The Good House

Adding this book to "The Stand" and "Swan Song" as favorite horror novels. Excellently written.

This is the story of Angela Toussaint, a woman searching for the inherited power that can save her hometown of Sacajawea from evil forces. She lives in what the townspeople refer to as the Good House, once owned by Marie Toussaint, Angela's grandmother and local healer. But something has gone wrong. There's now an evil presence prevailing over the house. Did her teenage son, Corey, reawaken something that should have been left sleeping? The sudden and senseless tragedies in the community seem to support that theory. Angela herself suffers a shocking and unexpected tragedy that rips her family apart and sends her spiraling into a nervous breakdown. Two years later she returns to set things right. Whatever is going on, it is somehow linked to a terrifying entity Angela's grandmother battled in 1929, and she must now listen for clues from beyond the grave and summon her own hidden gifts if she is to survive a face-to-face confrontation with the timeless adversary that stalks her.The Good House is a chilling supernatural tale that will keep you reading frantically to the end. But it is more than that, as well. It's a story of family, grief, lost love, bigotry, community, and the search for meaning. Never heavy-handed and always entertaining, this book delivers a haunting yet humanistic tale.

You read "My Soul to Keep," and you enjoyed the sequel, "The Living Blood," but nothing in either of those two earlier Tananarive Due books could have prepared her dedicated fans for this one!Angela Toussaint returns to her late gramma Marie's house for the summer hoping for some healing powers that would bring her own family closer together. She's separated from her husband Tariq, and her teenage son, Corey, splits his time between both parents. While gramma Marie has been trying to communicate or reach out to Angie, Angie has not been receptive so gramma reached the only other blood relative, Corey. Things pick up and start spinning wildly and unworldly out of control on the evening of Angie's 4th of July party. WARNING: if you're a big scradie-cat don't read this book at night just before going to bed.Gramma Marie was a well-respected voodoo priestess and before her death, in a fit of anger, she enlisted the help of the evil "baka" to punish her enemies. The baka, once called upon never wants to return and is bent on destroying anything and everything that attempts to send it back -- particularly anyone from the Troussaint bloodline.Get ready, prepare yourself for this wild ride. "House on a Haunted Hill," "The Blair Witch Project," and "The Exorcist," all in one -- and then some. Ms. Due, you've outdone yourself.

Tananarive Due gets better and better with each release! Her latest novel, The Good House, examines the consequences of misusing magic and the power of heritage and family. The story is set in the remote town of Sacajawea, Washington where in the early 1900's, Marie Touissant relocates from Louisiana guided by her inner voice to a place that can be described in modern terms as the "epicenter of the sprit world". Marie is a trained, experienced, favored vodou priestess and often uses her powers to help and heal others. Through a series of events, Marie (in anger) misuses her talents, is abandoned by the "good" spirits for her actions, and unleashes a vengeful, unrelenting evil spirit that is determined to destroy her and her progeny. Marie watches helplessly as her daughter is possessed and tormented by the spirit. She patiently waits for the opportunity to redeem herself but time is not her friend and she passes before she can banish the spirit. Fast forward to present day. Marie's granddaughter, Angela, is clueless about her grandmother's secrets; but when tragedy strikes at the family home (The Good House) and a destructive pattern emerges at the expense of her loved ones, she begins to suspect and believe that there is no such thing as coincidence. She must quickly discover the cause of these bizarre fatalities, her dead grandmother's role in it, and a method of containing or eradicating the evil before it consumes her and all her loved ones.This book is a suspenseful page-turner from beginning to end. It is wonderfully conceived and superbly written!! Due exhibits great expertise when she weaves together the spiritual aspects (Christianity, Vodou, Native American and African/Caribbean spiritualism), the history of the great Northwest, racial sensitivities, and family values. It is my opinion that very few authors could have blended such a diverse set of topics so brilliantly. Keep `em coming, Ms. Due....we can't get enough!!Reviewed by PhyllisAPOOO BookClub, The Nubian Circle Book Club

Tananarive Due has done it again!! The Good House is a super-natural thriller that captures its reader from the very first line. The heroin of this book, Angela Toussaint, has returned to the home in which she was raised in Sacajawea, WA. The home that locals have named the Goode House in part because of its original owner, Elijah Goode, but mainly because of Mr. Goode's "companion," Marie Toussaint, Angela's deceased grandmother. Here at the Goode House, Angela hopes to mend her soul from a tragic loss she suffered two years ago. But as Angela embarks on the road to recovery, she soon realizes that the Goode house might not be as "good" as everyone thinks.Upon her return, Angela discovers that she isn't the only one who has suffered tragedy in the past two years. She will soon realize that something evil was unleashed in the Goode House - something so old and sinister that it invades the very souls of neighbors, friends, and loved ones. Through a well thought out plot, Ms. Due takes her heroin and the reader on a paranormal thrill ride that does not end until the very last page.The Goode House is sure to find new fans and assures the old fans that Tananarive Due is definately here to stay! Excellent read!

Tananarive Due is a brillant storyteller, her mastery of the written word can actually transport you to clearly visualize the characters and the locales in her writing. This is a story of a family, it begins with the grandmere Marie who leaves New Orleans to find her santuarty in a small town in Washington State with her young daughter. The daughter plays a small part in the book. The granddaughter and great grandson are much like their grandmother who has "SIGHT" and dabbles in the world of voodoo. These gifts are unknown to the granddaughter and great grandson at first until the grandson finds some papers and tries some spells and unwittingly releases some evil spirits that the grandmother had banished some 70 years prior. The grandmere dies before she has the opportunity to share the legacy and the curse with her grand daughter. The grandmother is still spiritually attached to her grand daughter, but she can't hear the warnings because she is so involved in her own grief. She is forced to face some very evil and diabolical forces and finally realizes her grandmother is still with her, guiding her. This is such an engrossing and wonderfully written book. It deals with love, hate, jealousy, evil spirits.If you enjoyed My Soul to Keep or the Living Blood you'll also enjoy The Good House. I strongly recommend this book.