Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Black House (The Talisman, #2)” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Black House

(The Talisman #2)

Stephen King (Goodreads Author),

Peter Straub (Goodreads Author)

4.01 · Rating details · 54,674 ratings · 1,791 reviews

Twenty years ago, a boy named Jack Sawyer travelled to a parallel universe called The Territories to save his mother and her Territories "twinner" from a premature and agonizing death that would have brought cataclysm to the other world. Now Jack is a retired Los Angeles homicide detective living in the nearly nonexistent hamlet of Tamarack, WI. He has no recollection of h ...more

Get A Copy

Paperback, 688 pages

Published September 30th 2003 by Ballantine Books (first published September 15th 2001)

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Black House, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Best of Stephen King

141 books — 3,520 voters

Best Horror Novels

1,785 books — 5,454 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 4.01 ·

Rating details

· 54,674 ratings · 1,791 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Black House (The Talisman, #2)

Mar 17, 2018 Johann (jobis89) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

"What you love, you must love all the harder because someday it will be gone."

Twenty years ago, a young boy named Jack Sawyer travelled to a parallel universe called The Territories to save his mother's life. Now a retired homicide detective, Jack has no memory of these adventures. There is a sick serial killer on the loose, murdering and eating children, and the local chief of police begs Jack to help his force catch him.

I love Stephen King. I love serial killers. Combine the two and you have a "What you love, you must love all the harder because someday it will be gone."

Twenty years ago, a young boy named Jack Sawyer travelled to a parallel universe called The Territories to save his mother's life. Now a retired homicide detective, Jack has no memory of these adventures. There is a sick serial killer on the loose, murdering and eating children, and the local chief of police begs Jack to help his force catch him.

I love Stephen King. I love serial killers. Combine the two and you have a book that is right up jobis89's street. The Talisman is an epic fantasy tale, spanning across our world and The Territories, as Jack Sawyer embarks on a mission to travel across the country to try and save his mother (and her Twinner) from death. Black House, however, is darker, much more of a horror novel, I feel, and it focuses on one small town - Coulee County. The Talisman is a great, great book, but Black House is just more to my slightly darker, slightly more murderous, cannibalistic tastes… sorrynotsorry *evil laugh*

There's so much to love about Black House. Other reviews I had looked at had pointed out the narrative style as something they did not like about Black House - well, I LOVED the narrative style. It's a bit slow and hard to get into at the beginning, but once I did I really enjoyed it. The narrative style is as if you're flying over Coulee County and you're allowed little snapshots into the lives of the residents through a bird's-eye perspective.

Yet more awesome characters… we had Wolf in The Talisman, and now we have Henry Leyden in Black House - a blind guy who has a keen ear for voices and sounds. I loved Henry so much!! And the bikers were cool additions too. I generally really liked a lot of the characters in this one. The villain in particular - The Fisherman - was fucking terrifying. King's villains can sometimes be pretty "grey", they aren't always definitively evil. However, in this case, he is evil incarnate, which is no surprise given his similarities to the vile Albert Fish (I could say more but don't want to give away potential spoilers).

I had complaints while reading The Talisman that it felt like the Dark Tower without actually being the Dark Tower - almost like a cheap imitation I guess. And finally in Black House my suspicions are answered as connections to the Dark Tower are made. Meanwhile I'm fangirling and getting all emotional over mentions of Roland Deschain and the rest of our beloved ka-tet. Link a book to the Dark Tower series and I. WILL. LOVE. IT. (Well, apart from Insomnia… I did love the connections, it just didn't save the rest of the book!)

As most Constant Readers will know, choosing your top 10 King books is pretty much possible, but I do believe this has now earned a spot in my top 10. It might not be for everyone, but it was really to my taste. It's difficult to review books you really loved, so I guess I'll wrap up here… 5 stars!!! ...more

flag 163 likes · Like · see review

Dec 16, 2012 Patrick rated it it was amazing

I hate that the first thing you see of a review is the number of stars it's given.

Someone's feeling about a book is not easily reduced to a five-point scale. And even once that is done, how do I know what five stars means to you? How do you know what five stars means to me?

For me, a five star book is a book that I believe is worth the time and energy you're going to spend reading it.

If, (and this is key) you're into that sort of book. (Horror, Mystery, Fantasy, Hardcore Gothic Gypsy Steampunk ...more

flag 154 likes · Like · see review

Aug 05, 2018 Tim rated it it was amazing

This is just further proof that Stephen King is a master author. Lots of action in this 2001 - 500+ page thriller and Frank Muller is incomparable as narrator. 9 of 10 stars

flag 85 likes · Like · see review

May 22, 2011 Neil rated it really liked it

(This review was originally published in the Washington Post in 2001.)

Black House is a novel of slippage. We learn about slippage (a secondary definition of which, we are told, helpfully, in the text, is the feeling that things in general have just gotten, or will shortly get, worse) at the beginning of the book as we travel, invisibly through the town of French Landing, Wisconsin, early in the morning, winding up in an abandoned shack where “limp flypaper ribbons hung invisible within the fur o (This review was originally published in the Washington Post in 2001.)

