Helpful Score: 4
Another chilling, spooky Straub and King masterpiece. You'll be too scared to keep reading, too enthralled to put it down.
Helpful Score: 2
Best Stephen King book I have read since, well the Tailsman (also with Peter Straub)
Helpful Score: 2
Not a bad book overall, but I prefered The Talisman.
Helpful Score: 1
This was a good thriller! It is definitely a sequel to "The Talisman."
Helpful Score: 1
Jack Sawyer returns to "the Territories" as two of the best writers of horror fiction team up once again for this excellent follow-up to "The Talisman".
Helpful Score: 1
In the seemingly paradisal Wisconsin town of French Landing, small distortions disturb the beauty: a talking crow, an old man obeying strange internal marching orders, a house that is both there and not quite there. And roaming the town is a terrible fiend nicknamed the Fisherman, who is abducting and murdering small children and eating their flesh. The sheriff desperately wants the help of a retired Los Angeles cop, who once collared another serial killer in a neighboring town.
Of course, this is no ordinary policeman, but Jack Sawyer, hero of Stephen King and Peter Straub's 1984 fantasy The Talisman. At the end of that book, the 13-year-old Jack had completed a grueling journey through an alternate realm called the Territories, found a mysterious talisman, killed a terrible enemy, and saved the life of his mother and her counterpart in the Territories. Now in his 30s, Jack remembers nothing of the Talisman, but he also hasn't entirely forgotten:
When these faces rise or those voices mutter, he has until now told himself the old lie, that once there was a frightened boy who caught his mother's neurotic terror like a cold and made up a story, a grand fantasy with good old Mom-saving Jack Sawyer at its center. None of it was real, and it was forgotten by the time he was sixteen. By then he was calm. Just as he's calm now, running across his north field like a lunatic, leaving that dark track and those clouds of startled moths behind him, but doing it calmly.
Jack is abruptly pulled into the case--and back into the Territories--by the Fisherman himself, who sends Jack a child's shoe, foot still attached. As Jack flips back and forth between French Landing and the Territories, aided by his 20-years-forgotten friend Speedy Parker and a host of other oddballs (including a blind disk jockey, the beautiful mother of one of the missing children, and a motorcycle gang calling itself the "Hegelian Scum"), he tracks both the Fisherman and a much bigger fish: the abbalah, the Crimson King who seeks to destroy the axle of worlds.
While The Talisman was a straightforward myth in 1980s packaging, Black House is richer and more complex, a fantasy wrapped in a horror story inside a mystery, sporting a clever tangle of references to Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, jazz, baseball, and King's own Dark Tower saga. Talisman fans will find the sure-footed Jack has worn well--as has the King/Straub writing style, which is much improved with the passage of two decades.
Of course, this is no ordinary policeman, but Jack Sawyer, hero of Stephen King and Peter Straub's 1984 fantasy The Talisman. At the end of that book, the 13-year-old Jack had completed a grueling journey through an alternate realm called the Territories, found a mysterious talisman, killed a terrible enemy, and saved the life of his mother and her counterpart in the Territories. Now in his 30s, Jack remembers nothing of the Talisman, but he also hasn't entirely forgotten:
When these faces rise or those voices mutter, he has until now told himself the old lie, that once there was a frightened boy who caught his mother's neurotic terror like a cold and made up a story, a grand fantasy with good old Mom-saving Jack Sawyer at its center. None of it was real, and it was forgotten by the time he was sixteen. By then he was calm. Just as he's calm now, running across his north field like a lunatic, leaving that dark track and those clouds of startled moths behind him, but doing it calmly.
Jack is abruptly pulled into the case--and back into the Territories--by the Fisherman himself, who sends Jack a child's shoe, foot still attached. As Jack flips back and forth between French Landing and the Territories, aided by his 20-years-forgotten friend Speedy Parker and a host of other oddballs (including a blind disk jockey, the beautiful mother of one of the missing children, and a motorcycle gang calling itself the "Hegelian Scum"), he tracks both the Fisherman and a much bigger fish: the abbalah, the Crimson King who seeks to destroy the axle of worlds.
While The Talisman was a straightforward myth in 1980s packaging, Black House is richer and more complex, a fantasy wrapped in a horror story inside a mystery, sporting a clever tangle of references to Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, jazz, baseball, and King's own Dark Tower saga. Talisman fans will find the sure-footed Jack has worn well--as has the King/Straub writing style, which is much improved with the passage of two decades.
Loved this book!
Good colloboration between two of the best. A good read.
Helpful Score: 1
I thought the Talisman was really good but this one was even better
Helpful Score: 1
Awesome! This is the first of the newer(at least to me) Stephen King! It was wonderful!
Helpful Score: 1
hard to put down. Jack Sawyer is a retired homicide detective living in a midwestern town. A series of gruesome murders occurs and Jack is pulled into helping solve them. He must find the soul-strength to enter a terrifying house at the end of a deserted tract of forest-and to encounter the obscene and ferocious evils sheltered within it.
