Product Description

The Castle: it looms over the streets of modern Chicago. Its stone walls conceal a maze of secret passageways and hidden rooms, private laboratories and concealed trapdoors. The Castle is home to G. Gordon Gregg, physician-murderer. His victims are young, beautiful women. His methods are swift, scientific and painless, his crime perfect. Until a newspaper reporter becomes suspicious. Investigating Dr Gregg, Crystal finds herself falling in love with the charismatic surgeon, despite the danger. It id that love that seals her doom - for what G. Gordon Gregg loves, he kills...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1608615 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
"Perhaps the finest psychological horror writer..."

About the Author
Robert Bloch (1917-1994) was a horror, suspense, and science fiction writer and screenwriter, best known for the novel PSYCHO. Altogether, Bloch wrote over 220 stories collected in over two dozen collections, two dozen novels, screenplays for a dozen movies and three Star Trek episodes. His many awards included one Nebula Award, two Hugos, three World Fantasy Awards (including Lifetime Achievement), and five Bram Stoker Awards.

Customer Reviews

Bloch not quite at his best
Like Psycho, Bloch based this novel (however loosely) on real-life events. American Gothic focuses on the career of H.H. Holmes, a serial killer who lured victims to his "castle." Bloch's version is appropriately chilling, and carries his typical stamp of suspense.

However, Bloch is best known as a short story writer, and for good reason. His stories shine, while his novels tend to drag. This book is no exception. His writing style is much better suited to shorter fiction, and the plot and atmosphere of American Gothic are not well sustained throughout the length of the novel. If you are a Bloch fan, then by all means read it. If, however, you are a horror lover, something faster-paced may be more to your liking.

Bland
The main downfall of the story is not that it's not readable - it certainly is - but that the pacing is snail slow and seems to drag on and on. It would have been much better suited as a shorter story, or else where more action (even if invented) took place. His writing style is as enjoyable as ever, and Bloch fans should still read this one if they run into it. Suspense is there in moderate doses, but not with enough frequency to save this book from the to-be-traded pile.