Black House is a novel of slippage. We learn about slippage (a secondary definition of which, we are told, helpfully, in the text, is the feeling that things in general have just gotten, or will shortly get, worse) at the beginning of the book as we travel, invisibly through the town of French Landing, Wisconsin, early in the morning, winding up in an abandoned shack where “limp flypaper ribbons hung invisible within the fur of a thousand fly corpses” and it is here that we encounter the mutilated body of ten-year-old Irma Freneau, and watch a dog attempt to eat her severed foot out from its running shoe.

Irma is the latest victim of a serial killer whom the local paper has taken to calling the Fisherman, after Albert Fish, a real-life child-killer and cannibal. Not far from the shack, down a road, behind a no entry sign, is a house all painted black; and that house is a gateway to somewhere else.

Slippage is what happens on the borders of things and places, and the town of French Landing is on many borders, one of which is the border between Stephen King country, and Peter Straub country.

The plot itself will revolve around the struggle between two men: the murderous Fisherman, and our hero, Jack Sawyer, known locally as “Hollywood”, a retired homicide detective from LA. Jack Sawyer retired young and came out to Wisconsin in search of peace and quiet. It is a truism and a genre obligation that retired cops in novels, even novels with slippage, must come out of retirement for their last case, and Jack does, although, as we know from the off, this will not be a simple police procedural or even a whodunnit (the identity of the Fisherman is given to us early in the text -- the “hook of his nose” followed by the “wormy lips” are a dead giveaway, if we’ve missed the hints about his awful deeds and secret pleasures); and it will have its roots in a previous novel.

Those who remember The Talisman, Straub and King’s first collaboration, have already met Jack Sawyer as a 12 year old boy who travelled a long way, across the US and across a distorted, magical version of America called the Territories, to find the Talisman that would save his dying mother’s life. The Talisman was a fantasy with dark elements: a fat book that could comfortably have been even fatter, with a winning young hero named after Tom Sawyer.

Black House is a sequel of sorts to The Talisman, although it also draws upon the mythology that King has been building in his Gunslinger sequence, and which surfaced most recently in his Hearts in Atlantis. It is a book that exists on the borders of genre – it’s not a serial killer romance, although the Fisherman is unquestionably a superhuman serial killer possessed of (and by) strange powers. It is too dark to be a fantasy but too light, too deeply sunny, to be, at its heart, a horror novel. Here also we experience slippage.

It can be a mistake to play hunt-the-author in any collaborative text. Collaborations work when two authors find a single voice for a story, and fail when they do not, and King and Straub create a mutual style that is clean and effective. It is knowing without being arch, and it does not read like either King or Straub. That there are dead giveaways in the text – the obscure jazz references that Straub delights in, for example, or some splattery scenes with a hedgeclipper that could only have been penned by King – is no help in the who-wrote-what game. (In fact I’d be willing to bet that most of the jazz references come from King, out to amuse his co-author and confuse reviewers, and that Straub took his turn at wielding the clipper.)

Initially, I found Jack Sawyer uncomfortable in his role as the book’s hero as he is in his retirement: surrounded by a magnificent supporting cast of colourful characters, Jack comes off as almost too pure, too perfect; he might have wandered into this July Wisconsin-Hell-on Earth from a better place. But as I read on, I began to realise that in many ways Black House (only one vowel away from Bleak House, the foggy opening of which is quoted in the text) is a Victorian novel. The authors cited, quoted from, glossed, in the book are popular writers who once were read and are now both read and respected, particularly Dickens, Twain, and Poe. The characters, too, have a Dickensian quality to them. They are the forces of darkness – The Fisherman, Wendell Green the grasping newspaperman, Lord Malshun (Sauron as used-car salesman); forces of light – Jack Sawyer himself; Henry Leyden, the blind man with the many voices; the magnificently filthy brewer biker gang who call themselves the Hegelian Scum; brave Judy Marshall, who is being driven mad by her visions of the truth, and her son, Ty, who will become the Fisherman’s victim, and on whose rescue the fate of the universe, quite literally, depends. And the plot, which roller-coasters forward through the Wisconsin July, has the easy comfortable quality of something built by two authors who are perfectly well aware of how good they are, even to the point of referring to themselves as a couple of “scribbling fellows” in the text. (“Always scribble, scribble, eh Mr. King?”)

Sometimes the collaborative process has its downside; on occasion the characters feel like counters being pushed back and forth across a board, and there is a final plot twist which smacks less of inevitability than it does of the authors checking off the last item on their to-do list. The use of the present tense, which could too easily get wearing over 600 pages, for the most part keeps the narrative voice supple, informal, and fresh, although it can, on occasion, make one feel as if one is reading a film script – and there is a sequence when Irma’s body is found, and the authors retread the same half hour from a number of points of view, in which it actively becomes a handicap.

