Age of Consent

by Howard Mittelmark

Peter Coulter, ignoring the whispered rumors about the house he lives in, finds history repeating itself when his sister, once popular and outgoing, becomes self-destructive, and his father is possessed by a sudden calling from God, which urges them to do horrible things. Original.

Genres: Horror

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 6, 2007

About the author

I've been writing and editing for a long time. A while ago, I got together with Sandra Newman, and we put everything we had figured out reading and working on hundreds, possibly thousands, of published and unpublished novels, and put it all into How Not To Write A Novel. It's sort of an encyclopedia of mistakes every beginning writer makes. It's very funny. Really. You can read some excerpts at hownottowriteanovel.com. I can't guarantee you'll write a good novel if you read it, but it would be very hard not to write a better novel.


I used to review a lot: many, many books for Kirkus Reviews, and also for newspapers, including the New York Times and the Washington Post. So I have all these reviews sitting around, and I thought I'd post some of them here, which I'm mentioning to explain why some of my reviews read exactly like reviews that were written for Kirkus.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the title makes this sound a little skeezy, Age of Consent is not some tawdry Lolita knockoff, and I actually have no idea why Mittelmark chose the title. At first, I thought this would be some haunted house tale, and all the elements were there. Phil Coulter, an up and coming historian with a major book about Joseph Smith and the Mormons, starts the novel moving his teenage son Peter and daughter Virginia to their recently renovated house in Seneca, NY from NYC. The contractors who resorted the early 19th century house all had 'issues' with noises, seeing things and so forth, and strangely, even though the house had been empty since 1971, no local teenagers or bums used or tore up the place at all.

Something is obviously up with the house-- all three of its new inhabitants start having wildly erotic dreams shortly after they arrive. Nonetheless, Phil starts his new job at the local college and working on his next book, and Peter and Virginia start school. Peter, pretty much a loser, suddenly finds himself with some new friends, and even a girlfriend! They may be stoners and such, but friends! Virginia, once the 'leader' of her pals at school, suddenly finds herself without any friends at all. Total role reversal. While these events transpire, and Virginia seems to be going down hill rapidly (gaining weight, not washing, and even cutting herself as her new 'imaginary' friend consoles her), Mittelmark switches timelines to 1971. The house Phil and kids moved into at that time was something of an anti-fraternity, housing student activists struggling against the war and using lots of drugs.

Mittelmark continues oscillating timelines throughout, following the Phil family on the one hand and the students living in the house on the other. Phil's research involves the many revivalist religious movements that began in Western New York state. Going through archives, he finds out that the very house they live in once housed Joseph Smith of Mormon fame, and after him, John Humphrey Noyes, the founder of what became known as the Oneida Community, which preached a version of 'free love' and open relationships. What is it about the area? Something in the water, or maybe, just maybe, something else!

I loved the historical aspect, even if Mittelmark kinda was a little fast and loose with history here, and I am familiar with the basic outlines of the movements he mentioned. Also, the 1971 timeline and the students Mittelmark did very well-- you can almost smell the weed while hearing about the establishment and the Man! Pretty soon, all the members of the Phil household encounter some long haired hippy type in the woods around the house, and something similar happens to the students from 1971. Who is this guy? I will leave it at that. I found this smart, loaded with some pretty heavy duty sex, and pretty creepy as well. Hard to believe this came out in 2007! 4.5 crazy stars, rounding down for the explosive, but rather abrupt denouement.

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Debut novels, unknown authors, that's always a gamble. This one was a pleasant surprise. It starts off a bit slow, but then really develops nicely. I liked the background story, the characters were well developed and well written, both kids and adults, which is always nice to see, and there was a decent amount of horror of both psychical and psychological variety. Several openly cringe inducing scenes. Excellent realistic dialogue. Good pacing, quick read. Overall, I liked it a lot and highly recommend it.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is excellent as long as you love being scared and grossed out. I didn't figure the ending out til the end--the part about the...

*spoiler*














...long haired guy being a demon OR the true god, if you will.


The good guys do win after it's all said and done.

[Irene Webb · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like this. It was weird in a bad way. I think the main problem of this book was that we didn't see the family before they moved into this house. So it was hard to tell how much everyone changed because of the place. Everyone basically was effected sexually. They had these sex dreams and they would have sex with ghosts from the forest. The dad would have really gross thoughts. He was a pervy man and i don't think it was just the house. It was like this family was possessed by them. The whole story about the cult was dumb. They didnt even do anything crazy. All they did was die on a boat together. Reading about them felt pointless like the whole book. Not much happend. There was Victoria who went from popular girl to outcast. She would cut herself and talk to a strange man in her room. She made friends which was cute. But that ended cause her dad was a creep so she tried fucking her brother. Then Peter was going through drug problems. He was pervy at times too. The ending was stupid because the dad stole Victoria so she wouldn't lose her virginity. But then he died from the explosives in her backpack. I dont even know why she had bombs. This book didnt make sense to me and i didn't like it.

[Meagan Houle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here we have a haunted-house tale fairly typical of the genre. A family moves into a house with a troubled past, and begins to relive the atrocities that happened in or around it. No one is spared, and as the mother, Julia, retreats to her safe apartment in New York City, and her husband Phil dives deeply into his mysterious work, it's left to their children to unfold the house's story and free everyone from its malevolent influence.
The story may not be brimming with originality, but it's highly readable. I appreciated that it was as much about coming of age as it was about evil ghosts. I particularly enjoyed the historical tidbits concerning religion, hippy culture, and the spirit of American revolution.
If ghost stories are a special favourite of yours, you'll certainly want to look this one up.

[Tori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Age of Consent was a quick and "enjoyable" read, meaning it was twisted and succeeded in sufficiently creeping me out. Just as I hoped it would! It was not the most original horror novel that I have read, but it felt like a fresh take on the haunted house trope. I was disappointed in the end because we never did find out who, or what, the villain was and their place in the cosmos (if he was the "True God" etc). However, I did appreciate the humor at the end for both Walker and the children.

[Justin Bog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Age of Consent was a short paperback book calling to me from the stacks of a forgotten bookstore (they do forget) . . . I wanted something scary and quick to get me through a stormy fall October and the revenants within Age of Consent did their job. I wished for more from the author, but he's also been forgotten, fallen off the horror map, and that's a shame. The book would do well to be shared and recommended by all horror lovers. There's sex, drugs, and rock and roll between the covers and a house that remains wickedly subversive in its dealings of the living. Loved the cult grotesquerie and will probably revisit the book.

[Sabrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a clever horror thriller with a creative plot and two interrelations stories. The characters were relatable and believable, with high levels of description to paint the scenes in the reader's mind. All in all great read and I would highly recommend this book to anyone not afraid of a little explicitness. Not for children.

[Andrea Norwood]

I must comment on yet another one of my great reads. This novel had me angry everytime I was interrupted and had to clean house cook for daughter are were interrupted period for whatever reason, that is just how great a book it was. So read it!

[Karina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a page turner from page 1, I read it in about 5 hours. Then it just ended! It was horrible. It builds you up and then in one page it ended! I was VERY disapointed!!

[Emily Mittelmark · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not very poetic.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed reading this book.

[Lilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can see why a lot of people were disgruntled about the ending; it is rather lacklustre and tidy compared to the build-up, but it didn't bother me.

[Lynne · Rating 2 out of 5]

A page turner, but just ended leaving me hanging.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I could barely put it down because I needed to find out how it ended, I wasn't too impressed overall. Still, pretty fun. And twisted.

[Susan Mangigian]

recommended to Paul Slaybaugh as similar to his writing style.