Helpful Score: 1
Good book
Helpful Score: 1
stephen king always comes out with great books
Helpful Score: 1
Excellent!
Helpful Score: 1
This is the long-awaited and fantastic sequel to "The Talisman" -- a terrific blend of the magic of Stephen King and Peter Straub, Travellin' Jack is one of my all-time favorite characters! If you've read "The Talisman," this is a must read; even if you haven't, this book stands on its own as a great story with compelling characters.
Helpful Score: 1
I completely loved this book and I reccomend it to anyone.
Helpful Score: 1
I got maybe 3 pages into this book and couldn't read anymore. Too many details and it was just dragging. I saved it to try it again someday and the same thing happened. I gave it to my husband to read, he got 10 pages into it and couldn't read anymore.
Helpful Score: 1
Awesome book - definitely kept me interested!
Helpful Score: 1
Stephen...what more can I say...LOL GREAT!!! My first book I paid ful price for!! l
The Black House is an excellent read. These two authors are at the top of their game.
For Stephen King lovers. Stardard scary stuff.
The story that began in The Talism is continued in Black House.
This is a great book if you liked Stephen King's Talisman.
I am a big King fan I found this book kinda tough to get into at the beginning but once I got going I didn't wanna put it down..will be reading more by King for sure..
I liked The Talisman but this one started out sleepwalking and I couldn't finish it. I love many of King's books, but he has written a fair number that aren't worth the time, this being one of them.
This was the only KING book that I've ever thought about chucking out the window and not finishing. It was excruciating to begin and I started it, put it down, re-started it probably 10 times over a period of 3 years. Once I got past the first 4 or 5 pages (80-100 pages) it flowed better with me. This is the one book by Stephen King that I'd tell a fellow King-lover to not bother with.
'The Talisman' is one of my all-time favourite books, so I was very excited to get my hands on the sequel, 'Black House'. Jack Sawyer is all grown up and has mostly forgotten his talent for Traveling.. until events conspire to bring him back to the Territories. A new adventure with old friends, a darker tale for the reading audience who has grown up since 'The Talisman' was published, the second book is edgier and more violent than the first. The only thing I did not like about this book is that it doesn't delve into what Jack has been up to since 'The Talisman'. We never learn what he did during the intervening years, so on that score, it disappoints. I highly recommend this book for fans of the first - it is well worth the read.
A retired homocode detective has no recollection of the events that happened 20 years ago when he entered a parallel universe called the territories.after a series of gruesome murders he begins dreaming of the territories and is drawn back to the past.
Hugely pleaurable- washington post
extraordinary, hard to put down- People
Hugely pleaurable- washington post
extraordinary, hard to put down- People
I read the first part of this series decades ago. Within the first couple chapters I was able to fall right back into the world of 'The Talisman'. I haven't been reading a lot of horror or thriller novels, so it took me a little while to get back to that state of suspended belief. But, once I did it was a great read.
I definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the The Talisman.
I definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the The Talisman.
A dark, disturbing horror novel that is surprisingly well written.
This was perhaps one of the most captivating and interesting book in the horror Genre that I have read in some time. I hope these two collaborate again sometime soon. They mel together quite well as authors
Good sequel to The Talisman.
Very good.Very Steven King.Sequel to talisman. Very creepy. I felt like i was there as i read it.
Stephen King and Peter Straub are back again.Jack Sawyer is a retired Los Angeles homicide detective living in the small town of Tamarak, Wisconcin. He has no recollection of the events twenty years ago that led him to a parr=allel universe called the Territories to save his mother from certain death. When a series of gruesome murders occur in wesern Wisconsin, Jack's buddy, the local chief of police, egs Jack to help the inexperienced force find the killer.
Good story.
As an avid Stephen King reader I was a little disappointed with this book I normally can't put his books down and this one has taken me about a year to read since I just lose interest in it. Its a good story, but way to confusing and not very exciting as far as I was concerned. I heard it got great reviews so I am obviously not a good critic. I read both one and part 2 of this, but I won't be rereading them like I normally do with Kings books
I loved this book almost as much as The Talisman!
"Jack's soga overflows with dark wit, sly literary refernces, suspense, and heartache. What elevates Black House beyond ordinary horror novels is the richness of the cast."
-The New York Times Book Review
-The New York Times Book Review
In the seemingly paradisal Wisconsin town of French Landing, small distortions disturb the beauty: a talking crow, an old man obeying strange internal marching orders, a house that is both there and not quite there. And roaming the town is a terrible fiend nicknamed the Fisherman, who is abducting and murdering small children and eating their flesh. The sheriff desperately wants the help of a retired Los Angeles cop, who once collared another serial killer in a neighboring town.
Sequel to The Talisman.
