At Gehenna's Door

Point Horror Unleashed

by Peter Beere

Lost and cold, Caroline and her friends stumble upon an old house hidden in the mists on the moor. It is called "Gehenna - place of torment". It doesn't look very inviting, and Franklin, the owner, is the stuff of nightmares. But it's not as though Gehenna will be their final resting place, is it?

Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Paranormal

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

I live in Somerset with my wife Marti and Mitzi, a Welsh collie. Obviously they control everything and I am a mere hanger-on. Older than I look, I remember smoking on the shore as the Ark was being launched and thinking to myself, 'That folly will never float.' And, 'I ought to give these things up.'
I have been described as 'an original thinker, with a battered energy and a dark but hopeful sense of humour'. Which is better than I could have come up with.
That's pretty much it. I am always happy to chat and can be contacted at pbeere@sky.com.
Buy my books, tell others, and we'll be friends for ever more.

Reviews

[Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of those books where the house is the main character and the actual people are very flat. I felt grossed out the whole time I was reading it. We start out with a few mentions of grease-coated dishes and no running water and then the second half of the book is all about torn flesh, maggots, and drinking blood from rats. Don’t even think about trying to snack while reading this! 🤢

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

* 4 girls go camping, but get stuck when the weather turns bad. They trek on until they come across a house where they can ask for shelter. The house is called Gehenna. The man who lives there (Franklin) explains that Gehenna means 'place of torment'.
* The girls are offered shelter in the house but choose to sleep in the barn. In the night one of the girls hears noises and is sure that someone is on the barn's roof.
* After 2 nights the rain stops, but thick fog rolls in, and they can't see to make their way out of the marsh.
* The next night one of the girls (Lou) can't sleep and goes exploring around the house. She then disappears, and a comment is made to make you think that they're unknowingly eating her for breakfast.
* A man called Martin turns up with his dog Jess, he is also lost. Franklin takes his gun away and tells him the dog has to stay outside.
* Amy and Jade go looking for Lou, while Caroline gets to know Martin. Jade goes down some hidden stairs and into the catacombs below the house. She finds a book about a man and a woman (Robert and Agnes) from 500 years ago. Agnes was a servant, and Robert was in the dungeon prison. They fell in love, and survived in the tunnels below while others died of the plague. Jade explores the tunnels below the house and is tricked into opening a grate and going deeper, seemingly by Robert. She keeps going deeper, and is attacked and killed by Robert.
* Caroline and Martin go into the catacombs, they come across a strange man eating a lamb's entrails. Human bodies are hanging on the walls. They run, but Martin can't go on with an injury to his leg. He stays to try to shoot the thing, while Caroline runs.
* Caroline and Amy see Franklin who is more unnerving than usual. They end up trapped in their room. They wonder if the thing in the tunnels is Robert - the man from 500 years ago.
* A stranger comes into the room and tells them that he is Franklin's grandson (Lucien) - he's been disowned because he has Huntingdon's chorea.
* He says they need to leave, but they refuse to try to escape when they don't know what happened to Lou, Jade, and Martin.
* He takes them into the tunnels where they wander round, and find Martin.
* Amy tries to shoot Robert, but shoots the ceiling and he gets clobbered by falling rocks.
* The dog attacks Robert and is mortally wounded.
* They end up outside with Robert chasing Lucien through the swamp. The fog has lifted a little, and methane swamp gas is making it hard to breath. Lucien calls to the others to throw their oil lamp which will ignite the gas and kill Robert. The girls don't want to do it because it will also kill Lucien.
* Suddenly another crippled figure comes crawling out of the fog, it is Agnes who has been trapped in the catacombs for 15 years surviving on grubs. She's had enough and throws the lantern herself. Agnes and Lucien both die, but Robert survives because he is a necrophobe.
* Robert is finally defeated by the elements - because he's unnatural.
* The girls are left to go back to the house and see if any of their friends have survived.

This was okay, if a little dull in places. I did wonder if the unspecified meat they were being fed was human. Franklin was a bit of an oddball, but there's not a lot you can do when you can't leave a place. It was a shame that so many had to die. And of course, I hate that the book ended when it did and we didn't find out what happened to the girl, if they found their friends, and if they ever made it home ☹

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first foray into the Point Horror Unleashed series, which attempted to platform British authors and be an edgier older sister to the classic Point Horror series. I was pleasantly surprised. This is gothic horror set in England where the house is the main character and everyone in it is more than a little bit mysterious. I was compelled by the mystery of the house and I thought the set up was done well.

This book is successful in a creepy, gory, dirty, unpleasant way. The prose is flowery and probably overwritten but overall it worked for me, although I can see why other readers might have given up on it. The dialogue didn't feel natural for most of the characters and the characters were underdeveloped but I'd argue those points for most of the classic Point Horror series too. I'm interested to see what the other Point Horror Unleashed books have in store.

[Anj_1 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very slow. Didn't find it particularly engaging. Bit of a chore to read

[Elisa Gaskell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Se nota que es un libro dirigido a niños/adolescentes y como tal creo que funciona muy bien. Recuerdo leerlo siendo bastante pequeña y me flipó, así que supongo que es una lectura genial para preadolescentes a los que les guste el terror.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for our podcast Teenage Scream, which dissects the best (and worst) of 90s Teen Horror.

https://soundcloud.com/teenagescream

[L · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot was interesting but I felt like it dragged a lot.

[Dimity Hubbub · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Darkness Loves Us meets Inside No 9 meets absolute melodrama

[Lorrie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Laughably awful

[Paloma Kuenzli · Rating 1 out of 5]

Buenos personajes, buen plot, buen ritmo y super interesante todo eso le falta a esta 💩 media estrella

[EmmyLou · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember picking this up when I was in high school and having enjoyed most of the point horror series as well as being intrigued by the plot idea, I decided to read it. Granted, I have certainly read worse than this, I have read better.
As a few have mentioned, the characters seem to be very two dimensional with there only seeming to be two sides and even then, they lack any kind of personality; the actual writing aspect of the story seems to go from being chilling and tense to sounding slightly strange from time to time. Also this may just be me but I honestly didn't like the ending either if I'm being honest.
Perhaps if it had been written by someone else or the writer tried to add more to the characters, it could honestly be a really spooky story but still, there are worse books out there. I'd recommend a person to read this if they maybe didn't have much else to read since it passes the time well enough.

[Paul Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual page number- 265 pages

Sometimes horrifying with disturbing descriptions, actually tense scenes, and creepy setting but sometimes dull as there were parts where not much happens.

All characters were stock and flat and I can never tell the girls apart as their characters weren't fleshed out.

The writing is sometimes murky from its bizarre description but sometimes it was descriptive to fit the mood.

Overall, the book is serviceable and fitting with horror genre that it could be worth a try for horror fans.

[Kirsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

If DH Lawrence and HP Lovecraft got together to write a teen horror novel, the result would read something like this.

Read this for Teenage Scream podcast (lovingly dissecting the best and worst of 90s teen horror)

https://soundcloud.com/teenagescream

[Chris Jestin-Thoraval · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gripping!