The Dwelling [Hardcover]

 

 

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I purchased this book because I was interested in a horror novel written by someone from my own city. What on earth in Winnipeg is so scary that it could inspire a haunted house story? I never quite found out, but I very much enjoyed her book anyway.
Susie Maloney's prose is lovely and subdued, with the air of patient maturity (unlike many horror writers who are over-the-top. You can practically see them prancing around after an attempt at a frightening scene, wide-eyed and expectant, asking "did I scare you? Huh? Be honest!"). I was taken aback by the frequent comparisons of her to Stephen King. She writes nothing like him! His works are desperate attempts to "shock" with overt images of his all time favorite trash-gore: grey matter and bits of skull, broken ribs, axes, etc. It's tiresome. Then he throws in some racy sex scene that does nothing but make your skin crawl. Yes, yes, terror and sexual stimulation are hormonally linked, but please don't be so desperate!
No, Susie Maloney is clean, sophisticated, and concise. Her writing is not an 800 page rant (unlike this review), but refreshing and mature. Her characters are realistic and vulnerable, which, of course, are necessary for her portrayal of the power of the house. It's a quick read, with a suitable ending. Not once did I roll my eyes.

The Dwelling is a compelling supernatural chiller in the style of Stephen King, although author Susie Moloney proves in this, her third novel, that she is in some respects a more literary writer than King, while also capable of writing solid material worthy of a film treatment. Without a doubt this is one of the best written and most unsettling haunted house novels I have ever had the pleasure of reading.

Unlike other such novels, such as Straub's Ghost Story or Marasco's Burnt Offerings, what sets The Dwelling apart are the framed plot structure and the secrets behind the hauntings, which originate from many different sources, not just from the past tenants of the house itself. Yet in spite of initial impressions to the contrary, it is not episodic. Moloney's novel has a flawless internal logic that prepares the reader for a very credible and fulfilling ending.

The main character, Glenn Darnley, is a seasoned real estate agent, recently widowed. She is assigned to sell the house at 362 Belisle, but seems only peripherally aware that it has something strange about it. In fact, the house is a real estate agent's nightmare on many levels. Yet she manages to sell it to a young couple whose careers are headed in opposite directions, and whose marriage itself is on the verge of disaster. Their story forms the second part of the novel. After they are driven from the house by supernatural forces, Glenn finds herself as the listing agent once again.

The third part of the novel introduces us to the tragic lives of a newly divorced woman and her unpopular, overweight son. Strange events occur to them as well, such as an ancient bathtub with huge clawed feet that fills itself with water reddened by the ghostly blood of a suicide victim. Just like the couple we meet earlier in the story, their lives are almost as sad and desperate as those of the ghosts that haunt the domicile. When something happens to the mother and son, house once again is listed on the market, and once again Glenn is tasked with finding a buyer.

In the next part, the house's newest buyer is an author of mystery/horror novels who hasn't completed one in several years because of a drinking problem. His alcoholism is alienating him from his son, his son's mother, and the woman he is in love with. He is so confounded by alcohol that in his mental haze he almost fails to notice the supernatural presence in the home...at first.

Marriage and the breakdown of relationships is a recurring theme in Moloney's cavalcade of hauntings. Glenn mourns the death of her husband, the first buyers' marriage is almost breaking down, the second buyer is a recent divorcee and the last has failed at all of his relationships even though he has never married. The intangible horrors of their regret, guilt, condemnation and isolation actually compete with the more tangible horrors of the house.

