Baby Grand

by Joe Keene, William W. Johnstone

Late at night, the children in the neighborhood of the old and abandoned Wellington house hear eerie strains of music that seductively lure them into the horrors of the haunted house.

Genres: Horror

427 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1987

Reviews

[I.D. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh, false advertising. There is no skeleton playing a piano in this book. There are however way too many plots that don’t all fit or get wrapped up. You’ve got a ghost piano, satanic cult, witches, ghosts, demon rape, mass hallucinations, curses, ex mercenary who happened to also play in a band, kidnaped girls, zombies, werewolves, and exorcisms. It seems like it’s going to get crazy but it never hits third gear and is always just kind of there. The perfunctory writing style doesn’t help either. This should have been much better with a cover like it had.

[Jax Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book, what a great roller coaster ride! Part Jeepers Creepers, Part The Exorcist, Part The Stand…the town of Kenwood has a secret, and a vendetta, and a powerful family who once lived in the old mansion. Bill Elliot is a retired P.I. who returns home to Kenwood hoping to enjoy the quiet times of retirement, but his plans are cut short by some strange goings-on, not the least of which is a rash of kidnappings of local girls, and boys. His best friend, Joe Conrad, has him stay at his house while he’s away. Joe has a piano, a haunted baby grand that plays of its own accord. Oh, if you’re a musician and want to play it you can go right ahead, but the piano will play what it wants, regardless of what you may try to play. A lost girl, Carol, his only real ally, a distant, abusive mother, townsfolk speaking in riddles don’t much help Bill to figure out what’s going on, but he puts the puzzle pieces together and thinks he has the secrets mostly figured out. Bill is in for the battle of his life to try and put an end to the kidnappings and the very odd goings-on round town, but can he do it in time? This was a great story, ghosts, shape-shifters, haunted house, haunted piano. Loved it! And no, don’t read the cover literally, there is no skeleton playing the piano, I don’t know why people thought there was. It’s just great cover art.

[Jean Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, is about the spirit of a satanic person that just happened to play the piano, yes another review said false advertising, but is not about skeleton, just the concept of someone's soul still lingering around causing trouble, now it does pick up quick, and that's how it hooks you, it's a roller coaster ride from beginning to end, if you cant put 2&2 together you may be left hanging, but great read nonetheless

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Revisiting this one was a hoot! I'm still leaving the three stars because the book (and its author) has sentimental value for me. That makes it difficult to criticize the book too harshly, but also leaves me with very little to say in the way of comments. Oh well.

[Tome Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another thrill ride from Johnstone and newcomer Joseph Keene. So, if you look it up, there’s technically 18 books in William W. Johnstone’s Devil’s series. That’s why a lot of his horror novels all kind of follow the same template. I don’t know why, but I love this series. They’re always exciting. They are always bat shit crazy. And there’s never a dull moment. This book briefly mentions the incidents from the devils kiss, the devils heart, the devils touch and rockinghorse. I can see why some people would get a little upset because not a lot happens. At times it kind of feels more like a mystery novel than a straight up horror novel. But I enjoyed it and I’m going to continue reading all the books in the devils series. Easy five star read.

[Egghead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Narvel Felts mention
gets the book an extra star-
anti-punk loses one.

[Dave Fuentes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the writing in this book is all over the place; featuring unnecessary characters, flashbacks, and subplots - it was still entertaining. The lead character, Bill, was a composite of just about every hyper-macho action hero the 1980s had to offer and the dialogue was unintentionally hilarious. My biggest complaint was that despite the length being about 150 pages too long, the climax still seemed rushed and unsatisfying. Still, the only bad book is a boring one, and "Baby Grand" is anything but that.

[Dee]

Interesting story, I love his horror novels!