Black House by Peter Straub and Stephen King (2001, Hardcover)

Synopsis
Called out of retirement to hunt a copycat serial killer dubbed the Fisherman, Jack Sawyer must once again descend into the parallel world of the Territories. This is the sequel to THE TALISMAN.

Key Details
Author:	Stephen King, Peter Straub
Language:	English
Publisher:	Random House, Inc.
Format:	Hardcover
ISBN-10:	0375504397
ISBN-13:	9780375504396

Size
Length:	624 pages
Thickness:	2 in
Weight:	35.2 oz

Publisher's Note
A retired Los Angeles homicide detective living in a rural Wisconsin town, Jack Sawyer is called in to assist the local police chief in solving a gruesome series of murders that causes Jack to experience inexplicable waking nightmares.

A retired Los Angeles homicide detective living in the rural Wisconsin hamlet of Tamarack, Jack Sawyer is called in to assist the local police chief in solving a gruesome series of murders that causes Jack to experience inexplicable waking nightmares and draw him back to the Territories and an encounter with his own hidden past, in the long-awaited sequel to The Talisman. 2,000,000 first printing.

Twenty years ago, a boy named Jack Sawyer traveled to a parallel universe called Territories to save his mother and her Territories "Twinner" from an agonizing death that would have brought cataclysm to the other world. Now Jack is a retired Los Angeles homicide detective living in the nearly nonexistent hamlet of Tammarack, Wisconsin. He has no recollection of his adventures in the Territories, and was compelled to leave the police force when an odd, happenstance event threatened to awaken those memories.
When a series of gruesome murders occur in western Wisconsin that are reminiscent of those committed several decades ago by a madman named Albert Fish, the killer is dubbed "the Fisherman," and Jack's buddy, the local chief of police begs Jack to help the inexperienced force find him. But are these new killings merely the work of a disturbed individual, or has a mysterious and malignant force been unleashed in this quiet town? What causes Jack's inexplicable waking dreams - if that is what they are - robins' eggs and red feathers? It's almost as if someone is trying to tell him something. As this cryptic message becomes increasingly impossible to ignore, Jack is drawn back to the Territories and to his own hidden past, where he may find the soul-strength to enter a terrifying house at the end of a deserted tract of forest, there to encounter the obscene and ferocious evils sheltered within it.

Twenty years ago, a boy named Jack Sawyer travelled to a parallel universe called The Territories to save his mother and her Territories "twinner" from a premature and agonizing death that would have brought cataclysm to the other world. Now Jack is a retired Los Angeles homicide detective living in the nearly nonexistent hamlet of Tamarack, WI. He has no recollection of his adventures in the Territories and was compelled to leave the police force when an odd, happenstance event threatened to awaken those memories.

When a series of gruesome murders occur in western Wisconsin that are reminiscent of those committed several decades earlier by a real-life madman named Albert Fish, the killer is dubbed "The Fisherman" and Jack's buddy, the local chief of police, begs Jack to help his inexperienced force find him. But is this merely the work of a disturbed individual, or has a mysterious and malignant force been unleashed in this quiet town? What causes Jack's inexplicable waking dreams, if that is what they are, of robins' eggs and red feathers? It's almost as if someone is trying to tell him something. As that message becomes increasingly impossible to ignore, Jack is drawn back to the Territories and to his own hidden past, where he may find the soul-strength to enter a terrifying house at the end of a deserted track of forest, there to encounter the obscene and ferocious evils sheltered within it.

Industry Reviews
"BLACK HOUSE is a thriller, so let it thrill you. But notice the slippage, into chaos and bricolage. It's the usual Kingly mix of high, low, and middle-management cultures, a bouillabaisse of Moby Dick and Alice in Wonderland...."
New York Review of Books - John Leonard (02/14/2002)

It may be unsettling to the earlier novel's many acolytes, but I think that BLACK HOUSE is a BETTER novel than THE TALISMAN, one that is more wholly and comfortably what it is, and some kind of dark masterpiece. On the strength of what Straub and King have accomplished here, both in terms of narrative drive and genre manipulations--after all, this is a horror novel that couldn't really exist without the fantasy-novel template that THE TALISMAN provided--I'm ready for whatever the scribbling fellows are up to next."
Locus - Gary K. Wolfe (09/01/2001)

"There are weaknesses....In the end, however, we forgive these faults, because the community and the men, women and children who suffer to preserve it are so well drawn."
Times Literary Supplement - Roz Kaveney (10/26/2001)

"...[A] thrilling epic packed with horrific monsters...and a surprisingly potent emotional payoff....Writing fiction is generally a solo exercise, and collaborations often smack of gimmickry. Yet this partnership brings out both writer's strengths--King's down-and-dirty storytelling and Straub's more sweeping literary style."
Entertainment Weekly - Bruce Fretts (09/21/2001)

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