Hook House And Other Horrors

BlurbIf you own Hook House, it owns your soul.On the rugged Washington coast stands an ancient house with a macabre history. Housekeeper, Mrs. Soule never ages, but fades in and out of shadows and appears in mirrors when she’s not there. The stairwells, the storeroom, a third floor bedroom, all reveal murder and suicide for those with The Gift…the ability to see ghosts. Entering the grand door of Hook House is easy…leaving it is deadly.ExcerptBarefoot, I tiptoed to my door. Light from a bright moon fell through the stairwell window, shoving the darkness into corners. I was startled by the sight of Great-Grandfather Hook and by the sight of wall sconces, the storage room door, and the newel post directly through him as he passed by. Fear chased shivers up my spine, but determined to discover where he came from or where he went, I followed. His head and shoulders looked solid, as if I could touch him, but from the waist down he was diaphanous. Below his knees there was only the sound of leather slippers on the hardwood floor. On the second level, he paused and gazed toward the landing below. His shoulders slumped as if in resignation. Then, in an instant he was gone and I was alone … until behind me the footsteps began again. He came toward me from the far end of the hall. I backed up and around the newel post with my heart hammering in my throat. Again, he halted on the top step and then again, he faded. I spotted his twisted body on the landing below and realized, decades ago he died on those stairs.__

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School A bright and shining gem of a book for fans of horror and dark fantasy. Each tale dances quite nimbly through familiar tropes of the genre. But it's Decker's delivery, with its depth of character and chilling imagery, that lifts these stories well above the normal. Hook House, for example, is a typical haunted-house tale, but it's uniquely driven by the strength of the central character. A family curse threatens to snare Sara, trapping her for the rest of her life in the family house just like her mother and grandmother before her. Ultimately, she fights against it to prevent her son from being trapped as well. In Tarissa, a period piece set in colonial America, the title character's sister is burned to death for practicing witchcraft. While the core of the story focuses on Tarissa avenging her sister's death, it ends on a note that is surprisingly heartfelt and even hopeful. Decker dips lightly into humor with The Clan. When a vampire moves into the house across the street from a powerful witch, a brutal yet comic feud develops. What makes the tale work so well is that while they have fantastic supernatural weapons to toss at each other, their personalities and complaints about one another are completely realistic and believable. Filled with plenty of spookiness and terror, the stories have just enough depth to appeal to readers who normally shy away from fantasy and horror. Matthew L. Moffett, Ford's Theatre Society, Washington, DC Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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