Product Description

As inexplicable terrors erupt across the globe, humanity's only hope of survival lies with those who are willing to enter the source: a house where time, space and reality have given way to something else.

"Costello writes with power and pathos." (Publishers Weekly)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2528406 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-02
• Released on: 2002-07-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

From Booklist
In the heart of the mountains of northern Scotland sits a house under heavy guard. Inside are terrors beyond imagining, for in it one's worst nightmares can come true. Sophie MacDonald's father knew this, and he gave her a copy of his top-secret research to carry at all times. When she comes home from school to find him dead, Sophie knows that she must run. She goes first to her father's friend Henry, but when tragedy strikes again, she heads to Glasgow to find a former colleague of her father's. Meanwhile, in London, photographer Maddy Hodge gets word that her brother, Peter, disappeared while climbing in the mountains in Scotland. Traveling to Scotland, she learns that she might be the only one who can save Peter from the mysterious evils in . . . the house. And in the U.S., Elaina Dali is on the run after discovering a mysterious genetic code at a genetic research company. The three women's stories converge to reveal the secrets of the house in this exciting page-turner. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Interesting idea, poorly done.
I was very dissapointed in this book. I started out very interested since the premise pulled me right in. A house in Scotland that "just appeared" in 1939? Whomever approaches it dissapears? Who wouldn't be hooked in. When I read it though, the house was not mentioned until halfway through the book, there were so many loose ends (What happens with the young girl? Did they all die? To top that off, it read like a first draft. I half-expected to see scribbled notes in the margins and I didn't feel anything but nearly pushed through the book. It felt hurried, forced and lacked any life. No spark, no nothing. It was supposed to be terror filled, a *horror* novel, and I felt zilch, nothin'. Save your money and skip this novel. It is not worth it in my opinion.

Choppy and in need of a good editor
Previous reviewers have already outlined the plot of this novel, so I won't go over it again. Suffice to say that the story is distractingly difficult to follow because of a choppy plot development style and the truly annoying overuse of ellipses and em-dashes. Eliminating superfluous punctuation would have vastly improved this effort.

Weak Walk On the Quantum Dock
You know when you've read through 338 pages of a book, reached its end, and don't have the answer to a single question raised in its pages or even much of an idea what happened, that the book has serious problems.

Costello is capable of good work - I read his Beneath Still Waters over a decade ago, and thought it was pretty good - but you'd never guess it on the basis of his latest novel.

The thimbleful of plot isn't revealed until two thirds of the way through the story, which consists up to that point of nothing more than a lot of inexplicable (and unexplained) chase-and-murder activity by a party or parties unknown, all having something to do with a house that isn't a house - which may or may not have been initially built by some designer (no one seems quite sure) - that grows of its own accord, is not subject to the laws of physics, possibly spawns indescribable monsters (or else it's just some kind of doorway to them from who-knows-where-or-why, no one seems quite sure of that either), and has been cordoned and watched by a terrified British military since 1937.

Does any of that make sense to you? It gets worse.

The indescribable monsters that may or may not be spawned by the house that may or may not have been built by human hands are irrevocably hostile to humanity for no reason even pondered, and send hit-men (er, -monsters?) to attack whoever finds out about them (even though they seem pretty well indestructible). Or are the hit-men (-monsters) being sent by the government? Or some private corporation? Who are they? What happened to them when the story was over? The story was over, wasn't it - I mean, the book ended, it must have been, right? What happened? What were the monsters? Where did they come from? If they could pop-up just about anywhere in time and space, and are so hostile to us (and just why is that, anyway?), what reason was there for the military to waste its time watching the non-house whatever-it-was? And if they can pop-around like that, what good would it do for the military to watch their non-house? And if they're that powerful, why do they have human allies? Or were there human allies? (The author said there were, but I didn't see any evidence of it - or any need, either.)

And why - ? Oh, forget it. My brain hurts.

Literally the only answer given for all the bizarre, utterly inexplicable goings-on throughout this plotless novel is the fantasist's new catch-phrase, "quantum physics." Gravity works when the author wants it to, and doesn't when he wishes it not to? "Quantum physics." One person's wishes become reality, but another's don't? "Quantum physics." All rules are subject to change at a whim, and without any explanation whatsoever? "Quantum physics."

One way or another, the good guys somehow wish the bad monsters away. Your guess is as good as mine, as to how. You might as well imagine your own ending, to this book. And your own beginning. Your own entire story. Then, at least, you'd know what happened - and save yourself the cost of the book.