The Rousseau House [Paperback]

MJ Konevich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2006

Frederick Miller went into the house looking for gold. He never thought that the house would be looking for him.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

MJ is an Affliate Member of the Horror Writer's Association (HWA) and the author of several short stories, which have appeared both on-line and in print.In his free time, he enjoys reading, traveling and, of course, writing.

Born in Salem, Massachusetts, he was quick to embrace the dark past which existed there, using several of the town's more sinister areas as a backdrop for his writings. In THE ROUSSEAU HOUSE, for example, the chateau which is the main subject of the story is based on an actual decaying structure a few blocks away from where he lived. The saying "write what you know" is something that many writers hold true to their hearts and MJ is no exception to this rule. Once you open yourself to what's stirring inside you, anything is possible!

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Two bodies were found at the gates of the chateau known as The Rousseau House. They had been mangled to a point where visual identification was almost impossible, but everyone knew who they were anyway. Only outsiders would waste their lives going up there searching for something that everyone knew didn't exist -- something that had never existed, even back when it was still occupied. Nowadays, the house sat alone atop Gallow Hills on a vast acreage purchased nearly two hundred yeards earlier by one of the Rousseau family from one of the Kings of France. No one could recall exactly which one, but no one really cared. As far as they were concerned, the house had always been there. Construction of the chateau was completed within a year and soon after that, the family moved in. It had stood there in various states of opulence and decay for more years than anyone in Grendel could remember. It wasn't until a prolonged stretch of disease killed off many of the Rousseaus who occupied the house, that it was more or less abandoned. It had always been there and would always be. The townsfolk of Grendel could never recall a time when the odius house wasn't a part of the dreary landscape, a leering monster glaring down on them from its lofty perch on top of the hill. Its windows were more like haunted eyes than simple panes of glass that stood in the frames. A decaying slate gray roof and rotting Doric-style columns added to the discomforting aura of the house. Its disturbing appearance and the dark lore of the surrounding area made the townsfolk avoid the house, and indeed Gallow Hill, altogether.

For many years after the plague that claimed the majority of the Rousseau family, no one was even sure if the house remained occupied. That was, of course, until this morning, when news began to filter down about the mysterious deaths of two foreigners, who apparently broke into the structure seeking shelter from the rain last night. What exactly had occurred inside the house was unknown, but the result was indescribable and brutal. As the velvety morning mists slowly cleared in the pale light, their bodies were carted down the thin trail from Gallow Hills, just as many others before them had been. A small crowd had gathered to watch as the wooden, horse-drawn cart slowly clopped by with the mutilated corpses wrapped in black cloaks by resting in back. Crowds always appeared after a death. They were drawn to it like carrion flies to rotting meat. Only these flies were people and the rotting meat they sought were the cadavers of the two poor men whose lives had been taken under the most mysterious of circumstances. What remained of their bodies had been found at the gates of the Rousseau House, covered with horrible claw and bite marks that zig-zagged across and through the skin. Claws with the strength to tear muscle from bone, tendon from muscle and render what was left into nothing more than a steaming pile of flesh.

Unfortunately for the townsfolk of Grendel, this wasn't the first time they had seen this. Nor did they expect it to be the last. There were creatures that still prowled the ancient French countryside at night, animals that most wrote off as myth. But the people of Grendel knew better. They would not cast aside what they had been seeing for years with their own eyes just because educated men from a distant university claimed these creatures could not exist. They had learned long ago not to go near the house because of what lived there. If others chose not to listen to them, that was their own business.

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing (July 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1553695755
• ISBN-13: 978-1553695752
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,271,389 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Would have benefitted from an editor, January 15, 2009

By 

Alan Kipust "Picky Reader" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rousseau House (Paperback)

When I got this book, I was dismayed to see it was a self-published book, but I had nothing else to read, so I proceeded. I actually found it fairly engaging and enjoyable, with the distracting exceptions of when the writer had his(her?) characters switched and it was Nathanial when it should have been Frederick and so on. And other grammatical errors and typos. My advice to the author: have someone else read it before paying to have it printed.

1.0 out of 5 stars LMD, December 23, 2011

By 

ScariMari336 (Morris County, NJ) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Rousseau House (Paperback)

The worst novel I have ever read. I cannot for the life of me understand how it got such overall good ratings.

Let's see . . . where to begin . . .

1) Where was this taking place? A mention was made about the kings of France, a chateau, and the surname Rousseau. Sounds French enough. But the main characters' names were English, or British anyway, and the town was called "Grendel" (a la the monster from the Old English epic, "Beowulf").

2) In which time period does this story take place? Some of the dialog was completely modern sounding, while other dialog seemed to be someone's idea of how people spoke in the 18th century.

3) What was the purpose of introducing the giant worm things? Where did they come from? Were they only in this town? After chasing the men out of town, where did they go? What happened to them in the end? It is almost like they were just thrown in there for sensations' sake, and then they disapeared into thin air.

4) Who created the shields, and why? Were they always evil, or did they turn evil over time? How did they end up in the chateau, and why? The history of the shields is completely unknown, except for the fact that one of the original owners (the son, I think) coveted them.

I'm sure there are other issues/discrepancies, but these are all I can remember, having read the book quite some time ago.

A good novel provides a sense of cohesiveness, by explaining all elements and how they fit together, with each element being addressed in some sort of resolution at the end. This novel did nothing of the kind. Lots of loose ends were left, and the overall feeling to me was that this was truly a sophomoric attempt at novel writing.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Amazing Read, August 8, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Rousseau House (Paperback)

M.J. Konevich writes a novel with many great twist, turns, and surprises! I'm scared one minute, calm the next, and then I'm just waiting to see what's going to happen next. He has a gift for description and such flair for dialogue. I can't wait for his next book "The Woods around Carter's Lake."