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A review by alexctelander
No Doors, No Windows by Joe Schreiber
4.0
It’s been recommended that writers should stick to writing what they know when it comes to writing, and what better character can a writer write about than him- or herself . . . a writer. But the writer in Joe Schreiber’s new novel, No Doors, No Windows, is one with a dark, disturbing past that even he doesn’t fully understand until the last few pages of the book, and has worked hard to forget and stay away from. One hopes that Joe Schreiber isn’t anything like his character, Scott Mast.
Scott Mast wanted to make it big as a writer, but it never happened. So now he spends his days living relatively well, writing copy for greeting cards. He currently lives in Seattle and is happily far away from his family and old life where he grew up. That is until his father dies and he must return home to New Hampshire, finding an alcoholic loser of a brother with a son who he neglects and fails at being a decent father to. As Mast contemplates what he can do to help – there’s the touchy history of their mother having died fifteen years ago in a horrific fire – he discovers a unfinished manuscript his father was apparently working on. It’s about a very special house where there are no corners or edges; everything is curved and rounded. In this house there is a door that leads to “the black wing,” where there are no doors, and no windows; where terrible things happen. But the story is unfinished and Mast decides that he must finish the book himself. After meeting up with an old girlfriend (their failed relationship is its own doomed story), he stumbles upon a remote house that turns out to be exactly like the one in his father’s manuscript.
And so Mast rents the house and begins writing the story, feeling a strange presence overtake him when he is adding to the manuscript. He knows it has something to do with the house, but he doesn’t know what. Meanwhile his brother falls deeper into his booze-filled spiral, leaving young Henry alone and abandoned. The clues gently fall in to place with each chapter, as Schreiber leaves the read wanting more, forcing the turning of the page, and the need to know what is the story behind Scott Mast and his strange mental state; what’s the story behind the house; what’s the deal with Mast’s brother; and most importantly: what’s the story behind the Mast family that deals with the dark history of the town. Horror readers will enjoy No Doors, No Windows for its psychological thrill ride that doesn’t get revealed and resolved until the very last pages of the book.
For more reviews, check out the BookBanter site.
Scott Mast wanted to make it big as a writer, but it never happened. So now he spends his days living relatively well, writing copy for greeting cards. He currently lives in Seattle and is happily far away from his family and old life where he grew up. That is until his father dies and he must return home to New Hampshire, finding an alcoholic loser of a brother with a son who he neglects and fails at being a decent father to. As Mast contemplates what he can do to help – there’s the touchy history of their mother having died fifteen years ago in a horrific fire – he discovers a unfinished manuscript his father was apparently working on. It’s about a very special house where there are no corners or edges; everything is curved and rounded. In this house there is a door that leads to “the black wing,” where there are no doors, and no windows; where terrible things happen. But the story is unfinished and Mast decides that he must finish the book himself. After meeting up with an old girlfriend (their failed relationship is its own doomed story), he stumbles upon a remote house that turns out to be exactly like the one in his father’s manuscript.
And so Mast rents the house and begins writing the story, feeling a strange presence overtake him when he is adding to the manuscript. He knows it has something to do with the house, but he doesn’t know what. Meanwhile his brother falls deeper into his booze-filled spiral, leaving young Henry alone and abandoned. The clues gently fall in to place with each chapter, as Schreiber leaves the read wanting more, forcing the turning of the page, and the need to know what is the story behind Scott Mast and his strange mental state; what’s the story behind the house; what’s the deal with Mast’s brother; and most importantly: what’s the story behind the Mast family that deals with the dark history of the town. Horror readers will enjoy No Doors, No Windows for its psychological thrill ride that doesn’t get revealed and resolved until the very last pages of the book.
For more reviews, check out the BookBanter site.