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The Voice in the Basement
They searched for the house of their dreams. Instead, they found a world of nightmares.
There was something about the small house in the Indiana woods that wasn't quite right. At first, Cathy Ballard thought it was the size. But she and her husband were soon to learn it was something beyond earthly dimensions. Like the bulging doors... The taunting voice... The heartwrenching vision of a hollow-eyed, spectral boy... the rapacious monsters in human form. The house was haunted by angry, restless ghosts -- both the victims and the perpetrators of past, unspeakable acts.
Cathy, a young college instructor eager for a new life, and Mitch, her husband, have signed up for an advanced course in terror: a terror that will lure Mitch past the gate that separates the known from the unknowable, to a place where Cathy can't follow. Until, driven by desperation, Cathy and Mitch discover the darkly hidden, psychic bond that will guide them together through life...beyond death...to confront the paralyzing face of evil itself.
There was something about the small house in the Indiana woods that wasn't quite right. At first, Cathy Ballard thought it was the size. But she and her husband were soon to learn it was something beyond earthly dimensions. Like the bulging doors... The taunting voice... The heartwrenching vision of a hollow-eyed, spectral boy... the rapacious monsters in human form. The house was haunted by angry, restless ghosts -- both the victims and the perpetrators of past, unspeakable acts.
Cathy, a young college instructor eager for a new life, and Mitch, her husband, have signed up for an advanced course in terror: a terror that will lure Mitch past the gate that separates the known from the unknowable, to a place where Cathy can't follow. Until, driven by desperation, Cathy and Mitch discover the darkly hidden, psychic bond that will guide them together through life...beyond death...to confront the paralyzing face of evil itself.
- GenresHorror
279 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1993
2 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
About the author
T. Chris Martindale
4 books27 followersT. Chris Martindale wrote a few horror novels back in the day—four to be exact. The first two were fairly well received, one even nominated for Best First Novel by the Horror Writers of America as they were known at the time. But the last two were barely noticed, possibly due to crappy distribution and some truly embarrassing covers. That and the general drying up of the horror market in the ’90s suggested to Martindale that maybe writing wasn't his bag after all. So he stopped.
Flash forward to 2017. His vampire novel Nightblood gets a mention in Grady Hendrix's book, Paperbacks from Hell, and that leads to it being reprinted for the first time in almost thirty years. Now Crossroad Press has offered to reprint his other three titles as well—Where the Chill Waits, Demon Dance, and The Voice in the Basement. Martindale says he's excited to see these works available for a new audience after all this time.
Questions for the author (aside from “What the hell you been doing for the last thirty years!”) can be sent to tchrismartindale@outlook.com.
Flash forward to 2017. His vampire novel Nightblood gets a mention in Grady Hendrix's book, Paperbacks from Hell, and that leads to it being reprinted for the first time in almost thirty years. Now Crossroad Press has offered to reprint his other three titles as well—Where the Chill Waits, Demon Dance, and The Voice in the Basement. Martindale says he's excited to see these works available for a new audience after all this time.
Questions for the author (aside from “What the hell you been doing for the last thirty years!”) can be sent to tchrismartindale@outlook.com.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 21, 2022
I don’t write reviews.
This was bad. The idea is one we all know; young couple experiences paranormal happenings in an isolated house. However, this one is plain nasty and not fun or mysterious at all. It’s like a Dennis Cooper story complete with the disgusting mutilation and rape.
Now if the story is good, I can chill with a violent theme. It wasn’t good though. The characters were borderline annoying at best, but were merely frustratingly short-sighted and stupid most of the time.
The ending was subpar and not very clear. How did the guy, who got shot point-blank in the head, survive? Why did the main character get killed and cut up off-scene? I think it was a bad choice to kill off the mains, but to drop them like that was insulting to the reader. Meh. Yeah this was awful.
This was bad. The idea is one we all know; young couple experiences paranormal happenings in an isolated house. However, this one is plain nasty and not fun or mysterious at all. It’s like a Dennis Cooper story complete with the disgusting mutilation and rape.
