BLACK HOUSE; by Stephen King and Peter Straub; Random House, 625 pages; $28.95.
At last we have the sequel to "The Talisman," the 1983 book that has become a minor classic among horror aficionados. And "Black House" was written by the same expert team of Stephen King (now 53) and Peter Straub (now 58).
King is more prolific and more famous, but Straub is eloquent on his own and has a healthy following.
Focusing on Jack Sawyer — who was just a youth in the first book, when he visited "the territories," a parallel universe — the authors find him still youthful but now an accomplished adult, a retired cop from the LAPD who has decided to move to French Landing, Wis., to live alone.
Sawyer's friend, Dale Gilbertson, is police chief of a town that is plagued with a frightening, demented child-killer who eats his prey. He implores Sawyer to help him solve the case. And there's the terrible black house, at the end of town, where chilling things happen and where the book reaches its terrifying climax.
Although the book is written in "chunks" by each author alternating, but never editing each other, it appears seamless. It is virtually impossible to tell where Straub leaves off and King begins — and that's a good thing. The use of plural omniscient narrators makes it more difficult to differentiate which author is which, because neither has used such a voice before.
The book is long, but it never seems verbose, except for the occasional joke thrown in by either author in an effort to camouflage their writing styles. The most bizarre aspect of the book is the focus on a care facility for the aged, where the villain lives, a hateful, 85-year-old man named Charlie Burnside who suffers from Alzheimer's but who miraculously emerges from it in time to commit numerous heinous acts.
When little Tyler Marshall disappears through a hedge, leaving his bicycle and one shoe on the other side, the town's spook level rises. This particular boy has special promise, and evidence arises that long after his capture he may still be alive. Sawyer finally agrees to join in the investigation, but not without the irritating supervision of both the state police and the FBI. Sawyer and Marshall emerge as the truly good characters in a moral battle with evil.
As is to be expected with a horror novel, it is bloody and filled with gutter language. In fact, detailed violence dominates the story. The only diversion is provided by Henry Leyden, probably the favorite character. He is a 50ish blind man who is so cool that Dale and Jack — as well as everyone else who meets him — are entranced. Then he gets killed. (But not before Sawyer reads a goodly portion of Charles Dickens' "Bleak House" to him. Clever little allusion.)
It's a little tricky to mix violence and evil with the supernatural. In fact, the truly scary portions of the book are sometimes blunted by the supernatural portions, which by and large seem less convincing. By the end, the supernatural elements have blended so completely with the nightmarish elements that it almost seems cartoonish.
But this horror tale is a solid, good read — and, thankfully, good conquers evil in the end.
E-MAIL: dennis@desnews.com