Welcome Back to the Night [Mass Market Paperback]

Elizabeth Massie (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Leisure Books (November 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0843946261
• ISBN-13: 978-0843946260
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,241,385 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderfully creepy page-turner!, December 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Welcome Back to the Night (Mass Market Paperback)

Elizabeth Massie has delivered yet another hard-to-put-down, well-worth-reading novel. Set in a small town in the Shenandoah Valley of VA (not unlike the town where I grew up... hmmm), the book explores and exposes the "values" of the town and its pre-emminent family. Massie's pacing is masterful as she weaves four main story lines to a shattering conclusion. Massie doesn't rely on ghosts, goblins, monsters, etc. to horrify. Humans are plenty twisted for her, and the villain of this piece is one of the most twisted characters I've encountered in a long time. From the first chapter, he made my skin crawl. This is a fine, fine read!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intense, August 28, 2000

By 

mellion108 (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Welcome Back to the Night (Mass Market Paperback)

After reading SINEATER by Massie, I was in a rush to pick up WELCOME BACK TO THE NIGHT. Massie's author photo on the back cover is so deceptively nice because her writing packs an incredible punch. Massie does not hold anything back, and I found myself on a dizzying ride throughout this reading.
WELCOME centers on Bernie, Norris, and Lindsay; cousins who meet again as adults at a family reunion. Bernie senses that Lena will also attend the reunion; Lena was the "odd, smelly" girl that their aunt took in as a foster child when they were all teenagers. Once the four make actual, physical contact, nothing is the same for any of them. Bernie, Norris, and Lindsay all begin to have terrifying visions of someone who is being abused and tortured; Bernie sees someone as a child, Lindsay sees someone as an adult, and Norris seems to see the future. All this takes place at the same time that a fanatical, militant racist group is gaining more power in terrifying ways. Townspeople are disappearing, and Massie dangles just enough clues in front of us before bringing everything together at the end.
I have to say that this was quite a disturbing read. There is no slow build up to the tension here; the intensity is high from the very first paragraph. There is incredibly graphic violence, there are hate crimes (to put it mildly), there is cruelty toward animals. This is definitely not a novel for the easily offended or the squeamish. Massie keeps the suspense level high. She alternates point of view between the characters; the villain is twisted and evil, and the "good guys" are not without their flaws. Yes, this was a disturbing read for me, but I was so engrossed in the story that I couldn't possibly put it down until I finished every last word. There are reasons why Massie is a Bram Stoker Award winner; her writing is just downright incredible. I highly recommend this one.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good read, but not Massie's best., December 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Welcome Back to the Night (Mass Market Paperback)

The best thing about this novel, and Massie's previous horror novel 'Sineater', is the slow-cooked way the story builds into something disturbing. Massie doesn't go for the instant shock to the system. Rather, her horror crawls into you like a snake. It's a refreshing change from the wham-bam of most horror fiction, and Massie manages--usually--to keep our interest without pounding us with "horror."

After a rough beginning, the novel blossoms into a creepy montage of the terror that was, is, and will be one woman's life, viewed through the eyes of three cousins who had once known her. Massie knows family and smalltown silence, and uses this knowledge well. The first two-thirds of the novel are satisfying and horrifying much like 'Sineater' and at times surpasses it.

It is in the final third of the novel that the story veers out of control and plotholes develop that detract from the suspense and threaten to break the spell Massie has cast. It seems Massie wrote herself into too small a corner this time, with too many characters being too closely linked for the suspense to be maintained. Nothing really saves the book from a disappointing end, but it is disappointing only because the rest is so good. It's no 'Sineater', but it is worth reading.