Rating: 
Summary: Loved it all, til the end.....
Review: "The Good House" was the first novel I've read by Due and well worth the read until the last few pages. Due writes with a grace and lyricism that makes her stories believable and interesting and her characters worth rooting for.
Her heroine, Angela Toussaint, is on the verge of collapse. She returns from her high-paced job as a Hollywood talent agent to Sacajawea, WA to the "Good House" where she was raised by her Grandmother. She's not been back in two years---since her son Corey was killed at a party.
She learns her childhood home is haunted by a Voodoo spirit who was her Grandma Marie Toussaint's patron. Angela also learns she has her Grandmother's talent to work the magic to heal the situation. Her Grandma always had faith that she'd make the old curse she activated right, but can Angela learn what to do in time?
I have two complaints about this book which merit the 4 star rating. First, the ending. No spoilers here, but I don't like this type of story. Second, the subtle 'advertising'. I totally agree with Tananarive Due's character's comments that Steven Barnes (Due's husband) is a great writer. I was just hoping books were someplace that kind of advertisement would be taboo. The whole scene felt like it was written for the sole purpose of mentioning Barnes' books.
Rating:
Summary: Due just keeps getting better.
Review: Angela Toussaint has mixed feelings about the offer to buy her family home in Sacajawea, Washington. The property has been in her family for decades (her grandmother, Marie Touissaint, is a local legend). It's also the place where her teenaged son, Corey, died two years earlier under suspicious circumstances (though his death was officially declared a suicide). Although she fled the house after the tragedy, she decides she must return to the home, known by the locals as "The Goode House," before making her final decision.On her return to Sacajawea, Angela slowly comes to realize that something strange and lethal is going on there, and that the Goode House is at the epicenter of the mystery. She investigates, hoping to uncover the source of misery that has plagued her family and the citizens of Sacajawea since her grandmother's time. Doing so, she stirs up vengeful ancient forces that seek her destruction. As in previous novels, Due focuses intensely on family dynamics. Angela and her husband, Tariq, were having problems even before Corey's death. Negatively influenced by the entity that seeks retribution on Angela, Tariq later becomes a warped symbol of their failed marriage. Here, however, the focus is not so much on spouses as it is on the bonds between a mother and her child. Despite the intimacy inherent in that bond, mothers and children are often strangers to each other--Due seems to suggest that complete understanding is beyond either party. Acceptance, however, can lead to greater affinity. Due takes her time with her narrative, allowing for extensive development of her characters and painstaking stage setting. As in previous works, her characters stand out--she cares about the people who populate her novels, and is eager to explore their frailties and hidden strengths. Angela is the best example; an able, tough-minded heroine, her fears, doubts and motivations all ring true. Due also does a masterful job of maintaining readers' interest, using changes in perspective and point of view to gradually illuminate the book's central mysteries. THE GOOD HOUSE shows Due to be a writer of great scope, depth, and empathy. An absorbing and frightening tale, THE GOOD HOUSE firmly establishes her as one of the modern masters of the horror genre, a writer who shows us more with each successive effort.
Rating: 
Summary: A Master Of This Genre!
Review: Angela Toussaint, the granddaughter of the legendary healer Marie Toussaint, has come back to visit her late grandmother's house in the hopes of getting her husband and son permanently back in her life. Unfortunately for Angela, there are some angry demonic forces that she knows nothing about that have been holding a grudge against her family line ever since her grandmother did something to outrage one of her guardian spirits. These demonic forces like to torture and punish anyone having anything to do with Angela's family and anyone who steps on the grounds of The Good House, the special name given to her grandmother's house. After a tragedy occurs on July 4, 2001, Angela leaves The Good House and tries to put that painful time behind her forever. However, she learns that she cannot truly move forward with her life until she goes back to The Good House one more time to try to understand why the tragedy really happened. So, two years later, she heads back to The Good House and she finds that she has endangered more lives of her family and friends in the process. The Good House, by Tananarive Due, is a powerful and gripping story about a lady's struggle to put the pieces of her life back together. She struggles even more trying to understand things that do not make any logical sense. With a story that is told from the perspective of different characters in the novel and with the time period fluctuating from the past to the present, Tananarive Due writes a story that stays with you even when you put the book down. Without too many African American horror and suspense writers to choose from, fans of this genre should not miss this excellent novel.
Rating:
Summary: Best horror I've read in years
Review: Edited to include a WARNING that several of the earlier reviews include MAJOR SPOILERS for the end of the book. Glad I didn't read them before reading the book.
Wow. Just wow. An exciting story, well-developed characters (all of them, not just the Red Shirts), structure that makes excellent use of flashbacks, foreshadowing that serves the story (not just teasing), pacing that requires a stop to catch your breath, realistic dialogue, this book has it all.
