Nightmare House

The year is 1926, and Ethan Gravesend has just inherited Harrow House -- the Watch Point, New York, home of his grandfather Justin Gravesend (who tells the story of his own early years in The Necromancer). Called Nightmare House by the local newspapers because of the events that have taken place under its roof, it is also said that every stone, every piece of glass, of this English-style manor castle was chosen specifically by Justin with full knowledge of its history and possible black-magical effects. "Harrow, you belong to me," Ethan proclaims upon his arrival. "But I was to learn," the elder Ethan notes in the telling of this story from the present day, "that this house belonged to no man." However, Ethan feels as if he has come home at last. He used to visit Harrow in his youth, but his parents kept him away except for those rare visits, though he would dream of it at night. Newly single, Ethan is prepared to settle in to his newly acquired wealth and status -- until the dead woman is discovered in the secret walled-off room. Accompanied by chief of police Pocket and local boy Alf, other frightening events are to come (during what the elder Ethan calls a "night of mystery") that will cause him to wonder what exactly his grandfather has let loose in Harrow. But these events will pale in comparison to the new information he discovers about his family. Author Douglas Clegg has said that Nightmare House is his version of the "quiet ghost story" -- in fact, each Harrow novel reflects a favored literary style of his. Clegg leaps around from first-person to third-person, past to present, with confidence, and he never misses a step. Reader Michael Taylor (from Books in Motion, the audio publisher who produced this edition) follows along gamely. Taylor's friendly baritone eases the listener into the strange happenings like a kindly uncle telling a spooky story before the fire. He also shows a surprising facility with voices that I would have thought out of his range. I especially enjoyed Taylor's characterization of Pocket; Clegg gives Pocket a lot of space to maneuver as a supporting character, even allowing him to tell his own side of the story, and Taylor gives him a dose of extra personality. My first Harrow novel was through 2005's The Abandoned, which I did not enjoy for various reasons, but one of those may have been my lack of knowledge regarding the house and its background. (Clegg says you can read the series in any order, but that one may be the exception.) Nightmare House filled me in wonderfully, and I may have to give the other another try. This first novel of Harrow House and its surrounding history and happenings was wholly satisfying, and it has made me look forward to reading the other entries in the series. In fact, as soon as I finished listening to it, I picked up The Necromancer and read it in two sittings. These have reaffirmed my confidence both in Clegg and in Harrow, and now I am eager to acquire a copies of the othe

The novel Nightmare House succeeded for me (and I hope for you too) on many levels. I would like to share with you two of them. First, Setting: The reader is immediately and constantly aware of time and place. Ethan's travels to Harrow through the villages and along the road. The grand tour of Harrow, through its many levels, seen and unseen. The reminders that this was a more simple time - gas lights, unpaved roads, a constable that arrived on bike. Second, Realism: Now, that may sound funny when reviewing a horror novel, but I'll have to say that when I read this novel, I did not once say to myself, "No way - that makes no sense at all." The story flowed well and made sense. I felt as though I could put myself in Ethan's place and experience it this in the "real" world and not be surprised. Life is full of mysteries and the answers to what happens in the infinite have been faith-based and if you believe in good, you must also believe in evil. The afterlife has never been defined, only interpreted. Ethan's experiences in the Nightmare House kept me glued to the story and my fingers turning the pages.

This is one of those novels that I just didn't want to put down and wished would never end. Douglas Clegg is truly a master of horror fiction. He knows how to strike the chords of terror within the human mind without the crutches of butchery and gore. His eloquent writing style captivates the senses in such a way you can almost feel, see, hear and taste his every word. Whether this makes any sense at all, I can best describe this novel as terrifyingly beautiful and that I was beautifully terrified.

Nightmare House takes you back to the days of horror before "blood and gore" were necessary to scare the pants off you. A very simple haunted house story that grips you from the first page and leaves you breathless at the end. Clegg takes the simple story and adds twists along the way to make it hard to put this book down. The best thing about Nightmare House though is that is it not done, the story of Harrow House is further explored in Mischief and The Infinite.It has been a long time since I have read horror like this. Clegg has returned to the true roots of horror and maybe he will never return.

I love horror fiction, especially haunted house horror fiction. Until recently, my favorite of these was Richard Matheson's Legend of Hell House. But with the publication of Nightmare House, Douglas Clegg's Harrow has replaced my previous fave. Nightmare House ties together pieces of his previous novels Mischief and The Infinite by describing some of the background of this fiendishly designed house. I loved his straightforward writing style so much, that once I had finished Nightmare House I purchased six more Douglas Clegg paperbacks to read over the summer. He has an imagination to rival Clive Barker at his most hellish. I'd still like to see another book on Harrow from the standpoint of the builder, the grandfather of Nightmare House's narrator. I want to really understand the design of the house, and also try to explore the evil/innocent dichotomy of the narrator's sister. I want to crawl around in Harrow and explore until all of my questions are answered. Nightmare House does answer a lot, though. I highly recommend this book, and basically anything by Douglas Clegg.