OT: Awesome book....

House by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker (team-up)

Being out in the backwoods of Alabama at night is creepy enough.  Being out in the backwoods of Alabama with your soon-to-be-ex-spouse would put anyone on edge.  So what would you do if all four of your car’s tires got shredded by a strip of metal spikes in the middle of a dirt road?  (Besides freak out, I mean.)

If you’re Stephanie and Jack Singleton, you head for shelter in a house-turned-inn.  Unfortunately, they’re not the only ones there.  Leslie Taylor and Randy Messarue had the same thing happen to them, and the four of them become unwilling housemates.  The house isn’t empty, though; it’s populated by locals, or “inbreds”, as a cop calls them.  Betty, Stewart, and their mentally disabled son Pete are definitely not what you would consider sane.  After a power loss, a pickup crash into the side of the house, and a sadistic note etched on a tin can tossed down the chimney, things take a sinister turn.  The seven people become players in a terrifying game that can only end when one or more of them dies.

“HOUSE RULES

1. God came to my house and I killed Him
2. I will kill anyone who comes to my house like I killed God
3. Give me one dead body and I might let Rule #2 slide

You have until dawn.”

See what I mean?  The players have to not only survive the mad killer stalking them but resist backstabbing and suspicion.  And when they enter the basement, they face something worse - their own personal demons and pasts haunting them and staring them in the face.

House starts off with a definitely creepy tone, and it doesn’t get any less creepy until the last chapter.  Remember what I said about it messing with your head?  Ohhhhhh yeah.  Talk about mental games.  They’re dealing with a sadistic serial killer, insane inbreds, their own pasts, fears, and inner feelings (how’s that for spooky), plus a house that *spoiler* aw man…  If any of you have read Hangman’s Curse and Nightmare Academy, you know what I’m talking about.  In this book you have the spiritual depth and insight of Peretti mixed with the mental genius and twists of Dekker.  One of my friends said the ending was predictable; she was kinda right, but you know with this team-up, you’re in for a really great ride along the way.