Imagine knowing that someone was going to die. This is the burden Arlen carries throughout his life. He and a young friend, the talented and intelligent nineteen-year-old Paul Brickhill, find themselves traveling on a train in Florida when he views that it filled with death. All those he sees appear as skeletons. His view stimulates him to leave the train and Paul believes him. The train later encounters a hurricane and all perish.
As the two make their way south they come to a house on the beach known as The Cypress House occupied by Rebecca, a beautiful woman with whom Paul falls in love and refuses to leave. But something is not right about this place. Arlen is uneasy and fearful of the future for them if they stay.
There is torture, murder and extortion by local public officials. The judge and the sheriff are as evil and crooked as can be and the judge's influence extends far beyond Florida. It can, it seems, reach Arlen and Paul, wherever they may go. And, when he begins to see Paul as a skeleton Arlen increases the pressure on Paul to leave. How can the two survive if they stay? Yet Paul refuses to leave. The only solution Arlen can devise is to make love to Rebecca himself but that, too, has a down side. Paul does leave for awhile because of his anger but Arlen falls in love with Rebecca and he will not abandon her. When he begins to see a skeleton in the mirror he is certain that his death is imminent.
The tale is convoluted and twisting. One keeps wondering if the three people isolated in The Cypress House by the hurricane and surrounded by evil can survive. Very good read!
As the two make their way south they come to a house on the beach known as The Cypress House occupied by Rebecca, a beautiful woman with whom Paul falls in love and refuses to leave. But something is not right about this place. Arlen is uneasy and fearful of the future for them if they stay.
There is torture, murder and extortion by local public officials. The judge and the sheriff are as evil and crooked as can be and the judge's influence extends far beyond Florida. It can, it seems, reach Arlen and Paul, wherever they may go. And, when he begins to see Paul as a skeleton Arlen increases the pressure on Paul to leave. How can the two survive if they stay? Yet Paul refuses to leave. The only solution Arlen can devise is to make love to Rebecca himself but that, too, has a down side. Paul does leave for awhile because of his anger but Arlen falls in love with Rebecca and he will not abandon her. When he begins to see a skeleton in the mirror he is certain that his death is imminent.
The tale is convoluted and twisting. One keeps wondering if the three people isolated in The Cypress House by the hurricane and surrounded by evil can survive. Very good read!
