House of Reckoning: A Novel
by John Saul
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Book Summary Information
Author: John SaulEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-10-13
ISBN: 0345514246
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of House of Reckoning: A Novel
Book Review: Evil House
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Sarah Crane, 14, lived on a farm in Vermont with her alcoholic father. When he has an especially bad episode and kills another man in a bar fight, Sarah tries to go after him via bicycle. Her father accidentally runs over her and cripples her.
While Sarah is recuperating in the hospital, her father is taken into custody. An especially cruel guard named Mitch Garvey threatens him and his daughter if he fails to toe some line. Meanwhile, Sarah is taken in by the Garveys, who make no bones about their distaste for taking in a foster child. Angie Garvey repeatedly tells Sarah the only reason they, the Garveys have agreed to take her in is for the money the County is paying them. The Garvey children, Tiffany, 14, and Zach, 16 go out of their way to make Sarah's life miserable. Tiffany even steals Sarah's pain medication to deal to other kids.
A kind art teacher named Bettina Philips sees real talent in Sarah, talent she tries to nourish and see flourish. She is considered eccentric by the good townspeople, who have branded her a witch. Bettina's home is a large, crumbling mansion that at one time was an asylum for dangerously mentally ill patients. (This makes one think of the "Blackstone Chronicles.") Bettina sells natural herbs and homeopathic remedies to the very people who condemn her!
Sarah's other friend is a boy named Nick Dunnigan. Nick has had mental health issues since early boyhood in that he has auditory hallicinations and violently self-destructive behaviors. Sarah and Nick appear to have some sort of psychic bond with each other and with Bettina. Sarah draws graphic depictions of depravity and horror while Nick's hallucinatory voices speak of incidents long past.
The question is DO these two young people have such a psychic bond? Is Nick really mentally ill and are the voices he hears hallucinations or are they working in concert with Sarah's artistic visions? And what of the history of Shutters, a house that appears to yearn for vengeance? And what is Bettina's role in the lives of these two young people and in the history of Shutters? What connection if any do Nick and Sarah have?
A deliciously spine-tingling horror tale, John Saul does not disappoint. This book does summon up memories of "Comes the Blind Fury," a story set in 1980 about another young girl who's adoptive father injures her, resulting in limited mobility. Michelle, the 12-year-old girl in "Comes the Blind Fury" draws scenes for a blind child who dictates them to her and Sarah draws horrific scenes that she has no control over, whose subconscious appears to be working with Nick's.
Shutters is an interesting creation. The dilapidated old mansion reminds one of the shoe factory in 1986's "Hell Fire." Readers cannot help but wonder about the souls who served time in Shutters and the atrocities that took place in this hellhole cum manse.
Sarah, Nick and Bettina are all likable, appealing characters. One cannot help but smile at the epilogue, which shows, in true Saul form, "getting a taste of one's own medicine." The cruel characters are clearly drawn, such as the Garveys; Nick's father Shep; some peripheral peers and Dan West, the town sheriff and his son, Conner. Indulged and fed a sense of entitlement, Conner takes especial delight in persecuting Sarah and Nick. One cannot help but think of the Salem witch hunts of centuries past.
As another reviewer on the U.S. boards stated, I too, detested Angie Garvey as a religious hypocrite. A cruel, self-serving woman, she meted abusive punishments on Sarah, such as making her sleep outside.
I have been an avid follower of John Saul's works for years and have read all his books to date. His delightful trademark is an isolated town set near a main city (think Eastbury, a fictional suburb of Boston, for example) populated by religious zealots and children with prescient dreams and talents. I have enjoyed all of John Saul's books, but I admit that I enjoyed this one most of all.
Summary of House of Reckoning: A Novel
For more than three decades John Saul has haunted the New York Times bestseller list?and readers? imaginations?with his chilling tales of psychological suspense and supernatural horror. His instinct for striking the deepest chords of fear in our hearts and minds is unerring, and his gift for steering a tale from the light of day into the darkest depths of nightmare is at its harrowing best in House of Reckoning.After the untimely death of her mother, fourteen-year-old Sarah Crane is forced to grow up quickly in order to help tend her family?s Vermont farm and look after her grieving father, who?s drowning his sorrow in alcohol. But their quiet life together is shattered when her father is jailed for killing another man in a barroom brawl and injuring Sarah in a drunken car crash. Left in the cold care of a loveless foster family and alienated at school, Sarah finds a kindred spirit in classmate Nick Dunnigan, a former mental patient still plagued by voices and visions. And in eccentric art instructor Bettina Phillips, Sarah finds a mentor eager to nurture her talent for painting.
But within the walls of Bettina?s ancestral home, the mansion called Shutters, Sarah finds something altogether different and disturbing. Monstrous images from the house?s dark history seem to flow unbidden from Sarah?s paintbrush?images echoed by Nick?s chilling hallucinations. Trapped for ages in the shadowy rooms of Shutters, the violence and fury of long-dead generations have finally found a gateway from the grave into the world of the living. And Sarah and Nick have found a power they never had: to take control, and take revenge.
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