Rating: Summary: Clegg hits another one out of the park.... Review: Clegg is a gem of a writer and a nice guy to boot. He writes with a flair for suspense and spine-tingling horror, which is shown here.This is the final ? book about Harrow where six people meet to find out the mysteries of this house with a notorious past. Three of them have psychic abilitites and are lured there with the promise of $10,000 for a couple days worth of "work." They are basically used as bait to revive the house from its long slumber. It's good and Clegg delivers the goods like very few can!!!! Clegg has fallen in love with the ghost story. I would love to see what he could do with vampires, but u don't get that when u buy a book from Clegg. Vampires, zombies, werewolves, are not his cup of tea. I would love to see him tackle something like Little does. Stores, vampires, a homeowners association. I am not advocating plagarism, just something other than ghost stories. Although he does it better than anybody else working today, including Noel Hynd, who has made a career out of it. Cheers, Doug!!!!
Rating: Summary: Superbly written - a modern masterpiece! Review: Douglas Clegg completes his Terror Trilogy (Nightmare House, Mischief, and now The Infinite) with one of the most haunting novels of the year. Take Harrow; a recently renovated boarding school with an extensive history of suspense and evil. Add a cast of unforgettable characters - weave in a bit of suspense and throw in a dash of terror for good measure, let is simmer for 384 pages; and you have a page-turner that is guaranteed to hold on and not let go. At the heart, it is a page-turner filled with vivid imagery and believable characters. In a nutshell, it's hauntingly fun, and sure to send shivers up your spine. Superbly written - a modern masterpiece! As a reader, I am left with a sense of completion of the Terror Trilogy; but I yearn for more. I have to ask; is THE INFINATE the final chapter on Harrow? Or are there more chapters to come? Regardless, Clegg has left all of us with a hunting page turner for this Halloween season. When The Infinite leaves you thirsty for more, I also recommend Douglas Cleggs': The Nightmare Chronicles, You Come When I Call you, and Naomi.
Rating: Summary: Slow start, but fun stuff afterwards Review: Douglas Clegg, The Infinite (Leisure Books, 2001) I didn't exactly go to school with Doug Clegg, but we shared a fraternity at the same school ten years apart. (No word on whether he was a previous occupant of my room, though that would probably explain some of the many unexplainable things that happened within its walls.) I found this out a little less than a decade ago from Clegg himself, and ever since then I've had the "you know, I really should pick up one of this guy's books" thing turned up a notch up under the constantly-boiling saucepan that is my TBR stack. But somehow I never got round to it till just now. Here's your apology, Doug. I really did mean to get my hands on The Halloween Man and You Come When I Call You. But don't worry, now that I've actually read one, I will be attempting to pick them up posthaste (in the ragtag way I do such things, which often involves used bookstores and library book sales). The Inifinite starts out, well, slow. Glacial. Seeming as if it's going to be just another incarnationof The Haunting, which has had so many pale imitators over the years. But get yourself past the prologue and you realize that was just the chain pulling the car up the first hill, and you're sitting at the top. You sit there for a sickeningly long time letting the anticipation buld as Clegg takes his sweet time filling us in on the characters. In fact, he spends over half the book this way. But anyone who's seen the film Lord of Illusions, and the disturbing flashbacks Scott Bakula suffers therein, should be well aware that filling in background material can be loads of fun by itself. Then you actually get to the house. And yes, the story does start sounding a bit like The Haunting (or Matheson's The Haunting of Hell House, perhaps a closer parallel) retold for a modern, more blood-soaked audience. And while it's impossible to say what it is about the book that makes it better than its contemporaries without giving away a major plot point, trust me. It's something not done nearly enough in novels, and almost never in movies, but when it is it's an autmatic step towards classic status. Am I saying that in seventy years Doug Clegg will be as read and revered as Lovecraft is now? Nah, he's probably more an M. R. James, someone the aficionados are well aware of, but that the outside world is unfamiliar with. Let them rot in their ignorance, we have Douglas Clegg. *** ½
Rating: Summary: Not a Ghost Story Review: Harrow House Watch Point, New York has seen many tragedies and is rumored to be haunted. When Ivy Martin purchases the house, she agrees to allow Jack Fleetwood of the PSI Vista Foundation, a group of paranormal investigators, to conduct an investigation into the alleged hauntings. He hopes to prove the existence of ghosts. Three psychics Chet Dillinger a telekinetic, Cali Nytbird who has precognitive and psychometric abilities, and Frost Crane a best selling author who has premonitions, though he seems more psychotic than psychic, are hired. Jack Fleetwood and his daughter run the detection devices. The novel is divided into books. Book One Lifetimes introduces the principal characters. Book Two Palace of Night sees the team arrive. Book Three Empire of the Mind is where the paranormal activity begins 300 pages into it! The book has only 377 pages! First off the investigative team isn't even qualified to conduct an investigation into a haunting. Cali with her psychometry is okay but where are the clairvoyants and what does precognition and telekinesis have to do with the past? This story was very reminiscent of Rose Red also billed as a ghost story but in both cases the activity isn't caused by ghosts but by psychic portals or demons or both. Both were awful stories! If I could rate this book a zero, that's what it would get!
