We�ve all thought that our house is evil at one time or another, I�m sure�the creaking and groaning of it settling on its foundation, the unexplainable sudden dripping and ceasing of its faucets, the heater popping out of the wall and dancing a jig in the middle of the night...yeah. But at least it�s never tried to kill you, right? Wrong. The book House by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker is about a house gone bad, and I mean REALLY bad. So here�s the idea: Jack and Stephanie are driving along the road, get lost, and end up through a long series of events on a deserted, dirt road that�s supposed to get them back on track. Things were never really going dandy, but when they blow all four tires out by running over a rubber mat filled with metal spikes, well, the day has just turned into a plain disaster. So they�re walking along, looking for help, when they come across...IT: a house. They go in, can�t find the owners, and also discover another couple who have had the exact same thing happen to them. The source of these evils? His name is Barsidias White, and he�s running this whole maniacal operation. So who is this guy? Well, I read the whole book, and I still don�t know. But he has a really fun name, so I, personally, don�t care. But White has a few house rules that he wants our four protagonists to follow: 1. God came to my house and I killed him (yeah, that�s not a rule, that�s a statement, but I�m just going along with what the book�s saying here). 2. I will kill anyone who comes to my house like I killed God. 3. Give me one dead body and I might let rule number 2 slide. Yep, it�s official: it�s a really bad day for our heros. From there, the book essentially focuses on the fact that the house they are in is alive and isn�t letting them get out�and whenever they try, they end up back in the same place. Well, that plot synopsis hardly did the book justice, but I�m not going to spend five paragraphs explaining it any further. Naturally, the book is for the most part suspenseful, but, unfortunately, the characters often find themselves playing second role to this suspense.
Okay, so we mentioned suspense, and I�ll mention it again since it�s worth mentioning. The whole book relies on it. Trying to get away from a crazed maniac, trying to keep sane while trying to get away from a crazed maniac, having to deal with weird illusions and three other people who aren�t all quite there themselves�yeah, the four main characters have a long night in store for them. For instance, at one point they find themselves facing their doubles: there are two Jacks, two Stephanies, two Leslies, and two Randys�each of them thinks he or she is real. There is also the minor intrigue of the fact that they have no reflections in the mirrors and that everyone bleeds black smoke. Yeah. Weird. So, the disappointment in all this? The last fourth or so of the book...well, it was just missing something. The suspense wasn�t as prominent and can give one an attitude of, �Come on, we�ve been through all this junk, just get to the big breakthrough!� And the big breakthrough is the problem. While it is, indeed, a clever breakthrough, it doesn�t necessarily come all at once in a blast of, �Wow!� It just kind of drags through pages and pages until you�re so frustrated that when it gets to the end of it, you don�t even care. It�s minor complaint, sure, but still worth mentioning.
So what about the characters? Well, Barsidias White is probably the most interesting. Probably because of his name. The problem here is that the characters are overshadowed by all the action and mystery. They don�t seem deep enough or real enough and don�t have funny little quirks that makes you like them or hate them. There�s not a lot of leeway for attachment between reader and character because the characters aren�t much of...well, characters. They�re just there because there has to be SOMEONE there to write about. That�s the feeling I get, anyway.
Final verdict: READ IT!!!!! Sure, it sounds awful after I complained about it like I did, but that�s what I�m here for. Although I would recommend waiting until it comes out in paperback. Paying twenty-six dollars for something I finished in two days strikes me as rather stupid. Or ebay. Try buying it on ebay... |
