Customer Reviews

Welcome Back to the Night

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

What a wonderfully scary, disturbing, yet emotionally satisfying book! This has all a good horror novel needs - atmosphere, an increasingly terrifying situation, characters you can root for and care about, a hideous bad guy, and lots of surprises. I disagree with one viewer who said it was just sick; this book is certainly about sick things, but it is also about three characters who try to come to terms with the bad things in their community and what they can or can't do about them. Highly recommended.

Horror or Thrillers just don't get any better than this. Elizabeth Massie's novel has the intelligence, the grace and the emotional impact of Robert McCammon's best work, the mystery and razor sharp thrills of Koontz' best, the chills and the superb storytelling of King's finest.....all rolled into one package ! If that isn't good enough, she also has the ability to surprise and shock the reader....and I'm talking "jaw on the floor" surprises and shocks. For me, a long ago, jaded horror fan whom mostly yawns at the newer stuff, that is a most welcomed gift. Elizabeth Massie will stir your intellect as many times as she will rattle your bones.....and it happens all throughout the novel. I give Welcome Back to the Night the highest of recommendations to all horror readers. Like my heading states, it's a "stunner of a book."

This is a graphic, terrifying story of a small town, a family, and the evil around them, which some family members choose to ignore while others are forced to face it head on. I didn't want to put the book down, but had to so I could go to work and eat! Massie is a master of character and plot. Very satisfying read. Highly recommended!

This novel was an incredible, horrific ride in a manner that I have only known Elizabeth Massie to attempt, and complete successfully. While some of the content may seem outside of many readers' experience, I have a more acute sense of the action. I live within a very close range of the place this story takes place. And I can vouch for the reality, the humanity of the characters, that is the true human qualities. The flaws, the latent strengths they posses. The hidden secrets and lies and horrible things that people brush off their shoulders as perfectly acceptable. What is so frightening in a sense is the horrific possiblity of the terrible things that occur in her story and the element of reality that keeps us from forgetting too easily.

I read about a book a week, mostly in the dark fantasy/horror vein and this book is the best one I've read in months! Massie's genius is in the way that, even though we see parts of the future story, she still makes it interesting and throws in some twists that can't be forseen. I've always loved the idea of a family reunion at the start of a novel and this was a first for me. Massie's characters are real and the motivations ring true, we know why they do what they do and it can be justified. This is one scary and unputdownable horror novel, way better than her first one, SINEATER. Go buy it!

This book haunted me from the inside and the out. A masterful blend of descriptive prose and lightning fast action, of hideous situations and sympathetic heros and heroines. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys horror, suspense, and plain old fantastic story-telling! Warning...this one is very graphic and nothing is held back. Get ready for a gut-tearing rollercoaster ride.

I read this work because I absolutely loved a couple of Massie's short stories I've ran across in a couple different anthologies. I am decidedly more a fan of her short stories. This work was pretty good (not great, but pretty good) in the beginning, and then by the ending, it took all I had to get the motivation to finish it--I put the book down for a month with the last 50 pages unread with no intent to pick it up again, but then decided that since I had gotten that far, I might as well finish it. The story was on the weaker end of OK. Not a highly recomended book.