Reviews

Richard Matheson's Hell House by Richard Matheson, Simon Fraser

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lethaldose's review against another edition

4.0

Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" probably could be called the modern template of haunted house story, but it would also be fair to say that "Hell House" refined that template, and maybe the modern haunted house story as most people know it has more in common with Matheson than Shirley Jackson. The major difference between the two being that Jackson gives us a more mental and less physical haunting, Matheson gives us a much more physical haunting.

The characters were very good, Matheson did a great job getting you invested in the characters very early. Here is what I loved about the characters in this book though. You have Florence, the medium, who believes she communicates and talks to spirits who embodies all the best and worst characterics a person would think of with a medium, well not all the worst she certainly believes what she is saying and is no charlatan, but even at the time she had to be somewhat cliched. And on the other end you have Lionel, the scientist, who embodies all the best and worst traits that come along with that title. He sees everything through the lens of reason and logic and is unwilling to accept any answer that does not conform to the laws of the universe as he sees it. These are only two of the four main characters and the two least interesting for that matter, but the funny thing is the events that transpire are set in place by these two and it wont take long for one of these characters to seem ridiculous to you, but which one depends on the type of person you are. And Matheson is well aware of this and plays with your thinking of these people quite alot, especially towards the end.

There were a lot of cool moments and freaky events, I don't want to give any away, but I was constantly wondering what was coming next. If you are a fan of horror, this is a must read. The pacing is pretty consistent throughout the book, you get freaked out, then everyone calms down and talks about what happened, then they seem to forget anything terrifying happened and go on about what ever they were doing, then a short time later something else terrifying happens, rinse and repeat.

I loved this book, but I am knocking a star off because as good as the book was it felt like it was going nowhere after a certain point until suddenly it picked up and got on track toward the end.