The Revenant

by Hugh Zachary

A PRESENCE FROM THE PAST

The last of the light faded, leaving her in total darkness. She heard a sound at her back, and, in quick panic, turned her head to see him.

He was coming slowly down the stairs, a huge man, in a Confederate uniform, all in tatters. His hair was wild and matted, his beard as long as his waist and hanging in greasy folds. He glowed with a red light. She froze, unable to scream.

The light spread until the house was filled with an eerie glow that followed him as he kept coming closer. Then she saw his face. His lips were bloody...he smelled of decay....

Genres: Horror

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 2, 1988

About the author

Hugh Derrel Zachary is an American novelist who has written science fiction novels under the pseudonyms Zach Hughes and Evan Innes. His other pseudonyms include Peter Kanto and Pablo Kane. He received his education from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, served in the U.S. Army, and worked in broadcast journalism in Florida.

Zachary describes himself as "the most published, underpaid and most unknown writer in the U.S."

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 4 out of 5]

old-fashioned haunted house tale, through an 80s scrim. Confederate soldiers and German nannies and Yankee villains, back from the dead. a beautifully restored mansion, complete with hidden rooms. a nuclear family unit, in danger. the little lady is a happy homemaker, until she isn't. the master of the house is a genial chauvinist, making all the worst mistakes. the psychic friend, to the rescue. the two little girls, barely fazed by it all. a 3 star book, elevated to 4. a forgotten writer, author of last year's find Gwen In Green. a novel that accomplished all of its goals, perfectly.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun haunted house romp with a civil war theme (or perhaps I should say, 'the war of Northern aggression' as the Southern bias is definitely here). Our main protagonist, Jean Whitney, is the mom of two young girls and happily married to her hubbie. In fact, Jean is the ultimate hausfrau, to a point that it had me gagging a bit. This was first published in 1988, but the gender dynamics are straight from the 50s. Jean always wanted a nice house to raise her girls, but her husband Vance never made enough money, even though he is an engineer in the nuclear power industry.

When the family relocated to Vicksburg, Mississippi, Jean the girls stumbled almost literally upon an old mansion right next to a civil war ('war of Northern aggression) monument/park. The house, deemed the 'Yankee house' by the locals, was destroyed in preparation of a Yankee invasion from the Mississippi river. Yet, it was rebuilt to original specs in the 1880s. So, the locals never considered it historic (compared to the antebellum mansions that survived the war). Further, no one ever seems to stay there very long. While it needs a lot of work, Jean and Vance make a lowball offer that clears, and spend their savings fixing the place up.

At first, Jean is in heaven, owning a 'rich person's house', with its teak and other hardwood paneling, stained glass windows, etc. As time goes by, however, strange things start to happen. Jean's buddy from way back, who also possesses psychic power (this was the 80s!) warns here to not dig around the foundations of the house, sensing something evil. The ghost of a german nanny also makes her presence felt, a rather benign haunting to be sure, but are there other haunts? One of the little girls, who obviously also has psychic power, keeps talking about a 'him' doing things around the place. Vance, the hard headed engineer type, of course will have no talk of ghosts, attributing to 'female imagination'...

Overall, well paced and some good surprises, but I could not relate to either Jean or Vance. Jean lives to please her man, raising his children and making the house spotless; she quips once that she would never have voted for the equal rights amendment. Uber hausfrau squared! Vance is a typical 'male' who does what he wants unless his wife can seduce him and distract him with sex. Frankly, I was hoping the foo would do them in! If you can get around this bit, the story is fun, but I will not go into more of the plot to avoid spoilers. The girls were the best characters, and yes again, the 80s horror genre seemed to have an abundance of children as main characters. This does tick off many buttons in the 80s horror genre, but not a standout. 3 Johnny Reb stars!!

[Will Errickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars but feeling generous so 4 it is! Solid haunted house story, nicely written, even charming in places (the two little girls featured on the cover actually talk like two little girls). Full review:

http://toomuchhorrorfiction.blogspot....

[R.J. Roles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a fun read with a few things that I felt drug it down.

[Victoria Zieger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good ghost story with a flare of historical fiction mixed in. You can definitely tell that this is an older boom with the language and the way it is written. I liked the premise and the haunted house story, but I didn’t love the way it came together. I was expecting it to be more suspenseful and scary.