive, his approach solid and strong, creating an end product that’s both memorable and enjoyable.

Find it, buy it, let your mind soak it up. One can never have too many haunted house stories, especially when the story surrounds manipulative, cruel ghosts who come back from the grave for reasons one would never originally expect.

I've enjoyed most of Graham Masterton's novels as he is an unusually reliable writer. I picked up this book after several fellow horror readers named it as one of their top five haunted house novels. Well, I read it, but I can't say I agree with this determination. The writing is fine, and the characters are fairly well-developed, but in the end, it turned out to be another "Why are you going back into the house, you idiot?" story.

Some of the mystery surrounding the house was interesting, but mostly I didn't buy the characters' motivations. I also didn't get the usual frisson of fear Masterton can usually evoke. On the plus side, the book is an easy read, and I suspect most Masterton and/or horror fans will enjoy it well enough.

Sorry Graham, your haunted house story is fine, but it didn't make my top five.

After a traumatic accident, Craig Bellman becomes obsessed with restoring a moldering haunted house named Valhalla. His wife Effie struggles to save their marriage as obsession turns to madness. For Valhalla holds a dark mystery which threatens to consume them both. The evil trapped within its walls has awoken.

A fun, light page-turner with a good grasp of paranormal theory and some shocking scenes. I had to pause for a moment after a scene where a man drops 30 feet to be impaled upright on a rusted iron pipe, then is eaten alive by rats as the pipe grinds slowly across the inside of his ribcage. In a dark cellar of an abandoned house. Actually had to think a while before I could come up with a worse way to die. To my shocked amazement, shish kabob-guy is later used as a ladder to climb out of the cellar. Ummm... probably not for the squeamish. Masterton has done some research, and his treatment of ghosts is well-done given the difficulty in making such topics believable. On the downside, the characters are a bit shallow, and the suspense could have been cranked up a little.

Read this book if you're looking for a light haunted house novel that displays intelligence, if not depth or complexity. A good combination of atmosphere, conflict, scares and shocks make this a notable horror novel. Well written, too!

This haunted house story rivals the greats i.e. The Shining. The story is gripping from the start with characters that are real as life itself. The story keeps pace consistently through the entire book and unveils the secret of the story in a horrifying and suspensful manner. This has to be in my top 10 of favorite horror novels ever. Don't pass it up. Masterton did a superb job of capturing all aspects of this haunted house story.