Jack Sawyer is a retired Los Angeles homicide detective living in the small hamlet of Tamarak, Wisconsin. He has no recollection of the events twenty yearas ago that led him to a parallel universe called the Terirtoties to save his mother from certain death. When a series of gruesome murders occurs in western Wisconsin, Jack's buddy, the local chief of police, begs Jack to help the inexperienced force find the killer. As cryptic messages in Jack's waking dreams become increaslingy difficult to ignore, he is drawn back to the Territories and to his own hidden past, where he must find the soul-strength to enter a terrifying house at the end of a desreted tract of forest - and to encounter the obscene and ferocious evils sheltered within it.
Jack Sawyer is a retired Los Angeles homicide detective living in the small hamlet of Tamarak, Wisconsin. He has no recollection of the events twenty yearas ago that led him to a parallel universe called the Terirtoties to save his mother from certain death. When a series of gruesome murders occurs in western Wisconsin, Jack's buddy, the local chief of police, begs Jack to help the inexperienced force find the killer. As cryptic messages in Jack's waking dreams become increaslingy difficult to ignore, he is drawn back to the Territories and to his own hidden past, where he must find the soul-strength to enter a terrifying house at the end of a desreted tract of forest - and to encounter the obscene and ferocious evils sheltered within it.
A retired Los Angeles detective lives in asmall hamlet. He has no recollection of the events twenty years ago that led him to a parallel universe called the Territories to save his mother from certain death. when a series of gruesome murders occurs in Wisconsin, Jack's buddy,the local chief of police,begs Jack to help the force find the killer.As cryptic messages in Jack's waking dreams become increasingly difficult to ignore,he is drawn back to the Territories and to his own hidden past,where he must find the soul-strength to enter a terrifying house at the end of a deserted tract of forest--and to encounter the obscene and ferocious evils sheltered within it.
I thought this was such a great book that I gave it to a friend to read that almost never read anything and is now reading on a regular basis.
Stephen King and Peter Straub together
(from back cover)
Jack Sawyer is a retired Los Angeles homicide detective living in the small hamlet of Tamarak, Wisconsin. He has no recollection of the events twenty years ago that led him to a parallel universe called the Territories to save him mother from certain death. When a series of gruesome murders occurs in western Wisconsin, Jack's buddy, the local chief of plice, begs Jack to help the inexperienced force find the killer. As cryptic messages in Jack's waking dreams become increasingly difficult to ignore, he is drawn back to the Territories and to his own hidden past, where he must find the soul-strength to enter a terrifying house at the end of a deserted tract of forest-and to encounter the obscene and ferocious evils sheltered within it.
Jack Sawyer is a retired Los Angeles homicide detective living in the small hamlet of Tamarak, Wisconsin. He has no recollection of the events twenty years ago that led him to a parallel universe called the Territories to save him mother from certain death. When a series of gruesome murders occurs in western Wisconsin, Jack's buddy, the local chief of plice, begs Jack to help the inexperienced force find the killer. As cryptic messages in Jack's waking dreams become increasingly difficult to ignore, he is drawn back to the Territories and to his own hidden past, where he must find the soul-strength to enter a terrifying house at the end of a deserted tract of forest-and to encounter the obscene and ferocious evils sheltered within it.
Twenty years ago, a boy named Jack Sawyer travelled to a parallel universe called The Territories to save his mother and her Territories "twinner" from a premature and agonizing death that would have brought cataclysm to the other world. Now Jack is a retired Los Angeles homicide detective living in the nearly nonexistent hamlet of Tamarack, WI. He has no recollection of his adventures in the Territories and was compelled to leave the police force when an odd, happenstance event threatened to awaken those memories.
When a series of gruesome murders occur in western Wisconsin that are reminiscent of those committed several decades earlier by a real-life madman named Albert Fish, the killer is dubbed "The Fisherman" and Jack's buddy, the local chief of police, begs Jack to help his inexperienced force find him. But is this merely the work of a disturbed individual, or has a mysterious and malignant force been unleashed in this quiet town? What causes Jack's inexplicable waking dreams, if that is what they are, of robins' eggs and red feathers? It's almost as if someone is trying to tell him something. As that message becomes increasingly impossible to ignore, Jack is drawn back to the Territories and to his own hidden past, where he may find the soul-strength to enter a terrifying house at the end of a deserted track of forest, there to encounter the obscene and ferocious evils sheltered within it. -- Amazon.com
When a series of gruesome murders occur in western Wisconsin that are reminiscent of those committed several decades earlier by a real-life madman named Albert Fish, the killer is dubbed "The Fisherman" and Jack's buddy, the local chief of police, begs Jack to help his inexperienced force find him. But is this merely the work of a disturbed individual, or has a mysterious and malignant force been unleashed in this quiet town? What causes Jack's inexplicable waking dreams, if that is what they are, of robins' eggs and red feathers? It's almost as if someone is trying to tell him something. As that message becomes increasingly impossible to ignore, Jack is drawn back to the Territories and to his own hidden past, where he may find the soul-strength to enter a terrifying house at the end of a deserted track of forest, there to encounter the obscene and ferocious evils sheltered within it. -- Amazon.com
