Carlisle Street

by T.M. Wright

Leigh Roberts moves to a quiet neighborhood to get away from it all, but finds ghosts and the specter of murder

Genres: Horror

316 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Terrance Michael Wright (AKA T. M. Wright) is best known as a writer of horror fiction, speculative fiction, and poetry. He has written over 25 novels, novellas, and short stories over the last 40 years. His first novel, 1978's Strange Seed, was nominated for a World Fantasy Award, and his 2003 novel Cold House was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award. His novels have been translated into many different languages around the world. His works have been reviewed by Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, and many genre magazines.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good ghost story that Tor published in 1983. Leisure reprinted it with some very minor name and word changes a couple of decades later under the title of The House on Orchid Street with no acknowledgement of this prior publication. Don't be tricked into buying it twice. Okay, with the caveat lector out of the way, it's a haunted house story with a very dreamlike quality. The ghosts are confused rather than inimical, and the main character, Katherine, gradually begins to understand and then resemble them. She's an artist, and it's interesting to speculate on the influence of the evil house and unusual inhabitants on her work. It's not a traditional horror novel with jump-cuts and quick surprise scares, but a very quiet and leisurely paced piece with an eerie air of foreboding and quiet nerves. Violins rather electric guitars. A good creepy read, but only once.

[Kevin Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully haunting and sublime, as always. The true horror here is not the ghosts, but what they reveal about us.

[Ken Saunders · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's no accident that a ghost babbles ODE TO A NIGHTINGALE while enticing our heroine Leigh along to the extremes of her desperate urges to escape the oppressive male gaze that has surrounded her, we learn, since childhood. She finds herself in a relocated house that, as the poem alludes to how a wine's 'terroir' captures the essence of the grape's complete history, has brought the essence of all the agony from doomed urban Carlisle Street to its remote new address at the edge of some woods, "That I might drink, and leave the world unseen, And with thee fade away into the forest dim". The depression-era Carlisle Street scenes are wonderful, the pacing makes the pages fly, and I enjoyed Leigh finding her feet and pushing back against the manipulative detective. Unfortunately too much of the book is tied up in endless scenes of domestic squabbling between Leigh and her fiance. They argue about tuna salad! The conclusion stumbles, and I resented the hunter character as representative of many missed opportunities with this intriguing scenario. Still there were enough creepy scenes highlighting this unusual and original story to make it a satisfying read.

[Annette Vecellio · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried really hard to finish this book. It was just too boring.

[Julie Furlong · Rating 3 out of 5]

One thing that I absolutely love about 80’s horror paperbacks is that they can be absurdly hilarious in how outdated they are. This book was absolutely no exception!!!

Here are some examples from the book that I’m talking about-

🏠 Podunk sherif who is a closet homosexual and is an extremely angry man because he is closeted.

🏠 Main character Leigh (who is a total bitch BTW) was being bullied by every man on Carlisle St. She was also being sexualized by every single man (except for the homosexual cop). Let’s just put it this way- every man or boy gets a “fluff” every time he sees her.

🏠. There’s an overweight woman named Gloria (who’s character I enjoyed). Wright continuously calls her fat. That fat woman this, that fat woman that. At one moment, Leigh’s boyfriend Ben couldn’t even look at a painting of Gloria because she was so fat. What the literal fuck.

🏠. There are no cell phones in the 80’s which makes the books super fun to read!!

I was sooo confused by the ending. If anyone else who has read this book can explain the ending to me, or even the whole book, I will be utmost satisfied!

P.S.- Carlisle Street slowly appeared and evaporated into thin air which was really cool to read about.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leigh Roberts, a young artist, buys a house in the country, seeking to escape the influence of her domineering boyfriends, have a quiet place to paint, and live her own life. Things don't quite work out that way. Creepy locals (including a scumbag state policeman and a hunter) and ghosts from 51 years prior make things, shall we say, less than ideal.

This is a very gripping, engaging ghost story. Highly recommended!

[Max · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was actually quite liking this for a little bit of the beginning. It had a very fun, gripping writing style, and the set-up was silly and captivating and mysterious. It had me guessing at what was related and how, it had me laughing and the atmosphere had me slightly creeped out and uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, it goes downhill so, so fast. The pacing feels like it comes to a halt. It seems as though the author wasn't entirely confident in where he was taking the book, because it also becomes so very unfocused. The one word I would use to describe this book is unfocused.

I was still liking the little glimpses of life on Carlisle Street throughout, the haunting chapters of seemingly disparate characters living on the same street, all being plagued by the same sinister something. I wasn't entirely caring about the main plot of the woman and her brother and the murder. Again, it was because this felt like it was dragging it for so long.

The ending, I think, was noncommittal and unsatisfying. Good thing this was so short and the quick chapters kept some semblance of pacing. But, yeah, over all something I wouldn't read again. Though the cover is seriously awesome, the reason I picked it up when I found it used somewhere.

[Michelle Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book, and I have re-read it many times. It is definitely one of the spookiest books I have ever read...a ghost house in the woods, missing people, the man who smells of cloves, such a great horror novel. BUT...THIS BOOK WAS REPRINTED IN 2003 UNDER THE NAME "THE HOUSE ON ORCHID STREET". THE NEW BOOK IS ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME WITH THE EXCEPTION OF SOME NAME CHANGES! SO, IF YOU HAVE READ CARLISLE STREET DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THE OTHER BOOK LIKE I DID.

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great ghost story from one of the genre's masters.

[Debra]

Stephen King recommended author: "T.M. Wright is a rare and blazing talent!"