Ken M. reviewed on 10/5/2014 + 35 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

I wanted to love this story. I really did. It seemed to have all the ingredients necessary to be a great one. Thomas Edison invents a machine to talk to the dead. He takes it to a mansion in Pittsburgh where unspeakable murders took place years ago and the place has stood vacant. With evil oozing from the haunted house, no one would set foot in where the murders took place. Edison arrives and turns on his machine. The evil the machine conjures shakes Edison so bad that he hides it away where no one can find it and use it again. Turn to present day where Ben Kellogg hires young Laura Hawkes to write a book about the haunted mansion. During his research, Kellogg happens upon Edison's machine and turns it on. His action unleashes evil once more and it's up to the duo and Kellogg's parapsychologist friend, Martin Ruben, to defeat it. Sounds good, doesn't it? Have you ever read a recipe that looks like it would be delicious and then, after following it to a tee, it leaves a lot to be desired? That was Horror House.

Williamson had all the ingredients. Unfortunately, every time the story would start rolling, he'd throw a speed bump in there and it would grind to a stand still. I kept turning page after page waiting for him to unleash and let it rip. But, he never did. The present day story doesn't even take place in Pittsburgh at the haunted house. Kellogg turns Edison's machine on in his office building in Indianapolis and then the trio sit around and philosophize about it. . The writing did have its moments, but too many sputterings, an unbelievable romance and many times where you'd roll your eyes at the dialogue or the long rants of philosophy simply killed any momentum it tried to muster. I'd give it 2 1/2 stars.

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