The characters are instantly recognizable archetypes--the ambitious career woman, the kid who is the scapegoat at school, the drunken author--but never stereotypes. Like King, Moloney has a knack for conjuring these `everyman' characters in literary 3D and making them as recognizable as the people in our neighborhood that we see yet never really know. The terror in their circumstances arises from their own fears and weaknesses, the negative energy that feeds the spectral inhabitants who are the true owners of the house at 362 Belisle.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, about an unquiet house, and its effects on a procession of occupants. For one thing, it's far more character-driven than any other haunted house tale I've read, and it hooked me in the sense that I wanted to find out what would happen to the very flesh and blood people Moloney portrays. Of course the main character is the house, and it has something different in store for each set of new buyers as they take possession. Instead, the house takes possession of them, and they experience various horrors as the house's manifestations go about exploiting the new owners' particular weaknesses, insecurities, frailties, and fears. In various ways, the characters who come to inhabit the house at 362 Belisle Street lead comfortless lives due to difficult personal problems. Combine their resulting anxieties with what the they must endure because of the house, and you have characters whose lives are all the more harrowing.

Moloney does not string you along with cheap shocks or false tension builders such as cats jumping out of dark corners or windows banging in the wind. If a door opens by itself, it's because there's something supernatural behind it. Moloney's narrative keeps you in a continual state of tension because the story is unpredictable -- you might know something bad is going to happen soon, you just can't predict what it will be exactly. And sometimes the scares come when you don't fully expect them.

The characters and their lives are drawn in detail, and while this contributes to a plot structure that is somewhat digressionary, Moloney always stays in control of the narrative and avoids overly extraneous detail. Such story development makes for a very satisfying read, and allows for necessary breaks between the more intense sequences. It also keeps the horror effect keen-edged, from dulling due to over-exposure and over-experience on the part of the reader.

Moloney's novel is reminiscent of the mounting sense of dread found in the works of Shirley Jackson. That being said, it's fair to say Moloney has given new life to the horror genre. She's dealt thoughtfully with what might actually cause a house to become haunted, and the concrete experiences real people might face were they to take up residence in such a place. To her credit, she gives us a story that is at once credible, chilling, horrifying, and unsettling.

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5.0 out of 5 stars This one delivers the shivers!
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, about an unquiet house, and its effects on a procession of occupants. Read more

Published on July 20 2005 by Darrell Squires

3.0 out of 5 stars Great premise, falters towards the end
I read this book after finding it in a bookshelf at work. The book starts out great. The story is compelling, and the house is downright spooky. Read more

Published on Jun 22 2004 by Jordan Steele

5.0 out of 5 stars Spectacular!
I haven't enjoyed a book this much in a long time. It is so well written, the story just flows out of the book and into your body. Very eerie, but not too much so. Read more

Published on Jan 24 2004 by Emmy

2.0 out of 5 stars Started out okay
The author did great with character development and descriptiveness at the beginning, but the story just seemed to fall apart during the part involving the second set of... Read more

Published on Jan 22 2004

4.0 out of 5 stars a different take on the haunted house story
The Dwelling is a different kind of haunted house story. From the very begining it's obvious that there is somehting wrong in this ordinary suburban home. Read more

Published on Jan 1 2004 by Kimberley Wilson

5.0 out of 5 stars Masterful
This is a welcome throwback to the well-crafted horror novels of the 1970s. This novel richly deserves the accolades it has earned. Read more

Published on Dec 29 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a haunted house story that delivers
I have read my share of mediocre efforts into the haunted house genre, fortunatly "The Dwelling" is not one of them. Read more

Published on Oct 22 2003 by J. Fercho

5.0 out of 5 stars Smooth haunting
I have to say that I enjoyed this book as well as all the other reviewers did. Moloney's style is tactful and liquid. Read more

Published on Aug 15 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Just what I wanted...
a scary book without movie gore! This is a page turner - I won't give away any of the details like some reviewers do, just be aware that if you like your scary books... Read more

Published on July 29 2003 by Elane Rosok

5.0 out of 5 stars The Dwelling: A Novel
Wow!!! It's been a long time since I've read a haunted house book that had such a great pay-off. I wasn't sure how everything was going to be pulled together at the end, but what... Read more

Published on Jun 26 2003 by Ann Kovach

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