What do you think?
Rate this book
Stone
Alan Crombie needs a haven. A new home, a new start for his family. So he buys Cromwath House. He thinks it's heaven on earth. But Cromwath House holds secrets like a maze. It has been built on land that has been desecrated.
- GenresHorror
514 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 27, 1990
2 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 15, 2012
I liked the book. Writing was good and there was no dull moments. Celtic setting reminded me about Phil Rickman books, but here was more action and less mystery. Supernatural happenings confronted reader chapter after chapter... and maybe it was in plain sight too soon. It was good read, but not so original... there was among things this cycle of horrors in certain years thing; which is very familiar from works of S. King and P. Straub and others.
September 26, 2021
It's a shame. I love Donnelly, and this was almost my new favourite. However, the ending was a little too easy and felt very rushed. Far too many loose ends that were never resolved. So, yes, I'm knocking off an entire star in my disappointment.
BUT, this book has some of the most gruesome and unsettling deaths I've read in a very long time.
BUT, this book has some of the most gruesome and unsettling deaths I've read in a very long time.
January 15, 2022
Predictable...
December 18, 2018
This particular story hit me pretty hard due to a number of reasons. Like most of Joe Donnelly's horror, the setting feels very authentic and the characters are generally very interesting. Unfortunately, it also has the signature scenes of violence that in some cases feel like they go way too over the top and I believe take away from what is otherwise a very accessible story.
One of the most well done aspects of this story is, I feel, the description of mental illness and living with someone who has mental illness. Having both grown up with someone close to me suffering from it, and suffering from it myself, I found the feelings being explored very authentic, at least to my experience of it.
One of the most powerful of these was a child, knowing that his parent had problems, experiencing the fear that maybe those same problems could be a part of them as well, the fear that you've someone been 'infected' with this illness. I could very much relate to that as a child/teen.
Unfortunately, it uses the illness as an 'in' for a dark supernatural influence. This is something that I find disappointing considering how well I feel the mental illness aspect was handled in the beginning. I understand mechanically of why this method was chosen. In part, it's showing that these dark powers are unsympathetic and hateful, using everyone's weaknesses against them, but I feel they had already been portrayed negatively enough.
Still, the aspect of being in the pits of despair and emptiness, and the temptation of giving in entirely to dark powers(or dark thoughts/actions) is something that I can understand, and I think this is probably what Joe was going for, to show how mental illness can completely change a person. It's just a little sad to me that the afflicted character became so unsympathetic and beyond saving.
After the intense climax, the ending was ultimately rather unsatisfying for me. It felt like it was trying to leave some kind of ambiguity, but there was absolutely no reason or precedent to do so. That doesn't mean there shouldn't have been any, but in this case it comes off as rather rushed.
Overall, it's a great book but a few issues hold it back from being one of the better ones.
One of the most well done aspects of this story is, I feel, the description of mental illness and living with someone who has mental illness. Having both grown up with someone close to me suffering from it, and suffering from it myself, I found the feelings being explored very authentic, at least to my experience of it.
One of the most powerful of these was a child, knowing that his parent had problems, experiencing the fear that maybe those same problems could be a part of them as well, the fear that you've someone been 'infected' with this illness. I could very much relate to that as a child/teen.
Unfortunately, it uses the illness as an 'in' for a dark supernatural influence. This is something that I find disappointing considering how well I feel the mental illness aspect was handled in the beginning. I understand mechanically of why this method was chosen. In part, it's showing that these dark powers are unsympathetic and hateful, using everyone's weaknesses against them, but I feel they had already been portrayed negatively enough.
Still, the aspect of being in the pits of despair and emptiness, and the temptation of giving in entirely to dark powers(or dark thoughts/actions) is something that I can understand, and I think this is probably what Joe was going for, to show how mental illness can completely change a person. It's just a little sad to me that the afflicted character became so unsympathetic and beyond saving.
After the intense climax, the ending was ultimately rather unsatisfying for me. It felt like it was trying to leave some kind of ambiguity, but there was absolutely no reason or precedent to do so. That doesn't mean there shouldn't have been any, but in this case it comes off as rather rushed.
Overall, it's a great book but a few issues hold it back from being one of the better ones.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews