Book Review: House by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker

Book Review: House by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker

For those unfamiliar with Christian fiction, Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker teaming up is a little like Stephen King and Dean Koontz collaborating. Could you imagine if Koontz and King co-wrote Frankenstein Book 3? With King and Koontz, I’m sure it won’t happen, but it did happen with Peretti and Dekker.

 My daughter borrowed House from my niece, and I’d been curious to read it too, so when she was done, I snatched it before my lovely wife had a chance. For my last review, I read Hell House by Richard Matheson and The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, so my wife enjoyed making fun of me reading my third “House” book in a row.

A couple of nights later, I was in bed reading House, and my wife silently walked around the bed to my bookshelf, looking for something. Taking the bait, I asked what she was looking for. She said she was trying to figure out what “House” book I was going to read next. The next day, I decided on The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub. Its sequel: Black House.

A day or two later, while poking around in the basement, I found a copy of Nathanial Hawthorne’s The House of Seven Gables, published in 1851. I may work that one in after Black House, but I read the first chapters of Dean Koontz’ Your Heart Belongs to Me online, and it was really good, so I’m leaning toward that instead.

As for Peretti and Dekker’s House, this book is a little controversial. It spawned an R-rated movie, which is unusual for a Christian film, although Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ was also R-rated. And no, I’m not even going to comment on Mel’s R-rated personal life.

The R-rating for the House movie is strictly due to terror and violence. I haven’t seen it yet, but you may want to check it out if watching a horror movie without nudity and profanity sounds good. There aren’t many horror movies like that out there. (The movie The Haunting, made in 1961, is another example. Based on The Haunting of Hill House, it would be appropriate for most kids around 10 and up.)

House, the book, is a supernatural thriller about two couples separately driving through the back roads of rural Alabama and finding themselves broken down near an isolated house, which is conveniently set up as a bed and breakfast.

Jack Singleton and his wife Stephanie aren’t exactly living out wedded bliss since the accidental death of their little girl. Stephanie wants a divorce and Jack is starting to think that’s not such a bad idea, but the two of them are on their way to see a marriage counselor when a detour takes them off the beaten path and into a haunted house — and the path of a madman.

This book doesn’t really bring anything new to the horror genre, but House does form new combinations from standard horror archetypes. In House, we have the bad place meets the bad man, among other things. What would happen if Jigsaw from Saw or Leatherface from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre were lurking inside the Amityville House? Dekker and Peretti give us an answer.

After their car is disabled in the back woods of Alabama, Jack and Stephanie set off on foot to find help and stumble upon the House in the middle of nowhere. They enter to find a guest book with two names, Leslie Taylor and Randy Messarue, already written in, but they don’t see a host or desk clerk. Randy and Leslie soon make their way downstairs to the lobby where the couples meet. They exchange stories and realize someone has orchestrated their arrival at the House, but none of them knows who – or why.

Soon the two couples meet an “inbred” family (mother, Betty; father, Stewart; and mentally challenged son, Pete) who apparently run the inn, and with their strange behavior, they seem to fit the bill as the primary antagonists. After a tense exchange over dinner (where Pete tries to claim Leslie as his wife), the food suddenly turns from edible to rancid. Next the lights go out, and a man outside has them trapped in the house, threatening them with a shotgun.

When you think you’re finally figuring out what’s going on, a tin can rattles down the chimney with the following message scribbled on it:

Welcome To My House.

House Rules:

1. God came into my house and I killed him.

2. I will kill anyone who comes to my house like I killed God.

3. Bring me one dead body and I might let rule #2 slide.

You have until dawn.

The hosts’ near panic in response to this threat tells the couples they aren’t the real source of danger, but they’re at least familiar with the game they are all about to play. After the hosts force the couples into a meat locker to choose which of the 4 will be sacrificed to save the rest from the shotgun toting Tin Man, the 4 manage to escape to the basement, only to find that the lower level of the House is where the real game is to be played. So, are the hosts part of this game, or are they victims like the others?

This book was an enjoyable read, despite a lack of character development. There were enough twists to keep the reader guessing, but the characters were 2 dimensional. I kept waiting for one of them to surprise me by doing something unexpected, but unfortunately none of them did. The surprises in this novel are many, but they come from the plot, not the characters. That is the one weakness I found in an otherwise enjoyable novel.

House, the movie, was released on DVD April 7. After reading the book, I’ll definitely want to check it out too.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10