The Force

by Alan Radnor

Beaconhead... brooding, mysterious, the heart of a terrible secret which explodes in mind-shattering madness.

When Austin Cave arranges to rent the old farmhouse in Cornwall for six months, he does not dream that his life is about to be changed completely. At first he is only slightly disturbed by the odd incidents occurring in the house, but gradually he becomes aware that there are powers at work in Beaconhead which cannot be ignored for much longer.

He begins to piece together the links in the chain—an old photograph, a story half-ashamedly told in the pub one evening, a growing sense of terrible menace—then Austin himself is almost destroyed by the baleful presence which invades Beaconhead.

Almost—but not quite. Yet when Austin recovers, he realises that the nightmare is only just beginning...

Genres: Horror

212 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 31, 1979

Reviews

[Dimitri Kartsaklis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised to find myself the first person who rates and comments on this book. I read it many years ago as a teenager, and for a long time I consider it as the prototypical haunted house setting, absolutely terrifying — until I read The Haunting of Hill House. Still, this book remained one of my favourites until now.

The story follows the typical plot line: An academic seeks some isolation to write his thesis, and rents an old farmhouse somewhere in Cornwell. He moves there first, before the rest of his family, in order to make the necessary preparations and to buy himself some time of undistracted writing. However, from the very beginning weird things start to happen: there is this constant noise coming from the attic, like someone is dragging something heavy... and, sometimes, when he works outside of the house, he is pretty sure he can spot a mysterious cross-like figure in the attic window.

I'm not going to reveal more of the plot, but I do have a warning. The book has three parts: My description above refers mainly to the first part, which serves as a preamble for what is going to happen next; this is my favourite part of the book, and mainly the reason for my four stars in this review. The second part is the climax of the story; terrifying things happen there, in a very unsettling manner, and the experience you get is very different from the subtle horror and underlying creepiness of the first part. The third (very short) part finally offers an explanation, which I'm still not sure it fits very well to the rest of the book. I must admit, at times I had the feeling I was reading different stories... Still, I think there is more to gain than to lose by reading this book, so I would recommend it to any horror fan without much hesitation.

[Michael Webster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book, did not realise this author was the writer of Spiders, under the name of Richard Lewis. Looking for more of his work online.