Now if the story is good, I can chill with a violent theme. It wasn’t good though. The characters were borderline annoying at best, but were merely frustratingly short-sighted and stupid most of the time.
The ending was subpar and not very clear. How did the guy, who got shot point-blank in the head, survive? Why did the main character get killed and cut up off-scene? I think it was a bad choice to kill off the mains, but to drop them like that was insulting to the reader. Meh. Yeah this was awful.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 28, 2022
"Legend says if you die lost or alone, your soul can't rest until someone finds your body."
Mitch and Cathy Ballard have just moved to Indiana after Cathy gets a new teaching position at Indiana University. After Cathy leaves for her first day at work, Mitch is outside when he hears the padlock on the cellar doors rattling and sees the doors bulging outward, as if someone was inside, trying to get out. He hurries inside and yells down the stairs and the noise stops; he goes downstairs and there is no one there, but he suddenly hears a man's voice yelling to "stop looking at me;" the voice ricochets inside Mitch's head, disorienting and nauseating him.
Once again, the set of doors to the outside begin shaking but, again, there is no one there. He immediately calls Cathy at work and tells her he believes the house is haunted. She doesn't know what to think, and kind of brushes him off, but tells him she'll be paying close attention.
From that day forward, Mitch becomes obsessed with the basement, constantly sitting down there, waiting for another occurrence, and having the same dreams about a little boy. Finally, just as the incident is fading from his mind, he sees a face reflected on the TV screen - a little boys face.
One night later, Mitch sees the young boy standing in the basement, staring at him with terror in his eyes. Just as Mitch reaches for him, he fades from view. Cathy is standing at the top of the stairs, finally a witness to something going on in the house.
Soon after, Cathy has her own terrifying experience in the basement, not with the little boy, but a grown man's spirit - with 6 or 7 others appearing too. There are many spirits surrounding the Ballard's, and they're not at all as docile as the young boy.
"The boy, he's lost. He's in the darkness with them others, till somebody finds him and frees him to go into the light. But he's special, you know. He's got the gift. And he doesn't want to stay there, to stay lost. So he's always looking, poking around. Searching for a way out. And then he found you. You got the gift and there's a connection between you. It gives the boy something extra. Lets him find a weak spot in the fold, to tear it open, to reach you, so you can find him, set him free from there. But there's others who can use the tear too. They're bad and they're stronger, they're always stronger, but they need the boy to keep that door open, at least till they can open it themselves. There's more and more of 'em, getting stronger."
"How do I stop them? What do I do?"
"Trust the boy... so you can free him and patch the fold, and they'll go back then, back into the dark."
Only once the boy's body is found and his killer brought to justice, do the Ballard's have any hope of escaping this nightmare. Eventually, they team up with the local sheriff, a paranormal investigator from the university, and a psychic Mitch found in the phone book - it's going to take more than just the couple to figure out what's going on - and how to stop it.
-----------------------------
I was really looking forward to this one, I love haunted house horror, and I was a big fan of Where the Chill Waits. I really enjoyed this one as well, but at times, man was there a lot to unpack. I really didn't care for the ending too much, I would've liked to see a different outcome, but other than that, no real complaints.
Mitch and Cathy Ballard have just moved to Indiana after Cathy gets a new teaching position at Indiana University. After Cathy leaves for her first day at work, Mitch is outside when he hears the padlock on the cellar doors rattling and sees the doors bulging outward, as if someone was inside, trying to get out. He hurries inside and yells down the stairs and the noise stops; he goes downstairs and there is no one there, but he suddenly hears a man's voice yelling to "stop looking at me;" the voice ricochets inside Mitch's head, disorienting and nauseating him.
Once again, the set of doors to the outside begin shaking but, again, there is no one there. He immediately calls Cathy at work and tells her he believes the house is haunted. She doesn't know what to think, and kind of brushes him off, but tells him she'll be paying close attention.
From that day forward, Mitch becomes obsessed with the basement, constantly sitting down there, waiting for another occurrence, and having the same dreams about a little boy. Finally, just as the incident is fading from his mind, he sees a face reflected on the TV screen - a little boys face.
One night later, Mitch sees the young boy standing in the basement, staring at him with terror in his eyes. Just as Mitch reaches for him, he fades from view. Cathy is standing at the top of the stairs, finally a witness to something going on in the house.
Soon after, Cathy has her own terrifying experience in the basement, not with the little boy, but a grown man's spirit - with 6 or 7 others appearing too. There are many spirits surrounding the Ballard's, and they're not at all as docile as the young boy.
"The boy, he's lost. He's in the darkness with them others, till somebody finds him and frees him to go into the light. But he's special, you know. He's got the gift. And he doesn't want to stay there, to stay lost. So he's always looking, poking around. Searching for a way out. And then he found you. You got the gift and there's a connection between you. It gives the boy something extra. Lets him find a weak spot in the fold, to tear it open, to reach you, so you can find him, set him free from there. But there's others who can use the tear too. They're bad and they're stronger, they're always stronger, but they need the boy to keep that door open, at least till they can open it themselves. There's more and more of 'em, getting stronger."
"How do I stop them? What do I do?"
"Trust the boy... so you can free him and patch the fold, and they'll go back then, back into the dark."
Only once the boy's body is found and his killer brought to justice, do the Ballard's have any hope of escaping this nightmare. Eventually, they team up with the local sheriff, a paranormal investigator from the university, and a psychic Mitch found in the phone book - it's going to take more than just the couple to figure out what's going on - and how to stop it.
-----------------------------
I was really looking forward to this one, I love haunted house horror, and I was a big fan of Where the Chill Waits. I really enjoyed this one as well, but at times, man was there a lot to unpack. I really didn't care for the ending too much, I would've liked to see a different outcome, but other than that, no real complaints.
January 1, 2013
I picked up this book as my second venture into the mind of T. Chris Martindale after being thoroughly impressed by Where the Chill Waits.
The Voice in the Basement follows a relatively young married couple as they are forced to relocate to Bloomington,Indiana after the wife graduates college and obtains a teaching job at Indiana University. What follows is a gradually escalating number of encounters with various paranormal entities that is unsettling in much the same way as Poltergeist and Paranormal Activity. Throw in a paranormal investigator, his boyfriend the cop, and a medium...and the shit really hits the fan.
I enjoyed reading a great deal of this book. However, they comes a point in the novel where Martindale crosses the line from paranormal horror to real life horror. You are given a truly horrific vision into the eyes of some of mankind's worst crimes including pedophilia and rape. Although they are dealt with almost clinically, they take the book from a fun, scary jaunt into a really awkward, gray area.
But what really made me take away the stars, was the ending. I don't expect every book to present a happily ever after to me with a pretty pink bow...but I want to feel fulfilled. I want to feel like my journey is complete and something was achieved. However this book, for the most part, left me feeling like I'd been caught in the middle of a thunderstorm without an umbrella and then missed out on the rainbow too.
I won't give up on Martindale, but I think I'll be taking a break from his work before I try his next two books. This one was just much heavier than I expect a horror novel to be...
The Voice in the Basement follows a relatively young married couple as they are forced to relocate to Bloomington,Indiana after the wife graduates college and obtains a teaching job at Indiana University. What follows is a gradually escalating number of encounters with various paranormal entities that is unsettling in much the same way as Poltergeist and Paranormal Activity. Throw in a paranormal investigator, his boyfriend the cop, and a medium...and the shit really hits the fan.
I enjoyed reading a great deal of this book. However, they comes a point in the novel where Martindale crosses the line from paranormal horror to real life horror. You are given a truly horrific vision into the eyes of some of mankind's worst crimes including pedophilia and rape. Although they are dealt with almost clinically, they take the book from a fun, scary jaunt into a really awkward, gray area.
But what really made me take away the stars, was the ending. I don't expect every book to present a happily ever after to me with a pretty pink bow...but I want to feel fulfilled. I want to feel like my journey is complete and something was achieved. However this book, for the most part, left me feeling like I'd been caught in the middle of a thunderstorm without an umbrella and then missed out on the rainbow too.
I won't give up on Martindale, but I think I'll be taking a break from his work before I try his next two books. This one was just much heavier than I expect a horror novel to be...
September 13, 2008
Very graphic but I didn't think it was as good as the others by Martindale that I've read. Almost more traditional horror, but I tend to like his action horror better. Still, it was a good solid read. One warning, the descriptions of sexual abuse are pretty graphic and may be an issue for some people.
January 23, 2023
This is a tough one to rate. I liked the pace and tension. The characters worked for me. If you can get past the ten-foot laughing corkscrew penis, it's not a bad story. However, there's a brutal description of child SA and ongoing pedophilia. It's treated in a way that's a bit of moralistic commentary (victims becoming abusers), but it's still heavy to read.
If you lived through the 90s, you might know that rape/SA was VERY taboo, and only writers and musicians were openly talking about it. In hindsight, it feels yucky, but it did open up public discourse at the time. So, this is definitely a product of its time. Reader beware.
If you lived through the 90s, you might know that rape/SA was VERY taboo, and only writers and musicians were openly talking about it. In hindsight, it feels yucky, but it did open up public discourse at the time. So, this is definitely a product of its time. Reader beware.
August 1, 2025
dude's wife was so annoying that he started pining for the twink ghost in his basement lol
March 25, 2025
The first thing I noticed was the chapters. They’re broken up by dates. The story spans four months from July 15 to November 2.
This was a re-read for me, although I didn’t recall the story details at all during this read-through. However, I found my original copy with the green cover and the ghostly-looking boy on it tucked into my bookshelf with other books from my youth and picked it up. The cover suggests to me that it is a youth read, but the content does not!
The Voice in the Basement is slow building suspense while you get to know the main characters, Cathy and Mitchell. But then the story takes a turn, and the reader is in the middle of a scary intense evil. The level of intensity and darkness makes me feel like this novel should come with a warning. It is a sad and heavy story that finishes by tying up all loose ends.
It has ghosts, psychics, murder, and murder mystery as well as love and the power of love’s bond.
This was a re-read for me, although I didn’t recall the story details at all during this read-through. However, I found my original copy with the green cover and the ghostly-looking boy on it tucked into my bookshelf with other books from my youth and picked it up. The cover suggests to me that it is a youth read, but the content does not!
The Voice in the Basement is slow building suspense while you get to know the main characters, Cathy and Mitchell. But then the story takes a turn, and the reader is in the middle of a scary intense evil. The level of intensity and darkness makes me feel like this novel should come with a warning. It is a sad and heavy story that finishes by tying up all loose ends.
It has ghosts, psychics, murder, and murder mystery as well as love and the power of love’s bond.
June 10, 2013
Though not as brilliant as Nightblood, this book still was a very good and scary read. The beginning has all elements of your typical ghost story: young couple moves to new home, where they start hearing voices and seeing ghosts. Sounds familiar? That's what I thought with disappointment, too, until the story takes a U-turn and mutates into a horror psycho thriller. Besides a real maniacal serial killer, our couple has to face a bunch of even more scary ghosts of killers intent on crossing the threshold into the real world. Though the epilogue was a bit cheesy, it did not diminish the fun I had while reading this novel.
July 5, 2022
Started out Ok, then swiftly became ridiculous.
February 28, 2015
This was a definite step down from the other books I've read by T. Chris Martindale. His writing is good, there are some legitimately frightening sequences and some very imaginative, well described scenes. Overall, though, the book doesn't quite work. The first two thirds are pretty good, then it kinda unravels towards the end. Supernatural "haunted house" horror is not my usual preferred thing, so maybe my indifference to ghostly goings would explain the slightly sour taste in my mouth upon finishing this book. Martindale is a great author, but this is definitely not his best work. That said, I read it in three days, so it definitely doesn't bore or overstay its welcome.
