The White Room

by A.J. Matthews

After a breakdown leaves Polly Harris fragile and afraid, restoring her husband's childhood home in Maine to its original splendor would be the best thing for her. But then the nightmare begins--their son Brian nearly drowns playing with a mysterious playmate, and Polly hears whispers no one else can.

Genres: Horror, Mystery Thriller, Paranormal, Ghosts

368 pages, ebook

First published July 1, 2001

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

A pseudonym used by Rick Hautala

Rick Hautala has more than thirty published books to his credit, including the million copy, international best-seller Nightstone, as well as Twilight Time, Little Brothers, Cold Whisper, Impulse, and The Wildman. He has also published four novels—The White Room, Looking Glass, Unbroken, and Follow—using the pseudonym A. J. Matthews. His more than sixty published short stories have appeared in national and international anthologies and magazines. His short story collection Bedbugs was selected as one of the best horror books of the year in 2003.

A novella titled Reunion was published by PS Publications in December, 2009; and Occasional Demons, a short story collection, is due in 2010 from CD Publications. He wrote the screenplays for several short films, including the multiple award-winning The Ugly Film, based on the short story by Ed Gorman, as well as Peekers, based on a short story by Kealan Patrick Burke, and Dead @ 17, based on the graphic novel by Josh Howard.

A graduate of the University of Maine in Orono with a Master of Art in English Literature (Renaissance and Medieval Literature), Hautala lives in southern Maine with author Holly Newstein. His three sons have all grown up and (mostly) moved out of the house. He served terms as Vice President and Trustee for the Horror Writers Association.

Reviews

[Eric Guignard · Rating 5 out of 5]

REVIEWED: The White Room
WRITTEN BY: Rick Hautala (writing as A. J. Matthews)
PUBLISHED: July, 2001 - Rereleased 2012)

A classic tale of horror and suspense, filled with mystery and tension. Though this book is classified as horror, it is not a gore-fest, but rather a thoughtful and psychological ghost story. The characters are highly developed through emotional range and unique inner struggles. Hautala creates people that we can believe - they are as ordinary as you and I, but placed in extraordinary circumstances, that makes the story believable. The plot grows in tension until the chilling and satisfying ending. Great read for a quiet, dark night.

The reprint book has some strange formatting errors, but that is an oversight of the publisher and no reflection on the author.

Five out of Five stars

[Pam A · Rating 1 out of 5]

A dud book. I kept reading for awhile because I wanted to get spooked because it’s getting close to Halloween. That didn’t happen. It seemed more like a story about a woman’s decent into mental illness, though that wasn’t the authors intent.

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was decent. It was genuinely creepy and at times even a little scary. What keeps it from getting a higher rating is the main character (and to a lesser extent her family) is a moron. She did some things that make b-horror movie characters look intelligent. It was very disappointed to see each creepy and scary situation set up by terrible decisions so while I enjoyed the book as a whole, it was quite frustrating at times.

[Sonya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rate this story 2 1/2 stars because the main character was irritating, frustrating at times, and she made poor choices as a mother. Her husband was a wimp without a backbone. Towards the end it was intense drama, it had me sitting on the edge of my seat ,only to be slapped on the face with a unsatisfying ending.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I highly recommended reading this book. If you like ghost stories and suspense/thrillers you'll enjoy this one. A good fast and easy read. My second novel from Matthews, much better then the last one I read. It was suspenseful until the end. Definitely a page turner.

[Michael Fierce]

Added this one because I prefer having the 1st edition w/ the original author pseudonym for my collection.

[Michael Fierce]

Added this one because I like this cover better + the quoted reviews & extended book info for my collection.

[I.S. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wish I had a positive thing to say about the White Room, and I fall short. Let's get into it.

