It has been nearly thirty years since his adventure into the Territories and now Jack Sawyer is a cop on the verge of retirement. Looking to settle down and relax, Jack heads to the small town of French's Landing, where there is something very dark hunting the streets. There’s a killer there known as the Fisherman, who preys only on children. But has Jack chosen French's Landing or has it chose him? Forgetting about his childhood, Jack Sawyer is about to have the repressed memory of his life as he will once again find himself in a situation that will take him back to the Territories in search of an entity known as the Fisherman.

Stephen King and Peter Straub return to tell the second story of Jack Sawyer and his ability to flip between worlds.

I waited almost twenty years for this book and feverishly began to read the pages hoping to once again find myself back into the world created by King and Straub, but I got let down, big time.

Black House has a lot going for it, let me say that. The story that takes place in our world that involves the child killings is gruesome and the character created in the geriatric Charles Burnside is one of the most frightening characters to ever be created. Making him feeble and old on the outside, adds so much evil to this character that it is simply stunning. I loved the hunting aspect of Jack versus the Fisherman, and that’s where the story should have stayed.

The problem with Black House is that it ends up being nothing more than a side story to the Dark Tower franchise. In the first book, The Talisman, it was set in the world of the Territories, but this book is an extra chapter that goes into some detail on other characters of King's dark opus and Straub just seems to be along for the ride.

Much, much darker than The Talisman, Black House was just not as fun to read, the pacing and the overhead style of story telling really distracted from the core story line and by the time Jack flips again for the first time in years, you might as well cross out the name Jack and insert Roland, because that's what the story feels and reads like to me.

This one had some truly creepy and great moments, but in the end I was really let down and found the book to be over all very stale and flat aside from a great villain.

3 of 10