The Amityville Horror [Mass Market Paperback]

Jay Anson (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 26, 2005

In December 1975, the Lutz family moved into their new home on suburban Long Island. George and Kathleen Lutz knew that, one year earlier, Ronald DeFeo had murdered his parents, brothers, and sisters in that house. But the property complete with boathouse and swimming pool and the price were too good to pass up. Twenty-eight days later, the entire Lutz family fled in terror. This is the spellbinding, best-selling true story that gripped the nation, the story of a house possessed by evil spirits, haunted by psychic phenomena almost too terrible to describe.

--This text refers to the MP3 CD edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A fascinating and frightening book. --Los Angeles Times

This book will scare the hell out of you. --Kansas City Times --This text refers to the MP3 CD edition.

About the Author

JAY ANSON began as a copy boy on the New York Evening Journal in 1937 and later worked in advertising and publicity. With more than 500 documentary scripts for television to his credit, he was associated with Professional Films, Inc. He died in 1980. --This text refers to the MP3 CD edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Star (July 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416507698
• ISBN-13: 978-1416507697
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (156 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #82,254 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS IS ONE SCARY READ! July 16, 2006

By D. Blankenship HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

This particular book is not in the genre I usually read. When it first came out, my wife talked me into it. I must admit it frightened me. Perhaps part of it was due to the fact that we had just moved into a house build well before the Civil War on the coast, and the house had many of the characteristics the house in the book had. I sat up way, way into the night reading this book and was actually seeing "red pig eyes" through the window by the time I had finished. Much has been written as to whether or not the book is based on the truth. To be truthful myself, I just don't care. True or not, it is one scary story. I liked it. Highly recommend.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars True Horror... September 18, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

This book is the best horror book I've ever read... It will scare you from head to toe... I was scared when it talked about "Jodie" and the hooded being at the top of the stairs... The movie is scary as well, but the book is more spellbinding and completely scary... To think and know that the Lutzes' story is true, that's just real horror...

51 of 68 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson June 26, 2002

By Tami Brandt VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

On December 18, 1975, a young family of five moved into their new home, complete with finished basement, swimming pool, and boathouse. Twenty-eight days later, they fled in terror, leaving most of their belongings behind.

The fantastic story of their experiences was widely publicized on network television, newspapers, and national magazines. But the Lutz family never disclosed the full details to the media. Now, their own carefully-reconstructed memories -- and independent interviews with local clergy and police -- reveal their entire harrowing story.

George and Kathleen Lutz were aware that the house had been the scene of a mass murder -- Ronnie DeFeo, 23, was convicted of shooting his parents, brothers, and sisters. But it seemed an ideal home for them and their three children, and the price was right. On the day they moved in, a priest invited to bless the house was told by an unseen voice to "Get out!" At his rectory, he began to suffer a series of inexplicable afflictions. Meanwhile, alone in their new home, the Lutz family were embarking on the most terrifying experience of their lives. It began when their five-year-old daughter boasted of her new playmate, someone -- or something -- named "Jodie."

THE AMITYVILLE HORROR is an unforgettable book with all the shocks and gripping suspense of THE EXORCIST, THE OMEN, or ROSEMARY'S BABY -- but with one vital difference! As the author reports, "To the extent that I can verify them, all the events in this book are true."

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Scariest Book I Ever Read April 26, 2011

By sfmar

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I was far too young to have gotten my hands on this book (maybe around 13 or 14), and believe me when I tell you that it still haunts me after some 30 years. When the story and this book first got out into the media, it caused a huge sensation. Before the horrible film adaptation came along, Jay Anson's book put the fear of God in everyone who read it.

The Amityville Horror is the kind of story that scares you as you read it, but continues to rachet the horror up the further along you go as the events in the book keep getting more and more intense. The final night in the house, as described by Anson and Lutzes, will have even the most skeptical readers turning every light on and checking ever creak and groan you hear!

Whether the events really happened or not is totally irrelevant. It's the fact that when you read it, you are thinking that this COULD have happened, and that puts the fear into your soul as the terrifying elements of the story unfold.

If you love horror, and you have never read the book, do it now! You'll be both glad, and yet not so glad you did when you can't go to sleep at night.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars so good I finished half the book in 1 sitting June 7, 2006

By sparky_magic_rainbow

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I picked this up yesterday and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the storytelling and the lucid writing. Guess I was expecting something trashier. Some of the scenes got a bit repetitive but overall, this is an excellent novel: there are no boring parts, just fast paced chills. Read this alone on a rainy night :)

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Take it for what it is..... April 21, 2002

By scott belba

Format:Hardcover

After years of hearing about this case I read the book and found the book to be very entertaining, engrossing, interesting,scary, and compleat fiction. The so called true story is about the Lutz family who moved in the house into Amityville after the house sat for a year on the market unsold. The real "Horror" of the case happend a year befor when Ronnie DeFeo slaughtered his family with a high powered rifle and was later arrested and sentenced to more the 150 years in jail. He said that voices told him to kill. The jury didn't agree and found him guilty. The Lutz's George and Kathy would run screaming form the house less than a month after they moved in. The are some really good scary moments in the book but at the the end of it all you can't help but wounder how so many were duped for so long. People will say to this day it was a true story. The Warrens, two New England Pharonormalist's have defended the case with a real fever and the "Battle" between the Warrens and Dr Stephen Kaplan can at times be more entertaining. There were some strange things about the story, like how Defeo killed his family while they slept but none of them wake up when the shots are fired. This however can be explained that he drugged his family, Defeo himself a drug addict, and they were out when the murder's happened. However no one else heard the shots in the house's around the home. Countless stories have been so called 'True Stories' but it is hard to prove the validity of the story, on the flip side it's just as hard to say it never happened. The Amityville Horror spawned a movie and countless book and movie sequels that only make the original look more foolish. The book is a good one as a spooky ghost story but as a work of true literiture it seems to lose you very early....
Now about the fight involving the Warrens and the late Dr. Stephen Kaplan it is well known to anyone who knows even the slightest about the case that the Warrens were very much involved with case and Kaplan was involved trying to dispute the claims of a real story. To find out more about both storys you can visit the Warrens web site or buy any of there books and they'll gladly tell you about the case or Kaplan wrote a book called the Amityville Conspricy that does a really good job. The fight had become nasty at time's and on the Warrens site there are some scathing, and false I might add, things said about Mr Kaplan that are refuted in a Letter To The Warrens that you can find on the web. The fighting aside the book, as well as the movie, are entertaining when taken for what they are. Read more ›