House
by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker
House sits right in the middle of a cross of genres that might seem to be an odd mix — the Christian horror novel. This book has several visceral, macabre scenes, and sends a few chills here and there. It is not, for me, as effective as Peretti's The Oath or Dekker's Heaven's Wager, but it was quite fun to see the collaboration, all the same.
House starts out with all the innocence and mundanity that is conventional to the opening of a good horror story. A couple quarreling. What could be more every day, right? But, as the story wears on, we find that this is no ordinary quarrel, and its resolution is going to come about only in the most extraordinary way. Everything lying in between that opening and the resolution gets us further twisted up and confused. And kind of turns the stomach from time to time too.
I have heard that the book will soon be made into a movie. I can imagine that it will make a good one, if it is handled well. A lot of the images will do well on the screen, and I think it ties up in a way that suits cinema very nicely. It fits neatly into the horror genre, and yet doesn't get boring or fail to engage the reader along the way. Overall, it is a pretty good read.
Reviewed by Shelly Bryant 2009
From "Book review of House"
I love to read, but the horror genre has been off limits ever since I saw the original Psycho in 1960 and was scared to walk the three blocks to my home. I was 12 and I decided then that I did not want anything to do with such movies, stories, books, or even “fun” houses at the fair!
So I was surprised to receive a novel for Christmas, House, by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker. My daughter, who gave me the book, knew that I loved This Present Darkness, also by Peretti, so she thought that I would like this one too. She said it was “Christian Horror.” I never knew there was such a thing!
See the full text of Ralph Bryant's review of House at Family Fun & Faith
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