Rating: Summary: Not a Ghost Story Review: Harrow House Watch Point, New York has seen many tragedies and is rumored to be haunted. When Ivy Martin purchases the house, she agrees to allow Jack Fleetwood of the PSI Vista Foundation, a group of paranormal investigators, to conduct an investigation into the alleged hauntings. He hopes to prove the existence of ghosts. Three psychics Chet Dillinger a telekinetic, Cali Nytbird who has precognitive and psychometric abilities, and Frost Crane a best selling author who has premonitions, though he seems more psychotic than psychic, are hired. Jack Fleetwood and his daughter run the detection devices. The novel is divided into books. Book One Lifetimes introduces the principal characters. Book Two Palace of Night sees the team arrive. Book Three Empire of the Mind is where the paranormal activity begins 300 pages into it! The book has only 377 pages! First off the investigative team isn't even qualified to conduct an investigation into a haunting. Cali with her psychometry is okay but where are the clairvoyants and what does precognition and telekinesis have to do with the past? This story was very reminiscent of Rose Red also billed as a ghost story but in both cases the activity isn't caused by ghosts but by psychic portals or demons or both. Both were awful stories! If I could rate this book a zero, that's what it would get!
Rating: Summary: Intelligent and suspenseful Review: He did an great and entertaining job in the setup and building suspense, as well as the aftermath and winding down, but things do get a little chaotic during the climax. Overall a very enjoyable read, intelligently and suspensefully written with a variety of likeable characters and from a humane point of view. I finished it within 24 hours (rare for me), and plan to read more of Douglas Clegg's work in the near future.
Rating: Summary: Superb Review: I have to say, this is my favourite book so far from Clegg! I know I bought this book bec. I've been reading freebies off his e-book serials and that I genuinely wanted to support him and that he came to Chicago for a book signing and I wanted a guise to be able to meet him. But, I know I made a smart choice bec. man, the book blew me away! Clegg is a genius. I love it. Oh, and I loved Bad Karma, too. That one is under his other name, Andrew Harper. If you join his yahoo! list, you can read Bad Karma for free!
Rating: Summary: Good start leads to let down... Review: I hear a lot about this guy, and most of it is very good. Why, then, do his novels disappoint me so much? "The Infinite" was the second book I have read by Clegg, and I really wanted to like it. I love modern horror stories when they are subtle and chilling, like the first half-dozen books by Stephen King or Peter Straub's masterpiece, "Ghost Story." "The Infinite" starts out with a nice little ghost story of its own, and I thought I was onto something with this book (although I grew suspicious when the author makes a mistake while referring to a plot point from a 1960's Twilight Zone episode). Early chapters introduced the major characters and included some very fascinating background information for each. I was enjoying the book so far, but mildly wary of a letdown. And let down it soon did. Once all of these characters come together at the house known as Harrow, the story begins to sag. In fact, nothing much happens at all for the next few chapters. Okay, someone walks the house unseen at night when everyone else is asleep, but there's nothing frightening about her - she's only an eccentric old woman. And another character begins to reveal a "dark" side. Clearly the author was trying to build suspense here with an extended period of calm before the coming chaos, but this reader was calmed practically to sleep. Just before (or maybe just after) I stopped caring whether or not anything at all was going to happen, the story exploded in one of the most unsatisfying and illogical climaxes I've come across in a long time. Well, King has often been guilty of the same thing, but for some reason I can't define (familiarity maybe?) it's easier to forgive him. I wouldn't give the ending away if I could, but I'm not sure I know know what happened anyway. Maybe I was just too bored by then to get involved. Even considering this reading experience, I'd like to try Clegg's "The Hour Before Dark": I'm that desperate for a good suspense shocker. His newest is getting great reviews - "Clegg's best so far" and all that jazz. The problem is, most of the non-professional reviewers also recommend this clunker. The first half of "The Infinite" gets four to five stars, the second half gets between one and two.
Rating: Summary: Good start leads to let down... Review: I hear a lot about this guy, and most of it is very good. Why, then, do his novels disappoint me so much? "The Infinite" was the second book I have read by Clegg, and I really wanted to like it. I love modern horror stories when they are subtle and chilling, like the first half-dozen books by Stephen King or Peter Straub's masterpiece, "Ghost Story." "The Infinite" starts out with a nice little ghost story of its own, and I thought I was onto something with this book (although I grew suspicious when the author makes a mistake while referring to a plot point from a 1960's Twilight Zone episode). Early chapters introduced the major characters and included some very fascinating background information for each. I was enjoying the book so far, but mildly wary of a letdown. And let down it soon did. Once all of these characters come together at the house known as Harrow, the story begins to sag. In fact, nothing much happens at all for the next few chapters. Okay, someone walks the house unseen at night when everyone else is asleep, but there's nothing frightening about her - she's only an eccentric old woman. And another character begins to reveal a "dark" side. Clearly the author was trying to build suspense here with an extended period of calm before the coming chaos, but this reader was calmed practically to sleep. Just before (or maybe just after) I stopped caring whether or not anything at all was going to happen, the story exploded in one of the most unsatisfying and illogical climaxes I've come across in a long time. Well, King has often been guilty of the same thing, but for some reason I can't define (familiarity maybe?) it's easier to forgive him. I wouldn't give the ending away if I could, but I'm not sure I know know what happened anyway. Maybe I was just too bored by then to get involved. Even considering this reading experience, I'd like to try Clegg's "The Hour Before Dark": I'm that desperate for a good suspense shocker. His newest is getting great reviews - "Clegg's best so far" and all that jazz. The problem is, most of the non-professional reviewers also recommend this clunker. The first half of "The Infinite" gets four to five stars, the second half gets between one and two.
Rating: Summary: Great writing Style...Bad story Review: I just finished this book. I really like the author's style of writing (while the proofreader should have cought some GLARING screw-ups). I liked characters and the idea behind the book. I had problems with the over 200-page character set up and then nothing. The booked died as if it was hurried along just to finish. The so-called spooky bad guy free for all was all of the last 40 pages and then it was still a HUGE let down. This was not a very 'horror' horror book, unless you call the pulsing walls scary.(That was not even ten pages from the every end.) It needed a lot more spook and to be longer...or the character setup shorter. Don't buy it. Just don't. I am going to give the auther a second chance and pick up a different book. I want to see if it was him or the story that was the screw up.
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