Black House

Black House
by Stephen King and Peter Straub
Reading Date : 14 Jul 09 - 19 Jul 09

Black House. Black House by horror fiction maestros Stephen King and Peter Straub was released in 2001 as a sequel to The Talisman. The hero of Black House is Jack Sawyer, a retired Los Angeles homicide detective who becomes entangled in an investigation into a series of child murders. Although reluctant at first, Jack soon realizes that only he may possess the skills necessary to stop the killer, owing to a long forgotten adventure in his youth.

The Talisman. 20 years ago the then 12-year old Jack Sawyer, with the ability to travel between our world and a parallel world called The Territories, embarked on a quest to save his ailing mother and her twinner, Queen Laura DeLoessian of The Territories. In healing them, Jack held a magical object, The Talisman which has left its mark on him. It is precisely this remnant of The Talisman's power contained within Jack Sawyer which is needed to destroy the demon-possessed serial killer known as The Fisherman.

The Dark Tower. While pursuing The Fisherman's trail, Jack meets Sophie, the new Queen of The Territories who is the love of his life and is reunited with an old friend, Parkus. From Parkus, Jack learns that The Fisherman's latest abductee, Tyler Marshall must not at any cost be allowed to fall into The Crimson King's hands. Tyler Marshall is perhaps the most powerful Breaker ever born, telekinetics with the ability to hasten the fall of the Dark Tower where The Crimson King is imprisoned.

My Reviews. My only complaint about the book is the opening chapter and the occassional parts where the story is written as if we are hitching a ride on a crow. I feel that these parts have been made unnecessarily wordy and are a distraction from the flow of the story. The best parts are when Mr King and Mr Straub is simply telling a story about wonderful characters such as Jack Sawyer and his best friend Henry Leyden. Honourable, dependable Jack and wise Henry. I look forward to the next chapter in Jack's saga for it seems his story may not be done.

Related Post. To read more on the The Talisman, the authors and a bibliography of their books, go to The Talisman.