By Amy Young
Black House is the eagerly anticipated sequel to the Talisman. Both books, authored by Stephen King and Peter Straub, have their main character, Jack Sawyer. The first book, The Talisman, came out 17 years ago. In it, 12 year old jack Sawyer travels across the country to save his mother. He has to go to New Hampshire to California, flipping between this world adn an alternate one called the Teritories. It is ruled by a woman named Laura De Loessian and strangely enough, she too is sick, like Jack’s mother. Jack’s travels and encounters witht he denizens of this world and the Territories make up this most fabtastic story.
If you haven’t read the first book, I highly recommend you do so before you dive into Black House. I don’t believe this is a stand alone book. The authors, King and Straub, make liberal use of references tothe first book, as they should.In this sequel, Jack Sawyer is a 32 year old, retired lieutenant from the Los Angeles Police Department. He has come to French Landing, Wisconsin to get away from the memories that are threatening his sanity.
He has forgotten what happened that summer when he was 12. A chance encounter on a Santa Monica pier threatens to make his carefully constructed mind erupt. Jack’s “wakign dreams” aren’t helping his sanity either. He sees red feathers and robin eggs everywhere. Will he listen?The black house in this story is a house on the outskirts of town. It has been built to be concealed. It is uniformly black, no other color. No one goes there. In fact, you wouldn’t know it was there even if you walked right by it. There is something definitely wrong with this house.
The main plot of the story concerns a mysterious killer that has made an appearance in French Landing. A couple of horrendous kidnappings and murders has the local sheriff, dale Gilbertson and his deputies flumoxed. They can’t seem to catch a break in stopping this person. The town is on edge, and they want something done immediately to stop the insane acts.
Jack is begged by just about everyone in town to join the investigation since he had experience with the LAPD. He is also a personal friend of the sheriff. Continuing to refuse, he only joins the investigation when the killer contacts him personally. when that happens, his memories erupt and Jack runs away. He runs so far away that he runs right into the Territories. (This is my favorite scene in the whole book!) something is wrong there too. are the killings in French Landing related to the Territories? Is the killer just a regular weirdo or is there a malevolent intent intent in these killings? While Jack is in the Territories, he finds a clue to the latest kidnapping. He comes back with determination to solve the crimes, because fixing things in the real world will also help things in the Territories.
On the whole, Black House is an enjoyable book. I had a good time reading it. The references to the Talisman and the Dark Tower series abound in this novel. The ending is a surprise I never would have suspected. But the Black House is just another fantasy novel. Nothing special. I am kind of sad about that. I was so excited when I found out that there was a sequel to the Talisman, but I guess I will just recommend the first book.