SPOILERS AND RAMBLINGS AHEAD

I, mistakenly, was under the impression that the voices and "haunted" stuff would happen after we got to the creepy old house but oh no, we get it like 5 pages in. Do I feel bad that little Heather was struck by a vehicle and was thus left alone to die and then be forced into the mind of Polly because she refused to let go of Heather's hand? Yes. Can I still find her deliberately vague conversations with Polly, knowing things she couldn't possibly know, mind-numbingly tedious to read? Also yes.

Speaking of Polly, sweet, startlingly frail Polly. I don't think I have ever, and I mean ever read about an MC so impossibly frail and on the brink of hysterics CONSTANTLY. Polly is supposed to be our main perspective in this whole thing and I couldn't wait for her to shut up every page. Babe needed to get a tall, strong drink and just sit in the shade. She was passing out constantly, constantly and literally physically affected so strongly by her fear and anxiety that she can barely function half the time cuz she's having a panic attack that the floor creaked. It was exhausting. An MC this hard to read makes a book a chore, and it took me 4 days to read this because I could not find the will to care. I didn't care about hysterical-Polly, her pointless son, her wallflower husband, and the brother-in-law she absolutely despises for. . . reasons?

Spoiler time, buckle up.

Another main gripe I have with this book is that the author literally laid out all the cards, immediately, and made no effort to hide any aspect of this story whatsoever. If you have 2 braincells to knock together, this story will have absolutely zero mystery or suspense for you.

Who's the ghost/voices we are hearing? You know like 5 pages in.


Who could possibly be involved with the body discovered in the woods? I dunno, maybe the husband and brother who, upon their first interaction, are already speaking cryptically in hushed tones. Oh no, you guessed it! The husband and brother of course are responsible for the body in the frickin' woods, because they're literally acting sus FROM LIKE 3 CHAPTERS IN

Hm, I wonder what's up with that weird kid Brian met? Idk, maybe just wait for anyone to mention a name because he introduced himself by his FULL NAME upon his first interaction with Brian. Hmmm, who could possibly guess the identity of this strange boy after he says everything short of his SSN.

Alright, you get it; I wish I was kidding in that there is no suspense in this book whatsoever, and the author has the AUDACITY to have this "big reveal" at the end were Polly finally stays conscious long enough to put the pieces of the puzzle together the reader already figured out 400 pages ago.

This book didn't make me rage all the time, however, I really must commend A.J. Matthews on giving some great comedic relief during the 'scary' parts. I'm kidding of course. Not that I didn't laugh, I did. Out loud. At what I can only assume was supposed to be a scary suspenseful scene.
Allow me to paint a picture for you:

We have already suffered through Polly's labored decision to go down into the basement. She goes into the basement. There's a room, a WHITE ROOM. There's shelves lining the far wall, Polly goes to inspect the jars on the shelves. Fruit preserves, perhaps. No, AN EYEBALL. Polly throws herself against the far wall, frozen in terror (what else is new). No, it couldn't have been an eyeball! Polly musters the courage to look again. No! It IS an eyeball! She almost collapses, reaching out quickly to catch herself. On the shelf. The impact is enough to splinter a shelf, sending the revolting contents to the floor! Polly starts screaming. Jars are breaking, sending red goo splattering on the walls, the floor, Polly's pants. Polly starts to scream harder. In her hysterical screaming panic, Polly flings her arm about, KNOCKING MORE JARS TO THE FLOOR.

I'm sorry, but the idea of a woman who simply will not stop screaming having this slap-stick comedy moment during a "tense" scene was enough to make me audibly laugh. For that the book gets 1/5 stars.

[Victoria Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The White Room" is a clever thriller that explores the loss and grief of a mother who is thrown into a situation where she is finding it hard to tell the difference between reality and fantasy all while she is straddling the barrier between the real world and the world beyond. I loved the writing of this story. The darkness of what was sneaking up on and engulfing her family was intense, well-written and QUITE sinister. I thought the ending was a bit rushed but concluded in a way that really exposed the evil lurking behind the facade of what she thought she knew. A worthwhile read!