Such quibbles aside, in Black House one is watching two master-craftsmen, both at the top of their game, collaborating, with every evidence of enormous enjoyment, on a summery heartland gothic. The book is hugely pleasurable, and repays a reader in search of horror, adventure, or of any of the other joys, both light and dark, one can get from the best work of either of these two “scribbling fellows”.

Whether King and Straub will reconvene for a final installment in another fifteen years, or whether Jack Sawyer’s tale has been subsumed into King’s Gunslinger series only time will tell. Either way, it is hard not to look forward to the eventual outcome. ...more

flag 86 likes · Like · see review

Oct 12, 2013 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, fiction, paranormal, united-states, adventure, 21th-century, novels, literature

Black House (The Talisman #2), Stephen King, Peter Straub

Black House is a horror novel by American writers Stephen King and Peter Straub. Published in 2001, it is the sequel to The Talisman.

This is one of King's numerous novels, which also include Hearts in Atlantis and Insomnia, that tie in with the Dark Tower series. After the events of The Talisman, Jack Sawyer has repressed the memories of his adventures in The Territories and his hunt for the Talisman as a twelve-year-old boy, though the r Black House (The Talisman #2), Stephen King, Peter Straub

Black House is a horror novel by American writers Stephen King and Peter Straub. Published in 2001, it is the sequel to The Talisman.

This is one of King's numerous novels, which also include Hearts in Atlantis and Insomnia, that tie in with the Dark Tower series. After the events of The Talisman, Jack Sawyer has repressed the memories of his adventures in The Territories and his hunt for the Talisman as a twelve-year-old boy, though the residue of these events has served to subtly affect his life even after he has forgotten them.

Jack grew up to become a lieutenant in the Los Angeles Police Department, where his professionalism and uncanny talent have helped him establish a nearly-legendary reputation. When a series of murders in Los Angeles are traced to a farm insurance salesman from French Landing, Wisconsin, Jack cooperates with the French Landing Police to capture the killer.

While in Wisconsin, Jack is irresistibly enraptured by the natural beauty of the Coulee Country, echoing his reaction to The Territories as a child.

When he later intrudes upon a homicide investigation in Santa Monica, certain aspects of the crime scene threaten to revive his repressed memories. He subsequently resigns from the LAPD, and he moves to French Landing to enjoy his early retirement.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و نهم ماه می سال 2009میلادی

عنوان: خانه سیاه؛ نويسنده: استیون کینگ؛ پیتر استراب؛ مترجم: کتایون نصیری مجد؛ ویراستار علیرضا عامری؛ مشخصات نشر تهران، زهره، 1386، در 766ص؛ شابک 9789642981045؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان امریکایی سده 21م

داستانی ناباورانه، درباره ی پسر جوانی، به نام «جک سایر» است؛ «جک» با درجه ی ستوانی، در اداره ی پلیس «لس آنجلس» پذیرفته شد، جاییکه حرفه ای بودن، و توانایی کم مانند او، به او یاری رساند، تا نامدار و نام آوری افسانه ای شود؛ هنگامی که یک سری از قتلها، در «لس آنجلس» رخ داد، «جک» با پلیس «ویسکانسین»، همکاری خویش را آغاز میکند؛ تا قاتل را شناسایی و دستگیر نماید

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 06/09/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی ...more

flag 64 likes · Like · see review

Jun 19, 2019 Baba rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: constant-readers, horror-aiiiiiiiie

The weirdest thing about this and The Talisman is Peter Straub's involvement, as the books are so completely entrenched in the Stephen King universe - especially this one!

The beams are breaking, the end of the world could be nigh, Roland has formed a new Ka-tet - meanwhile in French Landing someone is kidnapping, eating(!) and killing children and the local authorities and FBI have no clue; enter Mr 'all grown up' since The Talisman, and also a retired hero cop, Jack Sawyer!

A quintessential Step ...more

flag 64 likes · Like · see review

Sep 22, 2017 Ron rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, horror, own, whodunit

Each time I pick up a Stephen King book, I am struck by the different writing voice I find. Truth is, I had expected it with Black House, sort of, being co-written with Peter Straub, and yet I was struck all the same. King/Straub narrate much of this tale from a moving bird’s-eye perspective, floating in and out of each character’s stance and location, with a twinge of humor on the side. They don’t even try to hide the fact that this account has been written in a book, by two writers even. I tho Each time I pick up a Stephen King book, I am struck by the different writing voice I find. Truth is, I had expected it with Black House, sort of, being co-written with Peter Straub, and yet I was struck all the same. King/Straub narrate much of this tale from a moving bird’s-eye perspective, floating in and out of each character’s stance and location, with a twinge of humor on the side. They don’t even try to hide the fact that this account has been written in a book, by two writers even. I thought this was funny, and I thought the style of writing was unlike many of the other King works before it. Believe me, I tried to deduce who wrote what. Was this King’s chapter, or was it Straub’s? “King-ism’s” came through of course. They always do. But overall, I could not tell. Then I found the reason why - while watching an interview of Stephen and his son Owen no less. Even they could not tell who had written what when looking back at their new book Sleeping Beauties. During their collaboration, they had edited and rewritten one other’s work along the way, thereby melding it. There was the answer.

