The Elementals

Solid Haunted House Book - and that's rare!

It seems such a difficult thing to find a good haunted house book. They must be very difficult to write - there are more POS haunted house books on the market than any other genre I've found.

This is what I think it takes (authors please take note) to write a good haunted house book:
- A decent backstory (probably the least amount of creativity required for this - really, 'an eccentric aunt leaves you a house' works just fine)
- Interesting, well-developed characters (who say and do at least *a few* original things. The Dead Aunt can be one-dimensional, but the new hauntee needs to be well-developed)
- Pacing (steady build-up of tension and supernatural events); and a solid ending (so many fail here).

The Elementals does all of this very well. It's among the best haunted house books I know - not as scary as I'm searching for (still haven't found a legitimately scary one), but it stands head and shoulders above its fellows.

I'll be looking for more books by the same author.

PS, Check out The Good House by Tananarive Due. It meets the above criteria as well.

16 of 16 people found this review helpful

Amazing novel by an all but forgotten author.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Just a small warning: there is a prologue in the original novel missing in this supposed unabridged audio version, which - in my opinion - is essential to the story.

Nevertheless, this is without a doubt one of the finest novels of the supernatural I have ever read. I recommend this highly. I read my own somewhat tattered paperback original every year, and will likely continue to do so.

65 of 73 people found this review helpful

"Savage Mothers Eat Their Children"

I had not experienced the horror writing of Michael McDowell, and readily admit I didn't recognize him by name. But that was yesterday.

"The Elementals" is among the finest horror novels I have ever read. Although written decades ago, this story can compete with today's bestsellers in the same genre.

McDowell captivates by opening with several generations of a southern family sitting in their living room and are told a horrific story regarding their ancestors. I will never, ever, forget it. I felt like McDowell had picked me up and dropped me onto their sofa.

There is a father/daughter relationship that brings witty humor into the story. Both of these characters are fleshed out and consistently captivating.

This book is raw, it's original, and it is frightening to the core. You would shelve this author between Stephen King and Clive Barker in the library of your mind.

66 of 76 people found this review helpful

Another amazing experience

This is the second novel by Michael McDowell which I've had the pleasure to experience. The first, Cold Moon Over Babylon, was just as good if not better. Both novels have exactly what I look for when I'm in the mood to escape reality - dark atmospheres, mystery with a hint of supernatural and characters so real they might as well be sitting beside you. Combine that with fluent and deeply descriptive prose and you have these two 5 star novels. Oddly enough, neither Scott Brick nor R.C. Bray have ever been on my list of likeable narrators. In the past I have found the gruffness of their voices too distracting, however, the ease at which they both were able to perform several characters with different voice inflections definitely gave me a new appreciation of their talent.

I don't want to go into the details of the story, but I don't really even need to. If you give this a chance, I promise within the first chapter you will be so hooked by the overall performance you won't care what its about, you'll listen just for the sheer pleasure of it.

Its a true shame that Mr. McDowell will never be writing another novel and that there aren't more of his other works available in audio format.

36 of 43 people found this review helpful

Good Read

I enjoyed this spooky tale and also the narrator! Wasn't scary enough to keep me up at night yet it was good. I would recommend this read. It kept be going abs was interesting! 👍

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Awesome

I never write reviews, but this book was so worth it. As as bonafide horror enthusiast, I have listened to my share of duds. This was not one of them. I was actually scared. Really. The writing was superb and the description of the Alabama gulf coast gave this story it's eerie air. Go ahead and use the credit. You won't be disappointed.

40 of 51 people found this review helpful

awesome narrator

story was eerie and the narrator's depth of the characters made this a 5 star

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Absolutely brilliant southern, gothic horror

Now...this is how its done. It's been about 6 months since I finished this book and it has stuck with me. It's one of the most complete suspense/horror books I've ever read. I would put it near Shirley Jackson's "Haunting of Hill House" (which is the top of the mountain for me). I've enjoyed other novels by McDowell, but this...this is a masterpiece. This is a complete, artistic vision and a beautiful love letter to southern, gothic horror. McDowell knows that the southern gothic genre is about big houses, big (sometimes unrealistic) personalities, old secrets, and new lies all percolating in the southern humidity and heat. In a more literary age, this novel would have inspired a renewed interest in gothic and southern gothic themes.

And to top all that off, R.C. Bray's narration is the best I have heard on any audiobook so far.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

EAT MY EYEBALLS

This is more about rich families in Alabama than a horror. Written in 1981, it fits the style of writing of the time. Start with very little that is scary and than build from there. This starts with an interesting funeral scene and than creepy talk about live burials shortly after. Than we hear " don't go in that house it is scary" for several hours. The book goes over five hours before the word Elemental is even mentioned and than it turns out to be another word for spirit. Everything happens in the last hour. The characters are likeable and there are some funny parts. The book is not bad, but it is not much of a horror.

Bray is great as usual.

62 of 82 people found this review helpful

Best Case of the Creeps

One of the best atmospheric settings in Gothic horror...in So. coastal Alabama, on a mere strip of land, bordered by a stagnant lagoon and cut-off from the mainland at high-tide by the gulf, sits a quiet trio of private Victorian summer homes called Beldame. Owned by the McCrays and the Savages, the families have spent summers in Beldame for decades, but the third house is now uninhabitable--the encroaching sands have drifted over the windows and porches of the house and poured into parts of the interior, breaking out windows and pushing doors inward. But that is not the only reason the house is left empty. There is something menacing about this third house that is slowly being swallowed by the sand. Shadows, sounds, lights, and other...elements.

Beldame is the main character, possibly (?) a living, breathing entity on it's own, but McDowell has created a group of characters worthy of any of the best Southern Gothic classics -- memorable characters with rich backstories and histories entwined with scandal, superstitions, and strange traditions. Throw in a lush or two, and you have a cast that could be out of a novel by Flannery O’Connor, Tennessee Williams, Carson McCullers. 13 year old India McCray is a girl wise beyond her years. She entertains herself on this remote skiff of land by using her photographer father's camera taking pictures of the abandoned house that she has become so curious about, venturing a look inside.

You feel blocked-off from civilization as you read, even a bit claustrophobic -- the sand creeping closer with every breath of air, threatening the other two houses -- you can almost imagine it between your toes, mixed with the smell of salty air and the fetid lagoon. Even the dimensions of time seem warped.

This is a great *haunted house* story! One that would have remained unknown to me had it not been re-released. Stephen King said of author McDowell...[that he is] "the finest writer of paperback originals in America today." Previously I read Cold Moon Over Babylon; both good old-school horror, but this one was my favorite of the two. The remote location, the characters, the strong flavor of the South...a great spooky read.

26 of 36 people found this review helpful