Night School [Paperback]

I found THE NIGHT SCHOOL to be a delightfully entertaining read. It's a ghost story, but things more than just go bump in the night. For the splatter fans, the decapitations and killing sprees are totally satisfying. For those wanting a book with a more substantial story than bloody high school hallways, this is where the real pleasure of the book is. The answer to the central mystery of the haunting takes to task America's own foundational mythology, highlighting a little-known true incident concerning one of our founding fathers. They say the truth is never pretty, and in this case that's certainly true.

THE NIGHT SCHOOL is a fictional scenario that illustrates the dire consequences of (literally) burying the truth. Genre fans, this book should be on your summer reading list!

EdEntCo has bought what was once George Washington High School, which he intends to renovate into the Washington Academy, a place where the wealthy and powerful can send their children. The neighborhood knows that something evil resides inside the building and some residents warn Principal D. Michael Canning when he inspects the edifice one night. He ignores their prattle and enters the schoolhouse; in the basement he finds a walled up room.

After tearing the wall down, D. Michael finds a headless skeleton; but instead of calling the police he places the remains back where they were and reseals the room. When school starts, screams echo throughout the building leading to everyone on edge. Acts of violence happen without any warning; soon occupants begin killing one another. Shortly afterward the Ghost of Washington Academy occupies a robot that the students are building and demands they find his head or face more of his wrath. Unless EdEntCo comes up with a plan ASAP, the ghost will continue his vengeance killings.

Anyone who appreciates a scary haunted house ghost story should look no further than THE NIGHT SCHOOL. Unlike some horror thrillers that concentrate exclusively on action, this haunting story line develops the characters in a manner reminiscent of King or Koontz. Though readers will agree on simply shutting down the lethal school (money interests aside), Michael Paine provides a book that Poltergeist lovers will enjoy.

Harriet Klausner

"The Night School" starts off with a pair of rich kids witnessing the bizarre suicide of their brother on Christmas, which starts the chain of mayhem that will revolve around George Washington High, which has previously been other things, all of which have failed due to high incidents of workplace violence.

Actually, GWH is still under construction and remodeling as it opens for its first year, and something inside seems to be causing the bloody, and often self-, or by proxy, destruction to all those associated with it. This ghost is also the cause of the destruction of a corporate dream, which through GWH's refitting caused the destruction of the run-down black neighborhood of Jumonville St.

This is my second Paine novel, the first was Steel Ghosts, I'm really beginning to glom onto what he's doing. It's something unusual in modern horror, as he's writing biting, social commentary, with acerbic illustrations of corporatism, corporate toadyism, and historic iconism, "The Night School" is not just another novel about a whiney putz trying to excise his "ghosts".

Although at times, "The Night School" seems to be a little too much "Payton Place", "The Night School" will then quickly move forward.

"The Night School" is perhaps Paine's best novel yet. He's eliminated several flaws most prominent in his last novel "Steel Ghosts", the first is that he has a much better job at characterizations. Like the previous "Steel Ghosts", Paine at first seemed determined to populate his novels with insufferable gits, with the most sympathetic character here being the new teacher Matt Morgan, who, unfortunately quickly works himself into being just another little corporate turd. As we get to the last third of "The Night School" however, several secondary characters have started to become more rounded, and more prominent. Like life-long Jumonville resident Hap, or sibs Tanner and Alexis, with Alexis especially growing as a character. Paine has the knack of making his settings the main characters, and Paine keeps "The Night School" more focused than "Steel Ghosts" by keeping most of the story set in and immediately around GWH. By populating the novel with teens who are involved in things like incest, abandonment, class snobbery, interracial romance, homosexuality, and drugs, all without any moralistic sensationalism, they often seem to act more like real teens than most of those found in most "juvenile" novels. It's the novel's adults--who know better, and who act more like immature children than the teens themselves--who are lampooned the most.

The Paine trademark of abrupt endings is also gone, with a much more gradual and natural climax. Paine's ability to populate his novels with clever little touches is also stronger here. Especially well liked is the creation of a robotic head, that becomes possessed by GWH's ghost, and the way the violence is constantly paved over by the corporate suits.

The whole crux of the novel eventually revolves around, maybe, some of the details of a real historical battle involving George Washington, and it's as good a reason as any for what's happening, with a nice analogy being made about society's ability to forget, both the past (Washington) and the present (Jumonville St.).

Paine doesn't write five hundred plus horror leviathans, he tells his stories, then goes home before the tale gets stale, a habit I wish more authors would practice. This review originally appeared in Cemetery Dance #59 in 2008, and was originally edited by Bob. Thanx Bob.

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