Book review: Hell House
Continuing to read Richard Matheson's classic horror/fantasy/sci-fi novels, my latest was 1971's Hell House, the archetypal hanuted house story. The basic plot is like any number of scary movies, as a group of "experts" have to investigate a haunted house to claim a huge reward. Unlike most of those films Matheson goes for a subtler approach, with only four main characters rather than a posse of expendables there to meet with increasingly gruesome fates. So we get some more carefully constructed characters, and get to care which, if any of them, will come out of the house with their lives and their sanity at the end of the week. Although there's a few gory scenes, Matheson mainly goes for atmosphere, and right from the off Belasco House has a very clear personality of its own. The title and premise meant I wasn't expecting this to be one of his best, but as it turns out it's a strong candidate for the Richard Matheson book I've enjoyed most so far.