Night Stone

This book pulled me in immediately, so much so that I finished the almost 600 page book in 3 days while going to high school! I recently bought it to relive the story again and I'm 53 years old!

I first read NightStone in 1987, I was 17 years old and it scared the bejesus out of me! I loved the book so much I re-read it immediately and then loaned it to friends and family - hounding each one until they returned it! I've read NightStone several more times in the last 15 years and still list it in my Top 3 Best All-Time Reads. The characters are well-defined and the plot intriguing - as the story unfolds your imagination can get the better of you. Grab a night-light, a snack, and a cozy chair...you wont want to put it down.

This book is one of the few that will truly scare you. The plot centers around a man his wife and child moving into a house that was in his family for years. A previous reviewer said that what the stone was is never revealed but thats not true. It is shrouded in myth and explained somewhat but you are left to draw out your own conclusions and i like that. The entire book is filled with a creepy tension that builds and builds until a crazy climax that shocks you. You'll actually find yourself afraid of a horse in this book and i never thought that possible. I hope everyone reads this book it is truly a gem.

Hautala has mastered his art in this eerie and intense novel. Not sure what the previous reviewer was reading, I was unable to put this one down. I had no problem understanding the story at all, this was purely a great read. If you love horror, or just love a a book with the ability to grab you and hold you, this book is the one. Even when delving into issues of the para-normal, Hautala keeps a firm grasp on reality and character development, lulling one into the belief that what is happening to the people in the book could happen to you. The writing unnerves, with a palpable doom lurking from page one.

I had read "Night Stone" at 13 years old and was well into horror novels by that time. After a few years of reading novels by writers like Stephen King, I found myself engulfed in the characters and storyline. I was completely mesmorized and frightened. I had never thought I could get so visually into a book like this nor did I feel like by that time I could become so terrified. I wrote a letter to Rick Hautala stating how much I enjoyed his book. He responded back politely and thanked me for enjoying his work. He is a true genius in the world of horror.

The novel "Night Stone" was a real surprise for me. My girlfriend read the book when she was only Eleven, and she recalled that it really creeped her out. I laughed at her, swiped the book from her bedroom and found myself reading the nearly six-hundred page book in one sitting. Hautala has a very unique style, which I find to be more satisfying than Stephen King's--not quite as excessive. Anyhow, the story is of a man who moves into the house that his dying grandmother left abandoned, and intended for it to stay that way. He doesn't tell granny that he has moved in, but when his daughter befriends a heavy wooden doll, and he begins to have cryptic dreams that keep him up all night, he soon realizes why the house was supposed to go unoccupied. Through demonic spirits, dark tunnels, and Indian folklore, the novel propels you into truly frightening territory. It is a shame more people haven't discovered Hautala--he is great! An I'm not just saying that because he lives twenty minutes away from me! Read this book!