The Gentling Box (Paperback)

~ Lisa Mannetti (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

BRAM STOKER AWARD-FINALIST BEST FIRST NOVEL THE GENTLING BOX by Lisa Mannetti:

The philosophies of the Age of Enlightenment create sweeping changes throughout 19th Century Europe, but to Hungary's despised nomads, the gypsies, the world is still a dark and very dangerous landscape. Adversaries both mortal and supernatural lurk in the shadows, waiting to strike without mercy. Imre, a half-gypsy horse trader, understands the danger to his small family all too well.

Cursed with a hideously-disfiguring and fatal disease by the vengeful sorceress Anyeta, he watches those around him suffer and fall. Mimi, his wife, who is tricked into cutting off her own arm to create a powerful talisman. His friend Constantin, struck mute by Anyeta's wrath. And Lenore, his and Mimi's young daughter, who has been placed in the greatest jeopardy of all. With his health deteriorating and death imminent, his wife possessed by the witch's ghost and Lenore being groomed for a fate far worse than death, Imre turns to desperate measures and a hellish memory from his childhood—to still the sorceress and end her reign of bloodshed. A presence even more powerful and terrifying to him than Anyeta: the gentling box.

ADVANCED PRAISE FOR THE GENTLING BOX:

"A keenly conceived and richly executed cornucopia of the blackest magic. Mannetti's prowess as a writer hauls the reader into a shimmering, phantasmagoric demesne of relentless suspense and high-creep-factor chills, and doesn't let go until the final page. This story is a dark work of art."
–Edward Lee, author of CITY INFERNAL and BRIDES OF THE IMPALER.

"When was the last time you lost yourself in a book? Lisa Mannetti dares you to enter a realm unlike anything you've dreamed of, a world of gallant gypsies and ancient evil, of passionate obsessions … and abject terror. Take that dare. Immerse yourself. The rewards are plentiful. But be warned. Nothing could prepare you for the horror of THE GENTLING BOX."
–Robert Dunbar, author of THE PINES and THE SHORE

"Mannetti's prose has teeth; sharp teeth that grab on and refuse to let go."
–J.A. Konrath, author of FUZZY NAVEL and DIRTY MARTINI

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lisa Mannetti is a former magazine editor and adjunct college English instructor who discovered she preferred full-time writing to real work when she volunteered to be the family member who cared for her ailing mother. Her short story, "Hungry for the Flesh" (Space & Time, April 2007) was recommended for a Stoker Award. Additional short stories scheduled for publication in 2008 include "The Blow-Up Job" (TRAPS, DarkHart Press) and "Other Rooms" (The Pretty-Scary.net Anthology, November 2008) and "Retro-Fit" in Lovestrology (Ravenous Romance, December 2008). Most recently she served as guest editor for Terrible Beauty, Fearful Symmetry, an anthology scheduled to be published by DarkHart Press in October 2008. She is currently working on a second paranormal novel, The Everest Hauntings.

When she isn't writing, Lisa works on her haunted website, The Chancery House (www.thechanceryhouse.com) and constructs macabre gothic greeting cards based on her cemetery photos. She is also a Tarot reader. Lisa lives in the house she grew up in Westchester County in New York with one highly rambunctious cat—Huckleberry Finn—and two charming and exasperating black kittens, The Houdinis: Harry and Theo.

You can also visit Lisa's author page at: www.lisamannetti.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 316 pages
• Publisher: DarkHart Press (October 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0978731891
• ISBN-13: 978-0978731892
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,093,017 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic page turner, Really hard to put down., March 24, 2009

By	Marie Zbytek (Buffalo, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A thrilling book that has made the finals for a Stoker Award -- and rightfully so. This is a book that pulls you right in, and is really hard to put down.
Taking place in Romania, the story centers on Imre, a gypsy horse trader and his family. He has to fight against ancient traditions, childhood fears, a gypsy witch's possession & unyielding control, and more... all in an attempt to save his wife & daughter.
I loved this book, and give it my highest recommendations.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Unusual Nightmare, March 19, 2009

By	Rob D. - See all my reviews

Don't you get tired of reading the same horror novel over and over? At last -- fresh blood! THE GENTLING BOX isn't like anything else that's out there. It's vivid, strange, hypnotic ... and completely original.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review, November 18, 2008

By	Lisa Kane "Lisa Kane" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

THE GENTLING BOX by Lisa Mannetti
Lisa Mannetti's first novel is a stunner, a swirling dark cauldron of hexwork and treachery, ancient curses and terrifying loss. An overarching web of dread envelops the family of Imre, a 19th century Romany horse trader who suffers a disfiguring disease as the result of a curse cast upon him by a powerful sorceress. As his disease progresses, his wife and young daughter are also drawn into the terror by the ghost of the witch Anyeta, whose grip on their lives has only increased since her death. Haunted and bedeviled by the dead witch's ghost, Imre and his family, with the help of Imre's friend, Constantine, struggle to break the grip of evil. As a child, Imre was witness to his father's cruel and bloody practice of permanently calming maddened horses: the horrific gentling box. With his wife, Mimi, so entwined in the clutches of Anyeta that she hacks off her own hand to fashion a talisman, and his daughter, Lenore, falling under the witch's thrall, Imre has no recourse other than to consider the most dreadful method of all--the same method his father used to gentle horses. Brilliantly researched and structured, THE GENTLING BOX accurately recreates a world long lost where Gypsies roamed a shadowy landscape filled with superstition and danger. Already recommended for a Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel, Ms. Mannetti has conjured a heart-stopping tale of magick most black, a terrifying, heartfelt, disarming story that is beautifully wrought and historically correct. I came away from this novel breathless and hungry for more. This is dazzling, shuddersome historical horror of the first order. For more about the author, please visit her online resting place at [...] . Brava, Ms. Mannetti!
--J.L. Comeau--Count Gore's Creature Feature Weekly web program.