House
by Frank Peretti, Ted Dekker
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Book Summary Information
Author: Frank Peretti, Ted DekkerEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2006-03-13
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Book Reviews of House
Book Review: A refreshing experience, but mired by poor writing in its climax.
Summary: 3 Stars
House, by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker, begins in the back roads of Alabama. Jack and Stephanie Singleton are a couple on the rocks following the death of their daughter. While on the road, their car is stopped by an ominous state trooper who directs them to the main road by taking a detour through some back roads. In doing these orders, their car runs over a spike strip, which causes a blow out. Jack and Stephanie begin to wander and find an old looking house. Inside, they realize the house is an inn, which leads them to meet Randy and Leslie, an unmarried couple who also ran into problems. Shortly into their meeting, the group runs into Betty, Stewart, And Pete, the owners of the house. Pete comes off as a simpleton, reminiscent of Leatherface, and the adults come off as just odd. The owners force the group to eat, but soon, the food turns rotten. As the group decides to escape, they are barred in by a truck. Shortly after realizing their predicament, a can is thrown through the now dark house stating they must kill one person by morning or they will all die. The owners of the inn explain the man doing this is named Barsidious White, a serial killer. The owners decide they do not want to die, so they lock up the group in a meat freezer and have the group choose a person to die. Jack and Randy quickly wrestle Stewart's shotgun, while Leslie and Stephanie run off. The group eventually, against warnings, end up in the basement. The basement displays the house's true power: the ability to change and manipulate the inhabitants. The panicked group runs into various incarnations of evil including a room with mirrors that show no reflections, and the demented man-child Pete's room. Jack eventually stumbles on Susan, a young girl who has managed to survive White's game, much to his annoyance.
For the most part, the story is very driving and interesting. Chapters ended quickly when the action began to get really good cause many occurrences where I "had to read one more chapter." The characterization of the main group was solid and adeptly done, but the character of Susan, and even White at times, felt really shallow and underdone, as if they were completely forgotten. The story had a fairly solid build-up, and the tension was nearly perfect.
The real flaw in the novel comes with the twist ending. This book, as I later learned, is a Christian Horror novel. Being unfamiliar with the genre, I never saw any religious overtones until the very end, which was done very poorly. It is one thing for a book to offer a twist ending, where if the the reader goes back, they can see everything building up. Nowhere in this book did I feel the ending was well-built and warranted. Sadly, the deus ex machina ending killed all momentum of the book. In trying not to over-expose what happens, the two of the main characters are confronted with an unstoppable and impending doom, when they start praying to "the Son of Man," to save them. And he does. What's wrong with this ending, and all types of endings like it, is it doesn't reward the reader for sticking around through the characterization, build-up, and tension because the ending comes from thin air.
The story's build-up and tension is very familiar. It reminds me, as a fan of horror, of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," The Ruins, "Saw," and "Halloween." The novel manages to take a unique twist to this concept by having the killer come to the house where the stranded people have arrived and transforms the house into his house of evil. It's unclear if the house itself is his doing, but it is implied that he has entered several houses and transformed them accordingly. Barsidious White comes off as a combination of Hannibal Lector and the Jigsaw in that he is both calculated and creative in his means.
I rather not give a numerical ranking for the book because I feel numerical rankings are so subjective. I feel the book is worth a read for horror enthusiasts who are prepared for a lackluster ending/twist. After reading numerous stories that were as appealing, the twist killed the momentum of the book for me, but for some people, it can be seen as refreshing. This book is one of the few books that manages to have the good guys win. Lately, books in the horror genre end with the main characters dead, crippled, or changed in a way that can be seen as negative. With "House," the characters managed to gain some sense of redemption. Since the site requires a rating, I give the book a 3 out of 5. The characters and setting where unique and interesting, and the plot was solid, but overall, the book wasn't anything I'd like to relive.
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