My first Masterson book. A very good ghost story with a twist. Spooky!!

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I liked this book alot! The storyline was easy to read and follow, yet it was just enough 'spooky' to keep me guessing what would happen next.

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Excellent story that is very reminiscent of Stephen King's better books.

A husband becomes obssessed with a falling-down ruin of a mansion. At first, his wife believes that this house will help their failing marriage. She soon learns that the house and its ghosts are taking over her husband's very soul.

Scary writing at its best!

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I enjoy a good ghost story, and there are so few around. I hoped this would satisfy but I didn't even finish it. It's needlessly gory and filled with unpleasant images (starting right off with the hammer and testicle bit) that don't really seem necessary. Someone said Masterson is as good as the best Stephen King, which to me is not a good thing. I still have bad memories of the "puppy-in-the-refrigerator" episode from "It," which was just for shock value and turned me off King for good. Won't bother with Masterson's books any more, either.

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This was a pretty good horror/paranormal thriller from Masterton full of chills, sex, and gore. It tells the story of Craig Bellman who was horribly attacked and maimed during a mugging in New York. The attack affected his manhood and resulted in a troubled relationship with his wife, Effie. But then Craig and Effie stumble upon an old mansion called Valhalla in the Hudson Valley. The house seems to call out to Craig who decides he must own and restore it. But is it the house or is it the former owner, Jack Belias, attracting Craig? Belias was a gambler who lived there in the 1930s and who was also a sadist and womanizer who took pleasure in destroying other people. So is the house haunted? Effie seems to hear moaning when she visits and actually sees an unknown man going down the stairs.

This was an interesting and unusual haunted house novel. Was the house haunted or just giving off psychic vibrations? Were there spirits in the house or was Belias able to shift through time?

I did find this novel to be quite compelling. It actually reminded me a lot of Stephen King's THE SHINING with the protagonist seemingly shifting time periods. Overall I did enjoy it and I'll probably be reading more of Masterton (I read THE MANITOU several years ago but no others by him). I did have one quibble about the writing: I know Masterton is British but since this book takes place in New York, I feel he should have tried to Americanize the language to make it feel more like it takes place there. For example he used British words such as kerb, boot, and droughty instead of the American curb, trunk, and drafty. Many other words also used British spelling.

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