Book :Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub
Rating: 4/5
Black House is considered to be the sequel to The Talisman. I’d be reluctant to describe it as such. The story-line is loosely connected to The Talisman in that it contains recurring characters(Jack Sawyer and Parker/Parkus) and features a few trips to the Territories. However, it can be taken as a stand-alone novel. You don’t need to have read The Talisman to be able to enjoy Black House. Black House uses an unusual and distinctive narrative point-of-view. The story is written from the viewpoint of a crow (a sinister creature the serial killer calls Gorg that helps to lure children) so everything’s written as if you’re flying above the action and swoop into to take a closer look (i.e. moving towards the sun, we glide away from the river…). This odd point-of-view made the first 100-150 pages hard to get through. However, once you get past this first hurdle Black House really takes off and you don’t notice the weird point-of-view as much. In fact, after about 200 pages I didn’t even register it.
I struggled to get through the first 150 pages because of the weird point-of-view. It took me a couple of days to slog through. Once I passed that hurdle I read the rest of Black House in one sitting and had a great time with it. Black House has clear links to King’s Dark Tower series. Roland and his quest are mentioned. The Dark Tower is mentioned. Parker/Parkus makes it clear the Territories are another part of Roland’s world like Mid-World, End-World and the Borderlands. Breakers are mentioned. The
Beams are mentioned. The Crimson King and his plans to destroy the Beams are mentioned. The Little Sisters of Eluria from King’s story of the same name also feature. I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest this proves The Talisman definitely has links to The Dark Tower series since it’s also set in The Territories. I think Black House is our world’s version of the prison where the Breakers are held in The Dark Tower series. I loved these links.
After you get past the first chunk of the novel and adapt to the odd point-of-view, Black House is a great novel. It has all the ingredients of a good thriller – missing children, serial killer at large, tension in the community because the local police have failed to catch the killer and vigilante mobs determined to lynch a suspect who might be innocent. This is all blended in with links to other worlds, The Dark Tower and demonic possession. I loved Black House. Black House is well written and engaging. I got completely absorbed in it and read over 400 pages in about three hours.