Maybe the best part is the respect that Ms. Due shows for history and for her characters -- it's like they were real people to her, and she's not going to cheapen anything about them, to titillate or scare or for a cheap thrill. And it was creepy as hell.
Everything held together -- there wasn't one single unbelievable "Nah, nobody in their right mind would do that!" moment.
What an accomplishment. I am so glad I read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Good Read
Review: First of all, the "Good House" is used in reference to the house built by Elijah Goode on Walnut Lane in Sacajawea, Washington; it was considered the best house in town. It was a majestic house on a hill with twenty-one long steep steps leading up to its door. The `good house' was the only house left standing on Walnut Lane after a "river of mud" destroyed the others in June of 1929. Marie Toussaint was sole owner of the `good house' then. How did a voodoo priestess from Louisiana that came to Mr. Goode seeking work come to be the owner of his house? I'm not telling . . .but it's an interesting story indeed. Marie had attended a training school for nursing in Florida. She had also nursed animals back to health after the mudslide; perhaps this is what lead to three men bringing Maddie, a sick teenage girl, to her door on July 4, 1929. BUT . . . there was much more to this girl than the appearance of an epileptic seizure. Marie could tell from the stench, which seems only she could smell. Trouble . . . evil in the form of flesh was now inside her home.
Many years later, Angela (Marie's granddaughter) and her son Cory have come to Sacajawea to spend yet another summer in Gramma Marie's house. However, Cory's dad, Tariq had shown up two weeks ago and Angela decided to give their marriage one last chance. Now on July 4, 2001 has this same evil that Marie once had to deal with come to vex Angela Toussaint? Angela experiences a terrible tragedy and a great loss on this day.
Two years elapsed and Angela is considering selling the `good house.' Her client Naomi Price convinces her to return to her Sacajawea to the house one last time before she sells it. Naomi fears Angela may be making a mistake, by selling the house she once loved. Naomi even offers to go with her and to Angela's surprise, she does. Was this a good idea, returning to Sacajawea, to the `good house'? I'm not telling. Read it and find out, you just may be glad you did.
The Good House by Tananarive Due is by far the best book I've read by this author. It starts off quite interesting. The Good House is an enthralling thriller. Toward the end, it even has a bit of "gotcha" for us horror fans. Due did a wonderful job of weaving this `tale,' answering the questions I had from previous chapters . . . In a way, you get a chance to see the story from two views. The story . . . is the `good house' bad, is Angela's family cursed or has someone awakened the evil Marie Toussaint once fought . . . is a good read. The end however, was a little disappointing for me. I prefer a solid end with closure. BUT I know you will get what the end hints . . . cause I did. I would definitely recommend The Good House for those that enjoy suspense, thrillers, horror or just a good story . . . as long as you're not `fearful.' ;o)
Felicia
R.E.A.L. Reviewers
Rating:
Summary: This book should be made into a movie!
Review: Good House is definately a page turner. This is the first book I've read by Tananarive Due and now I'm addicted! I found myself talking to the book the way you do at horror movies. It was a very thrilling yet passionate story.
I love the way that Due paints a picture of each character giving the reader a vivid image of what they might look like. Although at times the imaging seemed a bit drawn out. Regarldless of that, I would still recommend this book. I can't wait to read some of her other books!
Rating:
Summary: Rollercoaster Ride!
Review: I am a fan of Ms. Due's and have read My Soul to Keep and The Living Blood. Although I typically don't care for voodoo laced context, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Ms. Due held my interest as she integrated her well-developed characters and family into the supernatural story line. The book's end was a little disappointing but I didn't dwell on it too much as I was so engrossed in the story that my stomach ached! This book offers a great storyline! Great Reading!
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I checked the book out at the library and was instantly hooked. Even though the story was complex, her writng was so well it was next to impossible to get lost. I know I will be reading more of her material soon!
Rating: 
Summary: Too happily ever after
Review: I found the book itself to be well-written and exciting. And it was the kind of book that I didn't want to stop reading until the end. However, I did find that the ending was too contrived. As nice as it would be to be able to go back in time to avert disaster and lift the curse before the death of her son and lover, and the possession of her loved ones and friends, I think that a more satisfying ending would have been for Angela to find meaning in the rest of her life.
Rating:
Summary: Sleeping with the lights on
Review: I have been a fan of Ms. Due's since I read her second novel, My Soul To Keep. I grew up reading Stephen King which explains my wild imagination. I really enjoyed The Good House. At one point, I was wanting to sleep with all the lights on in my house. I have a tree outside my bedroom window so I really could relate to something that takes place in the book involving a tree outside the window. Just as Ms. Due did in My Soul To Keep and The Living Blood, she combines suspense and romance. I love her writing. I am a fan for life.
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