[Reza Aleeya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Berkley Horror
359 pages

Polly thought for the best. But the forgotten comes to life....she tried to prove what she heard and what she saw.....

and she was stumbling to believe
what she will soon discover were all true......

[Camryn Frost · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely underrated! The story was great and very interesting. It was an easy read but still gripping. At times it was a little too descriptive making it difficult to get though. Overall, I recommend as an entry to the thriller genre.

[Victoria · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this book disappointed me. I wanted to like it - the premise sounded relatively interesting - maybe not terribly original, but not terribly over done, but its execution fell short. The writing, while not error-ridden, does not stylistically match the thriller/horror genre that this book fits under. Constantly describing the physical side effects of crippling fear simply doesn't instill or evoke similar fear in readers. I mean, how many times - and how many of the central characters - really need to literally be almost blinded or choked by their own terror?!

And while some men are able to create believable female narrators, this author is not one of those men. Her overwhelming weakness (how many times did she faint - a half dozen?!) coupled with her general lack of personality (hysteria and bitchiness do not make a well-rounded personality) just left me angry for women everywhere!

The book did have a lot of action (and would probably see more startling as a screenplay some shallow characters on the screen are less of a problem than on the stage) but conveying that action in the author's writing style sort of negated its overall impact on the pacing. For example, the "yellow-brown pellets" that unexpectedly shot out of the abandoned car were obviously bees (or yellow jackets) and were not surprising, so "hiding" their identity for a paragraph was pointless and made it less powerful of a "creep-out" scene. And waiting like hundred pages for the contents of the canning room and the lackluster way that was resolved was just frustrating!

The scariest part of the whole book was the condition of the house (and those mattresses!) that were used by the characters. Honestly, those descriptions were the only ones that gave me the shivers - it felt similar to the disgust of watching some episodes of those house flipping shows or hoarding shows. But otherwise, I would say that this isn't much of a horror novel...

[Jami · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found it on the shelf in my room, it looked like a short read, so I grabbed it. I'm not really sure how I ended up with the book or what had originally appealed to me about the jacket cover summary but the story was definitely unexpected. The plot had potential but the pace felt either too fast or too slow. If you're interested in a semi-suspense/thriller novel that deals with spirits/ghosts and possession - this is the book for you!

[Laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story if you can overlook reading the phrases "she didn't know if she spoke or the words were in her head" or "she/he felt a terrible pressure building up in his/her bladder" or "oh Jesus" a billion times each. Ties up the loose ends well, unlike some other scary/suspense/thriller/whatever-genres-this-would-technically-qualify-as books I've read. The back of the book isn't quite an accurate summary.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A psychological ghost thriller. I read this book in my late teens, and though I never found it terrifying, the book has some genuinely creepy, tense moments. The pace is slow in some sections, but overall it's a satisfying read. I enjoyed the ending.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has some really creepy moments that kept me on the edge of my seat. Didn't care for how many times the author used the phrase "set his/her teeth on edge" just about every time something unnerving happened. The story was a bit predictable, but still I found it to be an enjoyable read.

[Arrica Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading this book, I realize how bad the condition will be if human continues ruining the nature and its environment. I certainly can't think of the consequences if it really happens to me.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really great twist and I like the way this story traveled to it's end.

[Kimberly]

It was a summer novel for me. A house that was vacant for years captures the inner spirit of a woman and the horrow that she was to find.
I liked this novel.

[Jenna Gragnani · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books ever! i reread this a few times, love it each and every time !

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Not very well written, and the plot dragged. Certain phrases repeated so often I started to laugh every time they came back, like "the sound set her teeth on edge," in almost every chapter! Ugh.

[Jessica Lawhun · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not impressed. There were a couple of creepy moments but the ending really ruined for me. Overall, this book was no joy to read.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

“I like a little sausage with my eggs.”

Hahaha, Nice!!