An unparalleled picture of that vibrant but dark intersection where the Old and the New South collide. Thirtysomething Colquitt and Walter Kennedy live in a charming, peaceful suburb of newly bustling Atlanta, Georgia. Life is made up of enjoyable work, long, lazy weekends, and the company of good neighbors. Then, to their shock, construction starts on the vacant lot next door, a wooded hillside … hillside they’d believed would always remain undeveloped. Disappointed by their diminished privacy, Colquitt and Walter soon realize something more is wrong with the house next door. Surely the house can’t be haunted, yet it seems to destroy the goodness of every person who comes to live in it, until the entire heart of this friendly neighborhood threatens to be torn apart.
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An engaging and well written story.
I picked this one up because it was recommended in Paperbacks From Hell. If you like your horror more creepy than in your face, this is a good choice. This story did a great job of building a growing sense of dread. It took me longer to get through than normal because this story takes its time and has a lot of great descriptive language, but it was worth the journey. I also didn’t see one aspect of the ending coming, which is always a bonus. Also, this story was written in the seventies, which could’ve made it feel dated, but I actually really enjoyed seeing a peek into that era.
Anne Rivers Siddons’ foray into the haunted house genre is brilliantly done. It’s a contemporary Southern gothic about a brand new house and the horrifying things that happen to the people who attempt to live in it. I love it when a great non-genre writer like Siddons goes horror. The result is literate, unique, and truly eerie.
A dark tale of a house that seems to curse everyone around it. Deliciously frightening.
This book was Fan-Freaking-Tastic!
Our narrator, Colquitt, is a hoity-toity lady of society in Atlanta in the 1970’s. She and her husband Walter live next door to a beautiful wooded lot with a creek and their life is nearly perfect. Until the lot is sold to a couple who plan to build a beautiful modern home with lots of glass and chrome. Once the house goes up, perfection leaves their lives forever.
I normally don’t get into the plot in my reviews, and I’m not going to delve too deeply here, but there is one interesting thing that I would like to mention. I’m going to put a spoiler tag here, even though this is just an observation of mine, because it’s something you should discover on your own.
(view spoiler)
The characters in this story are complicated and well drawn. Colquitt describes life in her “set” with humility and grace. It’s funny, as this soap opera of a story continues, to find out what she discovers about some of her friends and neighbors; none of it is good. In my eyes, over and above the “haunting” itself, this is a tale of social classes and the differences between them. It’s also a tad of commentary on the old south as well. Even though Colquitt does come across as humble most of the time, there are a few incidents where she is just downright snobby, and she doesn’t even realize it.
All of this in a story told through outstanding, yet simple, prose. The atmosphere becomes palpable and the reader’s dread just grows and grows. There is no true gore, there are no gross out moments…just a slow burning tale of something gone wrong with a house. And then going wrong again. And then going wrong again.
Do you dare enter The House Next Door? I highly recommend that you do!
I enjoy Anne Rivers Siddons’ books. You can always expect a weird turn of events, but you never know what it’s going to be. I find her novels to be great beach books, I’ve read all but 3 of her books and I’m reading one of those 3 now.
The House Next Door, Anne Rivers Siddons, 1978
My favorite quote: “[The house] commanded you, somehow, yet soothed you. It grew out of the earth like an elemental spirit that had lain, locked and yearning for the light, through endless depths of time, waiting to be released…The creek enfolded its mass and seemed to nourish its roots. It looked – inevitable.”
Notable characters: Colquitt and Walter Kennedy, the unsuspecting couple; the house next door, their worst nightmare; Kim Dougherty, the architect; Pie and Buddy Harralson, the new homeowners
Most memorable scene: Finding the remains of wild animals and household pets around the construction site
Greatest strengths: Well-developed (though not particularly likable) characters, first-rate pacing, excellent plot twists
Standout achievements: This book puts a unique spin on the haunted house genre. Instead of having a sordid history, the home in The House Next Door is modern, newly-built — a ‘tainted creation’ so to speak, rather than a product of tragedy.
Fun Facts: In his book, Danse Macabre, Stephen King called The House Next Door one of the best genre novels of the 20th century
What it taught me about writing: This is one of a handful of novels that taught me that slow-growing, creeping horror is ultimately more powerful than the in-your-face, ax-wielding, bloody-murder stuff that is most often associated with the genre.
How it inspired my own work: This book has come up in many brainstorming sessions between Tamara Thorne and I as we’re plotting the many creepy houses that appear in the Thorne & Cross novels. The House Next Door is, to us, one of the definitive haunted house novels that all writers of the genre should familiarize themselves with
Other media: 2006 made-for-TV movie of the same name, starring Mark Paul Gosselaar and Lara Flynn Boyle
My rating: 4.5 of 5
I’ve been steadily reading my way through Anne Rivers Siddons books and will no doubt continue to absorb every tome this iconic Southern writer has offered to her legions of fans. Without knowing what “The House Next Door” was about, I bought it sight unseen and dove right in. This books is eerily off-kilter, yet balanced and steeped in realism as it tells the story of a well to do, thirty-something year old Southern couple named the Kennedy’s, who lead a rather common place life in the affluent suburbs. They are settled in their intentionally childless life, with their work and their neighborhood social life. They throw cocktail parties on their back patio and keep to their even-keeled rhythm of life until a house is built by an up and coming architect in the vacant lot next door. The author takes us through three couples who move into this particular house, one after the other, and strangely,one tragedy after another quickly transpires with a theme so coincidental, it couldn’t be anything but a curse that envelopes the environs. Narrated in the voice of Colquitt Kennedy as she tells of the uncanny horrors that takes place next door, this book shocks and surprises all the way through, and is one more reason why I am a devoted Anne Rivers Siddons fan.
Let me say right up front that I was rooting for the house. That may not sound like this was a 5 star book, but it absolutely was. The fact that the characters struck me as shallow, hypocritical snobs did absolutely nothing to diminish my enjoyment of the story, which is one of the best haunted house stories I’ve ever read. It just made me delighted when the house really got itself into gear and started wrecking havoc. Yay house! Ok, so I’m a little twisted myself. Sue me.
Mixed feelings about this book. I am a fan of Ann Rivers Siddons. This book made me question whether the main characters were courageous or insane. You decide
Read this in my early teens when it originally came out in 1978. All that I’m really going to say is that it Freaked. Me. Out. And I couldn’t wait to get to the end—then wished there was more…I’ve oft thought about it through the years. Still have my original copy.