Black House

By: Stephen King, Peter Straub

Narrated by: Frank Muller

Length: 26 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Twenty years ago, a boy named Jack Sawyer traveled to a parallel universe called the Territories to save his mother and her “Twinner” from an 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, Wisconsin. He has no recollection of his adventures in the Territories, and he was compelled to leave the police force when a happenstance event threatened to awaken those long suppressed and dangerous memories.

When a series of gruesome murders occur in western Wisconsin that are reminiscent of those committed several decades earlier, Jack’s buddy, the local chief of police, begs Jack to help find the killer. But are these new killings merely the work of a disturbed individual, or has a mysterious and malignant force been unleashed in this quiet town? What causes Jack’s inexplicable waking dreams - if that is what they are - of robins’ eggs and red feathers? As these cryptic messages becomes impossible to ignore, Jack is drawn back to the Territories and to his own hidden past.

©2001 Stephen King and Peter Straub. All rights reserved. (P)2012 Simon & Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Intelligent…Suspenseful” ( Wall Street Journal)

“Overflows with dark wit…” ( New York Times Book Review)

“Two master craftsmen, each at the top of his game” ( Washington Post)

The connections

Love it. And Ka. Did I spell that right? I love this among other things that connect a lot of novels together. Also Audibles is the best thing since sliced cheese. I drive for a living and now I can read everything I want.

Great reading

Fantastic narration and voices! The reader adds personalities to every character through expressive voices which seem in line with the authors’ visions.

a good sequel

got to say the narrator to this audiobook waooos fantastic. he made the story exciting and interesting in a way that I think that it's better to listen to it through audio to take in all the information. I definitely recommend this to anybody looking for a fantasy book but you have to start with the Talisman first. if you're wondering who this Crimson King guy is I guess you're going to have to read The Dark Tower series to find that out which is my next series I'm going to start

Fantastic Sequel to The Talisman

I binge listened to this book from start to finish. A very worthy sequel to The Talisman.

Fantastic!

I listened to The Talisman a few years ago & was more than pleasantly surprised by the continuation in Black House! I thoroughly enjoyed both books but my only wish would be another collaboration between these two authors! A trilogy of Jack Sawyer or something totally new but, Frank Muller is a must in my wish! Fantastic listen! Thanks guys!

Great book by 2 great authors

Hoping for Book 3! I don't want the story to end. Frank Muller read the characters perfectly. Such a great story!

The black of black

It was OK but as a continuation of the first book I didn’t really like it I think black house could’ve stood on its own and not been a part of the Jack Sawyer seriies it was good but it took so long to get started and it just didn’t seem like there was much correlation between it and the talisman other than the name of Jack sawyer But overall Stephen King did do a great job and it is a great story very much worth listening to.......

dark and fantastical

the narrator RIP; excellent read. character is very much Stephen King's bag and we're all the better for it.

Damn! I'm glad these guys are on Our side!

brilliant story was The Talisman by these gents indeed. I'd never thought they'd have done a second book though I knew. Jackie is definitely a great guy that I adored & then crushed on. As I was for Wolf, I mourn Henry. I don't like SPOILERS so read it & see for yourself. Thank you very much for writing this book. I hope that I'll get to enjoy this one again later. Mr. Mueller is as always, crystal clear & as He shifts from one character to the next it almost has you wondering if its really Him. Bravo all.

Oh My Heck

Frank Muller's narration truly makes this book; his voice is like of your local elder who sits quietly in the corner of a dim coffee shop or bar and explains casually, unnervingly casually, a truly horrifying tale that makes you sit at the edge of your seat, tense enough to shatter, with held breath. His rich voice work makes the characters fully human (and inhuman), and his pace of speaking is amazing at building mounting anxiety and terror.

I adore this book in print (perhaps even more than "The Talisman"), but hearing it in this audio format makes me love it even more. The story begins like a quiet spring day, then slowly comes up behind you and grabs you by the throat. By the end, you're left dizzy and breathless and wholly satisfied.