Rating: 
Summary: BORING
Review: First and foremost, this book takes way to long to get into. We did not need the 80 page introduction to the area 'we' are going to see in the rest of the book, especially when it is told by the absolute most confusing, boring and annoying writer in the world (Peter Straub). Even when Stephen King begins writing, the book does not pick up. The idea is strong, but drags so much at parts (for instance, before they are set to go into the Black House). Furthermore, the ending is confusing and not the ending you'd expect. Usually, that's a good thing, but in this case it's a bad thing. Like The Talisman (only slightly better) this book has too much Peter Straub in it, and he is a terrible writer. Straub and King are not made to write with each other.Let's hope they don't try it again.
Rating: 
Summary: A Mixed Bag of Tricks
Review: Black House is, to paraphrase a line from an early Peter Straub novel, a great ghost story in which the ghost is underutilized. It's an impressive piece of writing, however, and one which I enjoyed a great deal. It works a little better as a stand-alone novel than as a sequel, oddly enough, and deals well and (for the most part) fairly with its characters and the reader. The novel is the authors' sequel to The Talisman, and that is using the term "sequel" very freely indeed. Only two of the first novel's characters appear in Black House, Jack Sawyer being of course the primary one. And instead of ranging across the country and a couple of universes, Black House pretty much stays in one place...which may be the book's biggest flaw, but I'll get to that later. The story finds Jack Sawyer, young hero of The Talisman, now a young retired cop living in a Wisconsin town. A series of grotesque murders have taken place, committed by the book's nominal villain, the Fisherman. Judy Marshall, the mother of one victim, is going mad, and is doing some...ah, rather unusual things...with her tongue. And the whole thing is somehow connected to Jack Sawyer's Territories (which he barely remembers)...and to other, darker worlds, as well. MINOR SPOILER: I would like to point out here that Black House belongs as much in King's Dark Tower cycle of novels, as it does in the Territories King and Straub created. Many King fans have wondered if the two worlds might indeed be one and the same. They aren't -- but neither are they very far apart, it seems. The authors do a very good job of connecting the two universes, and in the process they tell a good, though not a great story. They pull a lot of different tricks out of their collective bag, and while a good deal of it works, not all of it does. A few examples: Perhaps searching for a way to apprroach their work from a new angle, Straub and King chose to write in the present tense, which I found enjoyable. King has written a few short stories in that style, but never an entire novel, and the results are...interesting. The collaborative work with Straub has a nice "flavor" to it, perhaps even better than their work in Talisman -- but there is also a lot of what's called "author intrusion": lines that are too-sly asides, cutesy-clever remarks, and cajolings of the "come, Constant Reader, and we shall go" variety. This I did not enjoy a bit, because its overall effect was to put the story at one remove from Constant Reader (in this case, me). As a result I found the story lacking in any real heat. Events seemed muted, even when they were meant to be GOOD AND LOUD -- and the "Constant Reader" stuff, which wears very thin after the first fifty pages, was a big reason why. Another flaw is the pacing -- when I said Black House stays in one place, I meant it! SPOILER ALERT: For all the talk of this being a Talisman sequel, there is very little of the Territories in it, and Travelling Jack Sawyer does most of his travelling on the back roads of Wisconsin. That's not to say that the setting isn't interesting, because it is -- but it's also one of the stock weird-little-small-town portraits both authors could paint in their sleep. In fact, it's my opinion that both the setting and a great deal of the characters are more Straub's than King's -- most if not all of them could have stepped straight out of Mystery, or the Wisconsin-set scenes in Koko. which makes things interesting, as the "events" in Black House (when things do happen) are pure King. The biggest problem is that the setting is a very sleepy one, which makes for a somewhat sleepy novel. And while there's a lot of talk about borderlands and slippage, the authors show us very little convincing evidence of either until very late in the game. As a friend of mine has said, there just wasn't enough of the Territories (the ghost I referred to above) in this one. There are other, less severe problems -- minor characters who appear, seem about to contribute something major to the narrative, then disappear forever, other major characters who are given ignominious and gratuitous exits (even for a novel by King and/or Straub!), too-obvious name symbolism, a Boo Radley slimy-newsman type who quite frankly borders on caricature, the least believable biker gang since The Wild One...but these are, in the end, minor things. As a whole Black House has more on the ball than off, with moments of humor and horror, drama and wonder, what I thought was a very appropriate ending, with more than one mythical resonance, and that's pretty good -- even if the authors never do explain what the deal is with Judy Marshall's tongue. Oh, well -- maybe they'll do that in the NEXT sequel. Remain In Light -- Phrodoe.
Rating:
Summary: Another step toward the Dark Tower
Review: I re-read _The Talisman_ just prior to reading this one, since I hadn't read it since high school. I was surprised at how much I liked _The Talisman_, considering I didn't like it very much way-back-when. But this follow-up has me sort of on the fence. On the one hand, I'm not sure that Jack 'felt' like the same guy, only grown up. And I definitely did not like the narrative style (following Gorg skyward constantly pulled me out of French Landing and back into my own world where I became very much aware of the fact that I was reading a book, rather than living an adventure, which is how I usually feel when I'm reading a good book. That's part of the draw of a good book; it's an escape from reality.) However, in its defense, the story is engaging if you can get past the 'now we'll leave Jack and fly into the sky' stuff. The characters are rich and full, and I want to sit down and have a cup of coffee with Henry. Also, I have a feeling we may see more of Ty Marshall - I can hope, can't I? I mean, if it were up to me, every book would be a Dark Tower book, and I just feel like Ty Marshall might pop his head up in the next one of those! All in all, I liked a lot of the symbolism that I didn't pick up the first time I read this one. The second time through, though, I caught a lot more. I would recommend this one, but only to someone who's read the first one.
Rating: 
Summary: Bid Disappointment
Review: - Easily the worst book ever to carry the name of Stephen King. What was he thinking, I wonder? Fulfill a contractual obligation, perhaps?
- Shallow, flimsy plot, characters you just can't care about, no real element of horror whatever, and an ending not even good enough for a comic book!
- Skip this book - it isn't up to snuff and it isn't worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I was skeptical that this book would turn out to be as good as it did. Admittedly, I was frustrated up to about page 400. The new information about The Dark Tower is wonderful. The little details made the final 100 pages worth the journey it took to get there. I found myself missing the characters after the book was over. Beezer St. Pierre is probably the most original character since John Kennedy Toole's Ignatius Reilly from A Confederacy Of Dunces. Thanks guys for writing a good story!
Rating: 
Summary: ALWAYS STAY WITH A STEPHEN KING BOOK
Review: GLANCED AT WHAT OTHER FELLOW STEPHEN KING READERS HAD TO SAY ABOUT BLACK HOUSE. ALWAYS STAY WITH THE LAST WORD OF THE LAST PAGE. I JUST FINISHED "IT" AND WAS FEELING THE SAME WAY UNTIL I WAS AT THE LAST PAGE!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Mediocre Sequel
Review: I can not and will not give this book 5 stars just because this is by the infamous Stephen King and Peter Straub. Once again it is a big fat wordy book. It is written from a strange point of view, like you are a bird, flying over a town observing things and going invisibly into open windows of houses. It takes the first 75 pages to get use to this strange stand point. I have no idea why they would choose to write this way because tryng to be "creative", actually becomes aggravating. It is good and sick horror stemming once again from the Good versus Evil storyline from the Talisman. Once again we have Travelin Jack as the main character and once again the two authors insist on killing off one of your favorite characters.
The ending in the "Black House" once agains gets very very bizarre and certainly can not be predictable. I suppose if you have read the Talisman and you have waited this long for the "god pounding" sequel....read it.
Rating:
Summary: Get to the point
Review: I am ashamed that in my first review, I admitted I didn't finish the book. I felt so bad I went back to it, but unfortunately, I didn't change my mind much on it. It's another overblown, overly long Stephen King novel that should just get to the point. I liked his stories that did this, like "Thinner" and "Christine", and I have no problem reading very long books. I just wished this one was more focused and to the point.
Rating:
Summary: Overblown style, fabulous story!
Review: OK. Let's keep it shortish and not too sweet: Loved it after I got over the "cleverness" (not) of the narrative. I felt King and Stroub were treating me like a moron - "Let us go now hence and investigate....". Come on!! I nearly gave up after 100 pages or so. Eventually of course the story kicks in and takes over, obfuscating (sorry) the cleverness. I could have given it two and a half stars, but then that's a reflection based on the annoyance factors, not the story. Four and a half stars for the story - It is GOOD! Other reviewers have outlined the plot and it's ties to other King stories. Suffice to say it would be better if you HAD read Talisman and King's Dark Tower series before, but it isn't paramount. NOTE: Just 'cos you're a King fan don't defend an experimental style as used here - UNLESS it works for you. It didn't for me, but in the end I enjoyed the complexity of the story and as usual the characterising. I may not be a literati, but I think King (don't know Stroub well enough) should write the stories for himself for sure (it's the only way). But he MUST treat Constant Readers with respect. I managed with the narrative style - eventually, but kept hoping it was (as King has said in his book "On Writing") simply a device, one used only in the introductory chapters. It went on. And on. AND ON!! Stick with it though, fellow Constant Readers, because in the end this story IS fabulous, in the real sense of the word.
Rating:
Summary: page turner
Review: This is an excellent book for the seasoned horror reader. It has extremely visual contents, and moves back nd forth in time and between characters. I have read many horror books and stories, and this was very mature reading even though it was a real page turner. Do not recommend to the squeemish or to those that may be offended by horror to children. May not be the best choice if this is your first horror read, but if you are the horror freak that I am, and you enjoy S.King as well as D. Koontz, this is a must read. May be my favorite horror novel. Go for it!!
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