How did Black House fare compared to The Talisman? Pretty well, I’d say. Here’s the part where I admit that I cannot remember much of The Talisman. I am bummed about that, but just a little. Although I think it’s more than a good idea to read The Talisman first, it’s not going to kill the story if you happened not to. Black House looks back at the twelve year old Jack Sawyer and his quest across America, while creating a whole new chapter in the process. Jack is now an adult with no memory of the long ago journey to save his mom’s life. (Don’t worry Jack, I forgot too!) But his memory will return, and with it will come the recollection of that other world called The Territories. And as I read about his recollection, these words came through:
”There are other worlds than these.”
That is not a line taken from Black House, although it could easily be one. The quote belongs to Jake Chambers from The Gunslinger. I bring this up because the story of Black House fits so well with The Dark Tower series. I don’t think there’s another book outside of the series that is closer to it than this one. The Talisman may be in some ways, but it seems to me that half the purpose of Black House is to tell a story of The Dark Tower that needed telling. Fine by me. Some of the things in those other worlds are a little bit “out there”, so to speak. Weird creatures. Wild ideas. And that’s fine too, cause the stories are always strong. Like this one. ...more

flag 49 likes · Like · see review

Mar 12, 2016 Becky rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bad-shit-and-atrocities, ebook_kindle, fantasy, multi-dimensional, mystery-and-thrillers, romance-y, 2016, politicalish, dark-tower, bookclub_njsk

It's been a long time since I read this book. I remember reading it when it first came out, when I was in my late teens, and really enjoying it, but it's clear that I forgot sooo much about this book. I remember this one having more to do with the Dark Tower - but just how much, and in what detail surprised me. I almost wish that I hadn't read it now, that I'd waited until later on in my upcoming Dark Tower re-read with my bookclub, so I could read it at a more appropriate place within the Dark It's been a long time since I read this book. I remember reading it when it first came out, when I was in my late teens, and really enjoying it, but it's clear that I forgot sooo much about this book. I remember this one having more to do with the Dark Tower - but just how much, and in what detail surprised me. I almost wish that I hadn't read it now, that I'd waited until later on in my upcoming Dark Tower re-read with my bookclub, so I could read it at a more appropriate place within the Dark Tower timeline.

But oh well. Sometimes one must live with the choices that are made.

It's not really fair to call this book a sequel to The Talisman. I don't know what else to call it, because it IS that... but it sets the expectation that it will be similar to The Talisman, and it's not at all that. Talisman was an adventure, a quest, and yes, there was some dark and grim stuff in there (The Elroy Thing, Sunlight Gardener, Morgan & Morgan, etc) and but it never felt hopelessly grim and depraved. This does. Not that I'm complaining, I loved it. But this is the evil twin that has been kept in the attic and fed fish heads making its appearance after 20 years. It came from the same stock, but it's not friendly or altogether sane.

This is a dark book. It's a slow burn of a book. It's a character study book. It's a police-procedural-in-hell book. It's a Dark Tower book. It's a Stephen King book... so I don't know why anyone would expect anything less than the previous statements.

We pick back up with Jack Sawyer 20 years after we left him, and he has made a career and a life for himself as a homicide detective. He's forgotten - or blocked - all memories of his previous quest to save his mother, and has tried to live as normal and mundane a life as possible, despite the fact that he had touched the Talisman, and it conferred a lasting good luck on him that made everything he wanted to do that much easier. However, Jack has pulled the plug on his career after seeing a black man murdered on the Santa Monica Pier and it dredges up some memories of Speedy Parker - and he gets the hell out of dodge. Moves to an idyllic little town in Wisconsin and never plans to be a cop again. Except of course for the fact that Ka is a wheel and he doesn't have a choice. Someone is killing children in his new hometown, and of course nothing is ever what it seems when King's writing.

What follows is a grim, but excellent story that builds and builds. We encounter some old friends, make a lot of new ones (and more than a few enemies as well) and shit gets real. And surreal.

I don't really want to talk too much about the plot or the story because it's best if one experiences it for themselves. It is a great book, and can stand alone - though you will get much more out of this if you are familiar with Jack's history.

I loved most of the characters in this book, even the ones I detested. Wendell Green and Charles Burnside, I'm looking at you. In that order. Charles is what he is, and he does what he does and there's no punishment harsh enough for that. But for some reason, my disgust and rage really homed in on Green, and I felt like he was the most shitty person in this whole book. All of the other evils were evil, pure and simple. They wanted to kill and destroy and tear down the walls of the universe because that's what evil does. But fucking Wendell Green is just a shitty human who thinks way too highly of himself and is out for blood because he thinks that he's King Shit of Turd Hill - only nobody else recognizes that yet. He's the Rita Skeeter of French Landing. The shitty fucker. Shoulda been left for the Sisters. Just sayin'.

