Black House (The Talisman #2)

Black House is the second of two novels by Stephen King & Peter Straub. As far as I know, there are no others in this series. I was afraid it would either be too scary or somehow boring I seem to have read a lot of Stephen King books over the years and thought I might be getting to the point where they all started to be somewhat the same. But even though there were some unpleasant aspects to it, it was a very interesting story. For understanding this book, Im sure it helps if you have read the first book, The Talisman, but if you havent, it wont keep you from enjoying this one. The book refers back to the earlier one several times, but the story stands well on its own. It also references places and events from Stephen King\’s Dark Tower series and having read those also helps to understand this one. But again, it is not necessary. The story begins with an overview of the little town of French Landing, Wisconsin. One of the things we find out during our tour of the town is that it has been plagued by a string of murders of children. The police are already working on the first two cases, and there is a third they are not yet sure of. And the murderer is planning the abduction of a fourth child. Jack Sawyer, the hero of The Talisman, has retired from the LAPD and come to live in French Landing. He is good friends with Dale Gilbertson, the police chief and with Gilbertsons uncle Henry, a blind man who has several DJ personalities for various radio stations in the area. With these helpers and some others, including a motorcycle gang, one of whose members is the father of the first of the murder victims, Jack must find the murderer and rescue the last little boy to disappear. This journey involves a mysterious Black House that belongs to the murderer and a trip to the mysterious lands that Jack thinks of as The Territories places that will be familiar to those who have read the Dark Tower series.

I re-read the first book in this trilogy THE TALISMAN right before \’re-reading this book. I was amazed just how much I didn\’t remember about either book. I first read this book when it first came out in 2001, years after THE TALISMAN. I did read that authors King and Straub might be working on book three, the last in the trilogy. I hope that\’s true. I didn\’t like BLACK HOUSE quite as much as THE TALISMAN. I rate it 4.5 stars rounded up to 5 stars. It started out, for the first few chapters and then scattered throughout, with an omniscient narrator telling the story. It definitely wasn\’t my favorite way to find out what\’s happening in the story. This installment takes place twenty years after the events in book one. Jack Sawyer is now grown. He\’s a retired homicide detective who now lives in the small town of French Landing, Wisconsin. He already helped the local police chief solve a difficult case and now there is a serial predator of children on the loose in the area and the police chief asks for his help again. Jack has blocked the events that happened to him at 12 years old out of his memory. Slowly as events escalate in this story his memories of the past return. And he finds he\’s chasing after more than a child predator of this world. I loved the mixed cast of characters in this story (the good guys, that is). I loved the character of Henry especially. The bad guys were very bad. I also liked the tie-in to The Dark Tower. If you haven\’t read these two books, which are a mix of horror and fantasy, do yourselves a favor and block out some time to remedy this. If you\’re like me and haven\’t read these books for a few years, read them again and realize how much you missed the first time around. I really hope book three of this trilogy appears sooner rather than later.

This may have been the third time Ive read the Talisman set by Stephen King and Peter Straub.. What an excellent configuration. They meld together perfectly and deliver a story line that is enjoyable and spellbinding no matter how many times I read it. I could go on and on about the exceptional character development, the imagery and the way the book has an atmospheric all its own. But, to be completely honest and transparent as they say these days,… I read books of this genre solely to be entertained. If the book transforms from words to pictures in my minds eye, if I can imagine the characters so well that I literally care about them, and be both satisfied with the end, yet disappointed that it ended, then I am a very happy camper! Thank you Stephen King, Peter Straub and Amazon! well done!

I read the Talisman years ago and re-read it prior to reading this. As with other readers of Black House, I found the first several pages difficult, at times painful to get through. I would actually close my Kindle cover, squeeze my eyes shut, painfully re-open them, knock on the Kindle and say, \”Story, you can come out now. I know you\’re in there somewhere. Please stop torturing me with the mindless tour and bizarre narration.\” It finally did. I skimmed through the first part and was rewarded. The majority of the book was great and worth getting through the mindless tour and bizarre narration at the beginning.

An excellent follow-up to \”The Talisman.\” The only reason I gave it four stars instead of five is that the beginning is very slow. It takes you through the town, introducing you to all the characters, some major and some minor, but because you\’re not invested in these characters yet, it can be a little confusing. If you stick with it, you\’ll come upon Jack Sawyer, our protagonist, all grown up and tired of homicide detecting. However, he has one more case to solve….

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