Black House ~ Stephen King and Peter Straub

This book is the sequal to The Talisman and together they are two of my absolute favorite books.  Don't let the authors fool you, this is not your typical Stephen King story.  If you've ever read his Gunslingers series, then you'll be pleased to find another wonderful link hidden in these pages.

Jack Sawyer is a "coppiceman."  At 31 he had already earned fame in the LAPD and across the country, and he'd already retired.  The place he retired to, Coolie County in Wisconsin is the very essence of clean, bright, semi-rural town living.  Jack moved there because it reminded him of another place, a place he'd spent his twelth year, a place he'd blocked from his memory.

While Jack is hiding from his past, there is another lurker in Coolie County.  This man is evil, he is a cannibal and as he puts it his favorite dish is "baby's butt."  Children are disappearing and when their remains surface horrible things have been done to him.  When the book opens we are asked to "bear witness" to the sad remains of Irma Freneau, the latest of the Fisherman's (as they call him) victims.  This is not the typical grotesque Stephen King in your face bloody wreck.  There is a delicacy here and an understanding that when bad things happen we have to face them, we have to bear witness.

Along with Jack and the Fisherman, we meet many people and come to love or at least appreciate most of them.  Tyler Marshall, son of Judy and Fred, goes newly missing.  Judy herself is an incredible example of the strength and courage, the beauty, that shines from within.  Dale, the town sherriff and his crew of police men and women.  Among them we meet the Mad Hungarian, a character you love and loath for his weakness.  In my opinion, one of the most moving of the characters is Henry Leyden.  "Even a blind man can see" that Henry is too cool for reality.  The Thunder Five is a motorcycle gang, Beezer, their leader, was the first parent to lose his child to the Fisherman and his gang is a fine reminder that people are more than they may seem.

This is a wonderful story, full of "other places," fantasy, fear, heroism, and the "coming of the white."  I would not recommend this to be read before The Talisman, because you really must know Jack Sawyer first, and that story lets you know what happened "when Jackie was 12 and no one was anything else."  Just thinking about the people you meet in that book gives me a warm heart, and a few shivers.

Here's a quote for closing, to give you an idea of the merit of this honey of a book:

"The blessing of blessings that vanish.  What you love, you must love all the harder because someday it will be gone."