ANYWHO... I loved Henry and Beezer and Mouse and Jack and Dale. All of these guys make me so proud of them. Even Bear Girl, in her small, small bit part, impressed me and kind of broke my heart. She's a rock, that girl. I would have liked a bit more about Mr. Munshun and The Big Combination. I wanted a bit more about what that was FOR. Obviously it was EVIL... but just what was it powering?

Still... this is a great book, if a little tiny bit draggy at times. Like I said, it's a slow burner of a book. It takes a bit of patience, as often King's books do, but I think they pay off in the end. If I had ONE complaint, it would be the romantic element of the story. Ugh. Come on. It was unnecessary and so obvious and blah blah blah skim. Yeah, I get it, she's pretty... he's pretty... they are "interesting" and now instalove. Gag me. Leave out the instalove, and I'm golden. I could not care less.

Otherwise, excellent stuff. ...more

flag 37 likes · Like · see review

Oct 02, 2020 Kenny rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, stephen-king

What you love, you must love all the harder because someday it will be gone.
Black House ~~ Stephen King & Peter Straub

Last year, I finally made my first trip to Stephen King's universe by reading THE TAILISMAN. I wish I had read King's works in my teens. They would have been amazing trips for a 13 year old boy to take. Since visiting the Territories, I have journeyed to 'SALEM'S LOT & now, French Crossing. I have many more trips planned with King. Once more, I was completely absorbed in the worl ...more

flag 38 likes · Like · see review

Jun 02, 2019 Edward Lorn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

4.5 stars rounded up. Spoiler-free review. Spoiler discussion, Thursday Theorist episode, and spoiler-free review coming to YouTube this week.

Not being a fantasy fan, is it any wonder that I like this book more than its predecessor The Talisman? This one is far more engaging and interesting to me due to the characters and setting, not to mention it's written in one of my favorite styles: third-person omniscient. Not many books are written in this style anymore. An editor once told me it's becaus 4.5 stars rounded up. Spoiler-free review. Spoiler discussion, Thursday Theorist episode, and spoiler-free review coming to YouTube this week.

Not being a fantasy fan, is it any wonder that I like this book more than its predecessor The Talisman? This one is far more engaging and interesting to me due to the characters and setting, not to mention it's written in one of my favorite styles: third-person omniscient. Not many books are written in this style anymore. An editor once told me it's because people don't like reading books written using that POV. I can dig it, but I've always enjoyed it when done right, and King and Straub did it right here.

(Note: If you liked the intro and outro of Needful Things and wished there was an entire book written in that style, look no further, friends and neighbors.

One of the first glaring differences you'll notice when jumping into this book (if you're as much of a fan of the craft as you are of stories) is that the book's written in present tense. This tense suits the omniscient POV, and lends an air of urgency to the proceedings. You rarely find present tense outside of the literary world these days, which is another shame. I've grown to enjoy it more than past tense over the years, and it seems that's going to be the theme of this review: liking antiquated/odd things.

The third thing I noticed is how much our storytellers here have matured since The Talisman's release. Their styles are mostly lost, despite a glimmer of King here and there, and I rarely caught myself saying, "Yup, so-and-so definitely wrote this part." There are passages that are 100% King, and quite a few that are no doubt Straub, but in the previous book those differences were everywhere. Every time the authors passed the baton in The Talisman I felt jarred, shaken, thrown out of sorts. Herein I only felt that way two or three times.

I never once wanted to put this book down, whereas the previous book was a chore after the first 100 pages until the final 100 pages. Here, the book glides along, sometimes literally taking to the air to give the reader a god-like view of things. This is thanks to the third-person omniscient I noted in the first paragraph.

I've stuck to reviewing the mechanics of this book because the story is a doozy and I fear talking about any piece of it would require a spoiler warning. Also, and probably more importantly, the mechanics were what I didn't like about the last book. All of that is fixed here, and I only removed half a star for some needless meandering during the scene at Ed's Eats. A tense scene felt less tense because of some obese narrative, but it's the only criticism I have.

The popular consensus in the community is that if you liked The Talisman you'll dislike Black House, and I think that's fair. But I'd say the opposite is true, too. Hate The Talisman? There's a good chance you'll love this one. But that's just the opinion of a simple fanboy. ...more

flag 33 likes · Like · see review

Feb 11, 2013 Janie Johnson rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-challenge, stephen-king

Wow this book was, simply put, a mess and was very painful to read. Considering I totally enjoyed the Talisman, I expected this book to be just as mind capturing as its predecessor. I was very disappointed in just about the whole story. So it turned out to be 'just ok' for me.

The first half was drawn out and very wordy. The coming together of all the characters was quite confusing as well. It seemed to take half of the book before the story even got remotely interesting.

It would get good and th ...more

flag 31 likes · Like · see review

Jul 06, 2008 Anthony rated it did not like it

I loved The Talisman. I think I read it when I was 13 or 14. It was a great story about a boy who could cross worlds, and took on a quest to save his dying mom. There were scary parts, but nothing too bad. Also, the line between King's writing and Straub's writing was pretty blurred. Either they shared the load, or one of them wrote while the other edited. I dunno, I could only hear one voice.

Years later, I listened to the audiobook and it was still great.

Black House is the sequel to The Talism ...more

flag 27 likes · Like · see review

Sep 16, 2010 Dustin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: challenging-literature, classics, favorites, re-read

In the early eighties, Stephen King and Peter Straub embarked on the ultimate coming-of-age tale. The Talisman easily solidified the collaboration's super status. Then, nearly two decades later, they returned to their literary roots. Black House portrays a different Jack Sawyer, now a semi-retired Los Angeles detective. He won't remain there much longer, though. By requesting his expertise in a major case, a colleague-turned-friend leads him to Wisconsin, where his life will be irrevocably alte ...more

flag 26 likes · Like · see review

Jul 15, 2019 Amy rated it it was amazing

I tried to pace myself while I read this delicious and thoroughly enjoyable hybrid of thriller/horror/fantasy storytelling. I didn’t want to finish it too quickly and have the magik of The Territories that glimmers off the pages, leave me sooner than necessary. If you are a fan of the Dark Tower series, you should read this as it’s connected.

flag 19 likes · Like · see review

Jul 24, 2019 Wally Flangers rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

It’s very rare for me to give a book a 5 star rating, but like “The Talisman”, I absolutely loved “Black House”…. This was, however, completely shocking for me because I absolutely hated the first 40 to 60 pages and was wondering how I was going to make it through 625 pages if it kept on going the way it was. The opening chapter, especially, had WAY TOO MANY character introductions and details of the town with unnecessary back stories of every store in the area for my brain to process. But once It’s very rare for me to give a book a 5 star rating, but like “The Talisman”, I absolutely loved “Black House”…. This was, however, completely shocking for me because I absolutely hated the first 40 to 60 pages and was wondering how I was going to make it through 625 pages if it kept on going the way it was. The opening chapter, especially, had WAY TOO MANY character introductions and details of the town with unnecessary back stories of every store in the area for my brain to process. But once I painfully grinded though that endless introduction, everything immediately clicked.

You may be wondering how a book that I rated so high took me a month to read but it only took an excessive amount of time because I had a lot going on this month, including a family vacation with kids…. In addition, I was also reading “Skeleton Crew” at the same time, which isn’t exactly a short book.... But trust me, I was addicted to Black House and couldn’t wait until the next reading session to continue the story.

Black House is the sequel to “The Talisman” and is probably the most connected tie-in to the Dark Tower series, so it is highly recommended that you read it if you are reading the Dark Tower…. The story is narrated in third-person omniscient and is about a serial killer nicknamed, “The Fisherman”, who is responsible for murdering children in the town of French Landing, Wisonsin after consuming their remains. One particular boy named, Tyler Marshall, is the latest to be abducted and is sought after by Jack Sawyer (the main character in “The Talisman”), the French Landing Police Department, and a gang of pissed off locals…. Tyler is kept alive by The Fisherman, who serves the Crimson King (the main antagonistic being from the Dark Tower series), with a mission of bringing him to Black House to serve as a “Breaker”. Tyler happens to be one of the most powerful Breakers there has ever been and the Crimson King needs the boy’s powers to break the remaining beams that hold up the Dark Tower and end all worlds.

My favorite part about Black House was the increasing pace and build-up of suspense. I enjoy stories where some foreshadowing occurs and little details that seem irrelevant end up coming together later in the book. I also liked seeing Jack Sawyer as an adult and the reminiscence of the events that occurred when he was a boy (which took place in “The Talisman”).

Although the ending was somewhat abrupt, as the final battle inside Black House wasn’t as epic as it could have been, it recovered extremely well with a little twist a the end and a short Epilogue to wrap the story up. The Epilogue also leaves the story open for a third book, although I think the chances of a third one ever being published are very slim.

I will offer you a great piece of advice if you have not read Black House yet…. Although this is considered somewhat of a stand-alone novel by many readers, it really isn’t in a lot of ways. If you haven’t read “The Talisman”, then you will be lost once you come across some of the references and back stories in “Black House”. It is also important that you get some back story on Jack Sawyer, Speedy Parker, and how “the Territories” work…. It will definitely help you understand what’s going on and you will be happy you did. Plus, “The Talisman” is an awesome read anyway, so you can’t lose.

FINAL VERDICT: I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. I can’t say enough good things about Black House and really like how Stephen King and Peter Straub’s writing styles come together. The book is a perfect blend of drama, horror, and mystery and I would recommend it to any fan of those genres. ...more

flag 18 likes · Like · see review

Jan 28, 2009 Chris rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-owned-hardcover, favorites

I absolutely loved this book. It's funny, because I picked it up immediately after reading The Talisman, and at first I was put off by the shift in tone and feel of this one. I wanted more Talisman style fantasy adventure, with the lovable young Jack Sawyer. What I got was a cold, detached, present-tense narrative that watched everything from above and showed a landscape that was totally out of place with the book I had just finished. This is supposed to be a sequel!

But am I ever glad I stuck wi ...more

flag 18 likes · Like · see review

Sep 23, 2011 Nandakishore Varma rated it really liked it

Shelves: horror

A worthy follow-up to the Talisman: you get to see another child protagonist of King (Jack Sawyer, like Danny Torrance in Doctor Sleep) fighting a fresh set of demons as a grown-up.

flag 18 likes · Like · see review

Jul 19, 2018 Ashley Daviau rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This was one of the first King books I read as a teen and I read it not knowing it was the sequel to The Talisman. Now that I’ve read The Talisman and reread Black House, it’s like all the puzzle pieces finally fit together. I loved Black House but reading it again with all the missing pieces filled in made me love it all that much more. There’s something about this story that just gets under my skin and really creeps me the fuck out!

flag 17 likes · Like · see review

Mar 13, 2012 Lauryn April rated it it was amazing

I've read a number of Stephen King's books, enough to consider him one of my favorite authors; and out of everything I've read by him I enjoyed this, along with The Talisman, the most. This has encouraged me to start looking at some of Peter Straub's work as well; however I have yet to do so at this time. What this book has done is inspire me to get into his Dark Tower series, which I had been avoiding doing for some time because I'd heard that it was slow getting into. If that series has ever i I've read a number of Stephen King's books, enough to consider him one of my favorite authors; and out of everything I've read by him I enjoyed this, along with The Talisman, the most. This has encouraged me to start looking at some of Peter Straub's work as well; however I have yet to do so at this time. What this book has done is inspire me to get into his Dark Tower series, which I had been avoiding doing for some time because I'd heard that it was slow getting into. If that series has ever interested you I would suggest reading The Talisman and Black House as they will certainly be the tipping point to get you into that series.

The world that King and Straub create in this book is a place that I think as kids we all envision exists, it's a fantasy world, but they make it real. You see much more of it in The Talisman, but I find that fitting because in Black House, the main character, Jack is no longer a thirteen year old boy; he's a grown man and he needs to rediscover this world outside our own. Something that I think is much harder for adults to do. This is a very different story then The Talisman, but it is so for a reason and I enjoyed seeing this little boy that I followed on his quest across country all grown up. His adventures as an adult should be different.

Since reading this I've found references to this 'other world' in many of King's other books such as Lisley's Story, which I also greatly enjoyed, and smaller references in a number of other books. Every time I read one and I see that little reference it sucks me in and I want to know more about this place which the Talisman and Black House name the Territories.

As usual with King, this book had its moments that literally sent chills down my spine. It didn't scare me to the point where I was afraid to sleep at night like Salem's Lot did when I was twelve, or even Bag of Bones, when I was twenty three. But, it did have one of the most disturbing villains I think King has ever created.

This book was also my inspiration to dabble in the present tense with my writing. I find King and Straub tackle this tense perfectly and use it to build suspense. What you're reading is happening now and that makes it all feel so much more intense. Present tense can throw people off sometimes, but for this book I would throw away all preconceived notions that Novels should only be written in the past tense.

For More Reviews by Lauryn April, go to http://laurynapril.blogspot.com ...more

flag 15 likes · Like · see review

Mar 27, 2017 Abbie | ab_reads rated it liked it · review of another edition

3.5 stars

Unlike The Talisman, this collaboration between my beloved King and Peter Straub fell a little flat for me. I'm quite upset, this is my first less than 4 star King!

I am not going to list all the things I didn't like about this book because I don't particularly like putting negative reviews out there, as I don't want people to not read the book and form their own opinions!! I will just say, for the negative parts, I did not like the narrative style, I didn't connect with Jack as much as ...more

flag 15 likes · Like · see review

Jun 20, 2013 Kathryn rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, did-not-finish, buddy-reads, horror-read, stephen-king-read

I don't even know what to say about this book, except for negative things. Not only did I not finish this book, but I am left completely disappointed in it. I was expecting the same fuel The Talisman had for me, which I really, really enjoyed. Boy, was I disappointed. Not only was the storyline disappointing, the writing for me, was a disaster in the slow as molasses department.

I was excited about reading this with the friends I read it with, but now, I am left with really nothing nice to say a ...more

flag 14 likes · Like · see review

Mar 23, 2019 Lena rated it really liked it

This is actually a sequel to "The Talisman" written with Peter Straub. Quite long like most of King's books, but I always enjoy the ride. Following Jack Sawyer's investigative talents (who kind of doesn't really want to get involved) we find ourselves in a small town where children are disappearing, apparently being eaten. Jack befriends the town cop, some bikers, and begins to unravel the "other" world that seems to blend with "French Landing" with its token crazies, crows, and lurid old men. J ...more

flag 14 likes · Like · see review

Jan 13, 2020 eatsleepreadreview rated it liked it

Shelves: standalones

3.5 Stars – I know this is a little low for this book….

I read this not knowing about the Talisman at the time – I’d never heard of Goodreads and just read whatever I could get my hands on without worrying if it was part of a series! Well I think that is one of the reasons I just didn’t gel with this book.

I last read this when I was quite young so I think some of this story was lost one me – I need to go out and buy the Talisman and try this all over again. I remember reading this and being like ...more

flag 14 likes · Like · see review

May 20, 2010 Lou rated it really liked it

Shelves: best-reads

Jack used to be a coppice-man and he is now settling into a new home in Wisconsin. He has been having strange dreams, no Speedy or flipping over for many years now he is trying to deal with the present.
Jack is eventually forced out of retirement as a Coppiceman on trail of the Fisherman, flipping over again but to where? What does Speedy and black crow feathers have to do with the case? This is an engrossing page-turner written in a more faster momentum than The Talisman I am loving the adult Ja ...more

flag 13 likes · Like · see review

Jun 15, 2017 Terry rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, 2017-book-challenge

I actually enjoyed this a little more than The Talisman. However, I would say that if you did not like The Talisman, you may not enjoy this one either. It does have a darker, more horror-like feel to it. Overall, I enjoyed it. Liked getting back to see Jack Sawyer. I'm Looking forward to the third book, if it is ever written, although I probably would want to read the Dark Tower series before I read it. Overall, I would say 3.5/5 stars rounded up. ...more

flag 13 likes · Like · see review

Apr 04, 2007 Danielle rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: no one who loved The Talisman

Shelves: scifi-fantasy

Stephen King and Peter Straub apparently decided that, since their last collaboration was so great, they would try to follow it with an astounding book that broke every single writing rule in existence. I believe the effort is a prime example of why those rules were made in the first place. Amen.

flag 12 likes · Like · see review

Jun 16, 2017 Craig rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Dude, over twelve-hundred other people have posted their thoughts about this book here, people like Gaiman and Rothfuss, and I'm sure I can't think of anything that hasn't already been stated multiple times, and far more eloquently.... so: I liked it, but I liked the first one better. The end. ...more

flag 12 likes · Like · see review

Apr 29, 2019 Jason rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: horror/fantasy/thriller

Recommended to Jason by: SK Bibliography

Shelves: favorite-heroes-protagonists, stephen-king, dead-or-injured-dog-warning, best-of-the-year, 2019

Favorite new book read in 2019

Finally, the Rock has finished all of Stephen King's novels... Well, I don't know if the Rock has or not, but I have! I intentionally left this one for last because I thought it would suck. I thought it would suck because The Talisman sucked and this is the sequel. Boy, was I wrong. It's a shame I gave this so much unwarranted contempt prior to investigation, but it's also nice to go out on a five star read. Well done Messrs. King and Straub.

Allow me another par ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Oct 23, 2020 latham rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: stephen-king-ranked, scaryyy-books

the sheer vastness of black house makes it a little difficult to talk about. a combination of the talisman and the dark tower, alongside a detective murder/mystery inside the small town of french landing; black house has a lot going on and was at risk of becoming a convoluted, confusing mess.

good thing it isn't. black house is spooky!. the atmosphere in this thing is just so creepy. if i never go to french landing, i will live a happy man haha. i loved the exploration of this town's people, the ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Sep 14, 2020 Janice rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, chunksters, ylto-monthly-challenge, audiobooks, z-read-in-2020, ylto-themed

Like Jack Sawyers, I had forgotten much about the events of The Talisman. But as Jack recalled those events, I did as well. Often, an author will give a small recap of the previous books in a series. This didn't feel like a recap and I'm not sure it was intended to be, but it was a great way to refresh one's memory.

I liked that there were a lot of references to The Dark Tower series. However, the references may have had me scratching my head if I hadn't read that series. Gunslinger, Blain the Tr ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
YA Buddy Readers'...: Black House (The Talisman #2) by Stephen King - Restarting January 15th 2021	4	41	Jan 06, 2021 02:09AM
Stephen King 2021...: June...6 months have gone by, it feels like eternity and not...	13	27	Jul 19, 2020 09:53PM
Goodreads Librari...: Please add an alternative book cover	2	11	Dec 23, 2018 09:39AM
Horror Aficionados : Stephen King #18 Black House	53	90	Sep 04, 2017 10:15AM
Stephen King Fans: Black House	161	556	Jun 03, 2016 11:43AM
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Is it completely impossible to tell what book Christina Ricci is reading in this picture? [s]	37	295	Sep 16, 2014 02:45AM
Do You Need To Read 'The Talisman' First?	53	760	May 25, 2014 04:51AM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Horror

1,737 users

Fantasy

690 users

Fiction

581 users

Thriller

107 users

Mystery

91 users

Fantasy > Supernatural

63 users

Fantasy > Paranormal

43 users

Suspense

41 users

Mystery > Crime

41 users

Audiobook

40 users

See top shelves…

About Stephen King

Stephen King

766,318 followers

Stephen Edwin King was born the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his father left them when Stephen was two, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, M Stephen Edwin King was born the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his father left them when Stephen was two, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of them. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.

Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.

He met Tabitha Spruce in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University, where they both worked as students; they married in January of 1971. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.

Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many were gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.

In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching English at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels. ...more