May 19, 2023
Cathy Ballard finally finished graduate school and was ready to settle into the next phase in her life. Things were going well, she landed a teaching position at a university and bought a quaint little cottage in the country. The house wasn't her dream home by any stretch of the imagination but it quickly turned into a house of horrors when Cathy's husband begins experiencing strange things in the basement.
The Voice in the Basement is controversial, if you read the reviews you'll see that some people loved it and some people hated it. I had mixed feelings about it myself. I really enjoyed the way that Martindale played with tropes. Traditionally in a story like this, the husband would be the college professor and the wife would be the one with latent psychic abilities. It's almost always the wife who deals with the ghosts while the husband is the skeptic. Martindale flipped the gender norm in The Voice in the Basement and I found that interesting, especially considering the book was written in 1993.
Potential Spoilers past this point:
I did feel like Martindale relied too heavily on sexual horror. Even then the trope was skewed. Cathy has a brief interaction with the Wiggler but she gets away relatively unscathed. All the victims of sexual violence in this book were male. Mitchell was the one left reeling after experiencing memories of someone else's rape and Cathy is the one who has to try to comfort him without triggering his fresh trauma. In this instance, flipping the gender roles did not make the scenes more palatable or easier to read, but it was certainly new, especially considering the book is 30 years old.
All that being said, The Voice in the Basement will not be for everyone and it should definitely come with some trigger warnings. As I mentioned, I don't like sexual violence used in horror and some of the scenes were definitely hard to read, but if you can stomach that sort of thing Martindale's take on gender norms in this narrative was pretty interesting.
The Voice in the Basement is controversial, if you read the reviews you'll see that some people loved it and some people hated it. I had mixed feelings about it myself. I really enjoyed the way that Martindale played with tropes. Traditionally in a story like this, the husband would be the college professor and the wife would be the one with latent psychic abilities. It's almost always the wife who deals with the ghosts while the husband is the skeptic. Martindale flipped the gender norm in The Voice in the Basement and I found that interesting, especially considering the book was written in 1993.
Potential Spoilers past this point:
I did feel like Martindale relied too heavily on sexual horror. Even then the trope was skewed. Cathy has a brief interaction with the Wiggler but she gets away relatively unscathed. All the victims of sexual violence in this book were male. Mitchell was the one left reeling after experiencing memories of someone else's rape and Cathy is the one who has to try to comfort him without triggering his fresh trauma. In this instance, flipping the gender roles did not make the scenes more palatable or easier to read, but it was certainly new, especially considering the book is 30 years old.
All that being said, The Voice in the Basement will not be for everyone and it should definitely come with some trigger warnings. As I mentioned, I don't like sexual violence used in horror and some of the scenes were definitely hard to read, but if you can stomach that sort of thing Martindale's take on gender norms in this narrative was pretty interesting.
September 30, 2025
The book started very strong with a young couple buying a new house in a remote area. Soon voices are to be heard in the basement. Who do they belong to? Ghosts or what? Mitch Ballard, a psychic finds out terrible things about murder and violence. So far the intriguing side. The characters are well done and the villains sinister. But: I didn't like the sexual allusions, the lack of logical consequence and the plot often didn't make too much sense to me. The author really knows how to write in a catchy style. But that's not the whole menu, is it. He should have composed a more plausible supernatural murder mystery. The denouement also wasn't to the point. Overall some good motifs and shocking scenes but overall a bit too confusing leaving too many whys. Recommended for paperback for hell fanatics.
May 29, 2020
Not a bad modern ghost tale. Forerunner of all those "find the body, stop the haunting" movies of the '90s. Characters are thin but Martindale always keeps things unpredictable...like the choose your own adventure genre he started in
August 15, 2021
Review to come. This is more of a 3.5-star read than a 4-star read, but Goodreads doesn't allow half marks, so I rounded up.
Read
June 5, 2014Horror cliches (which I don't mind) abound in this, and I finally had to stop reading on page 80. I gave it a good go though. I have read his other works (from Goodreads) are better.
November 12, 2016
Really solid supernatural story set in Indiana. Good characterization and nice twists throughout. Enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews