Rating: 
Summary: so-so
Review: I was off Steven King for several years, but rediscovered him in time to enjoy "Green Mile" and "Bag of Bones." "Dreamcatcher" was a step backwards, and I couldn't finish it. Now comes "Black House." Peter Straub has always been a better, more careful writer than King (hence his less-frequent output). I hoped he could restrain King's excesses, but instead King seems to have overwhelmed him. Again we have Stephen King's gratuitous scatology: never in the history of literature have human beings gone to the bathroom, thought about it or referred to it as often as they do in King's books. Who needs it? And, as another reviewer mentioned, the "we" narration does become tiresome very quickly. AND WHERE WAS THE EDITOR? In the scene where Judy Marshall realizes that her son has been taken by the killer, her husband is referred to three times as "Dale." But earlier in the book, her husband was "Fred." Dale is the town sheriff. This kind of thing only detracts from what should have been a great book.
Still, it does have its moments. The descriptions and depictions of place here are as vivid as anything either author has ever done. They've got this town nailed. As they have the many residents of French Landing. In fact, maybe Peter Straub has had an influence after all; this part of the book sounds more like his last novel, "MR. X," than anything King has done before. Maybe next time, they should put Straub's name first. He deserves it.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing at best
Review: This is the single most disappointing Steven King book I have read. The characters don't make you wonder about them anytime during or after the story. The most unsettleing thing for me was how the same scene would be told over again from the viewpoint of up to four different characters. I thought this seems like an attempt to just make a long 600+ page book out of a 180 page book. The worst part about the entire book however, was the blatant, graphic violence towards children. To get me back in the Steven King frame of mind, I'll need to make a quick read of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. My advice, stay away from Black House. It's bad....bad I tell you!
Rating: 
Summary: Very, Very Heavy Tale
Review: First some small criticisms: The "viewpoint" felt a bit confused, and a little too much in the foreground of the tale at times (this is said as one who feels viewpoint should be as unnoticeable as possible). Related, the fading in and out from omniscient to direct felt a bit awkward here and there. And the late part of the book felt slightly rushed and compressed, as thought a publication deadline had begun to dominate the authors and story to some degree, as opposed to the first 3/4 or so, which had beautiful literary tempo. No doubt related to this, there were several typos that should've been caught toward the end. Beyond these little quips, the book is as good as anything I've ever read, and more compelling a tale (read as: "impossible to put down") than anything I ever recall reading. Rating the book 5 stars doesn't do "Black House" justice, it's clearly off the normal rating chart. It's two excellent authors combining and interlacing their skills to produce much more than the sum of their parts. If you are not too sqeamish and want to read a real masterpiece of a novel, this is a major classic. Warning: may cause temporary sleep difficulty!
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: This novel was very disappointing. There was no substance, after the key figures made it in to the Black House. There were so many references to The Dark Tower series, I wonder if readers unfamiliar with that work were able to follow the assumptions.
Rating:
Summary: BAG OF BONES
Review: FOR STARTERS I'M NOT A WRITER. BUT I'VE BECOME USED TO A CERTAIN LEVEL OF SUSPENSE,HORROR AND HUMOR FROM MR. KING. BAG OF BONES WAS NOT UP TO HIS USUAL STANDARDS. AND PLEASE NO MORE DARK TOWER. I REALLY DON'T CARE ANY MORE IF ROLAND FINDS THE MAN IN BLACK OR THE TOWER, ACTUALLY I WAS HOPING BLAINE THE TRAIN WOULD RUN THEM ALL OVER, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF OY, MAYBE. MR. KING SHOULD STICK WITH FAR OUT STUFF LIKE INSOMNIA WHICH I THROUGHLY ENJOYED.
Rating: 
Summary: Straub's a Dark Tower convert? Oh boy.....
Review: I was torn in several directions by this book. First, it's prequel ("The Talisman") was distinctly written in Stephen King's style - if Peter Straub did indeed collaborate with King on that book you'd never know it. With "Black House", it's noticeably more of a combined effort. The writing is more Straub's style than King's, but the mythology is definitely King. There are references to "Hearts in Atlantis" as well as "The Dark Tower", King's self-styled magnum opus and the most incomprehensible work of fantasy fiction since the Gormenghast trilogy. There are also attempts throughout the story to make it read like some kind of dark fairy tale, or a more morbid version of "The Hobbit". Those factors make this an incredibly depressing novel, even though the ending is a positive one. But despite the definite dark tone of this book I still held on to the end. The writing is top-drawer, more surprising when you realize that Straub's been turning out clunker after clunker over the last few years. I'm recommending this book, but with the caveat that you be aware that it's hardly a fun read, as most of King's novels are. I wish he'd either explain or junk the whole idea of the Dark Tower. At the rate he's going with it we'll all be long gone before he finally explains what it's all about.
Rating:
Summary: Unable to put it down!!!
Review: I just finished reading this book and I would like to say, I LOVED IT!!!! Once I started reading it, I was unable to put it down. To me it coved every aspect possible...I laughed, I cried, I cringed, and I cheered!! Once I got past the first few informational chapters I was hooked. I loved the portrayal of all the characters in the story, Henry being the most interesting, although, I thought Beezer was equally interesting and I was rather glad to see a positive spin put on a bunch of hog riding, beer drinking guys. Nuff said....grab a copy of the book and sit down and start reading.....ps, turn the answering machine on and feed the cat before you start...cause you sure wont want to do it onced you get into the book!
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing...
Review: Back when Stephen King was still writing terror novels, he was one of my favorite authors. To scare someone with nothing more than the written word is a huge talent and he possessed it in spades. "IT" is still one of my all-time favorites as is "The Stand". I enjoyed "The Talisman" but have never been a fan of fantasy tales and Stephen King's true genius (I believe) lies in writing horror. Taking ordinary people and placing them in extraordinary circumstances was one of his main strengths. The characters of his novels would come to life and I could picture them in my head as clearly as if they were standing in front of me. I cared about them and I cared what happened to them. In his later books, even though I didn't particularly like the tale itself (in "The Tommyknockers" for instance), he still had the ability to flesh out his characters and infuse them with life. Unfortunately, I didn't feel that way about "Black House". The characters were too one-dimensional with the exception of Jack, the bikers and Uncle Henry and I would have enjoyed much more of the latter two. The characters never really completely got through to me. There were sections of the book where I felt the authors were justthisclose to pulling me in, but I just couldn't lose myself in it which is something I have missed in Stephen King's stories for a long time. The other issue I had was with the third person, present tense narrative. It was extremely distracting. So the combination of flat characters, a story I couldn't dive into and an odd writing style pretty much spoiled it for me.
Rating:
Summary: Great followup to The Talisman, worthy Dark Tower entry
Review: As some are complaining about here, this is a Dark Tower novel. I think it is becoming clear that most, if not all, of King's novels concern the dark tower in one way or the other. Maybe not the early ones except by association of characters, but the later ones certainly are. Insomnia, Hearts in Atlantis, and now Black House are all adding to the mythology surrounding Roland's quest for the Dark Tower. In that respect this book is a slam dunk. It brings back characters and refernces events in Dark Tower as well as The Talisman. However the prose is a bit difficult at times with its detached quality and it works to take you out of the story by talking directly to you. It can be distracting but the story and payoff are worth it in the end. Bring on Dark Tower V!
Rating:
Summary: Okay, but nothing special
Review: The first book, The Talisman, was a joy to read. You couldn't wait to turn the page to see what happened next, but you also didn't want to finish it because then it would be over. Everyone feels that way about books they love. I knew the sequel wouldn't be anywhere nearly as good, and it wasn't. There was no joy in reading it, but only curiosity to see what they were going to do with (and to) the characters. I had never cried before just from reading a book, but I did when Wolf died in the first book. This one doesn't elicit anywhere near the same kind of emotion.
Still, it was somewhat entertaining, and it was interesting how it was linked to other Stephen King books. If it wouldn't have been for that link, someone would have had to convince me that Black House was written by the same people, because the writing style is so dissimilar. Not a bad read, but not a great one, either.
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