The School

by T.M. Wright

Working together to transform an abandoned old public school into a bed-and-breakfast, Frank and Allison Hitchcock soon feel the ghosts of the hallways, including the vengeful spirit of a teacher. Reprint.

Genres: Horror, Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Terrance Michael Wright (AKA T. M. Wright) is best known as a writer of horror fiction, speculative fiction, and poetry. He has written over 25 novels, novellas, and short stories over the last 40 years. His first novel, 1978's Strange Seed, was nominated for a World Fantasy Award, and his 2003 novel Cold House was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award. His novels have been translated into many different languages around the world. His works have been reviewed by Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, and many genre magazines.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good ghost story by T.M. Wright, one of many such he produced. This one is a little atypical in that things are tied-up and explained with a bit more than his usual amount of detail, but it still has his dreamlike quality of questionable reality and perception. It concerns a pleasant married couple who have lost their child. They have purchased an old school building to live in, with the intention of converting it into a bed-and-breakfast, and from their things get weird (-er). (I -know- some of -my- teachers were supernaturally evil!) It's a nice, spooky read.

[Kevin Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesomely surreal, a classic T. M. Wright tale. If you can get past the conceit of a couple buying and ten-year abandoned school to live in, you're in for a nightmarish, fever-dream about reality, its distortion, death, life and eternity. It seems like a very weird, almost improbable concept - the couple buying the school to live in. It's not long, however, before you realize that Frank and Allison are weird themselves, and haven't been right since their son died. Wright does a wonderful job easing them into a world into which they become more and more uneasy with their surroundings and themselves. I also liked how the disturbances of the school spread out and affected the roads surrounding it, and anyone driving those roads.

[Iris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wonder if Mariko Koike read this before writing The Graveyard Apartment. They are extremely similar in theme, pacing, structure, and tone.

Speaking of literary theft, this book's characters include a mother field mouse living with her babies in a concrete block. The film The Secret of NIMH came out several years before The School was written (and the books were years before that), but it's an obvious borrowing.

I just can't decide how I feel about this book. I like the dreamlike quality. I like the tenderness and respect shared by the married main characters. I don't like how many of the loose ends feel careless rather than dreamlike. I don't like that Wright describes the breasts of every. SINGLE. FEMALE. CHARACTER. I don't like that we have to read about mice starving to death for no reason.

But then there's a concrete and happy ending. That's unusual in a novel with no defined villain and a setting that blurs the line between reality and fantasy. Rather than feeling cheap, the happy ending is a relief and a return to normalcy that I appreciated.

[David Cervantes · Rating 2 out of 5]

A couple buy an abandoned school, which is reputed to be haunted. Various strange things happen, which are never satisfactorily explained. Nothing is resolved. I actually met a man who said he was the author's cousin not long after I read the book. He asked me what I thought about it, and I gave my honest opinion. He said, "Yeah, I've read a few of his books. They all build up to something big, and nothing happens." So much for that.

[Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

T.M. Wright is the master of quiet horror. The ending might now wow a lot of readers, but the journey is interesting.

[Debra]

Stephen King recommended author: "T.M. Wright is a rare and blazing talent!"

[Terry and dog · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book a long time ago and recently remembered it, so had to go in search of another copy since I had given mine away in a purge one year (I regret getting rid of a lot of my books now).
Anyways, I really liked this one and it stayed in my mind, maybe it was the idea of making a home out of an old school, and how cool that could be. It is great horror as well and has sparked many dreams/nightmares.
I'm keeping my copy this time.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great premise with some really well written characters. If you're into weird fiction which blends horror and fantasy (though only a sprinkle) this one is right up your alley. The only thing which didn't sit well with me was the side story which read like a lucid dream and didn't really have any meaningful interaction with the main plot - still enjoyable in its own right though.

[Walter · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is bad stuff. It’s almost the worst stuff.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would have given it another star had they not left the dog behind, and had the ending not been so abrupt.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a crazy read. It made me think of an old Twilight Zone or Outer Limits while I was reading it. I quite enjoyed it.

[G · Rating 1 out of 5]

This isn't quiet horror, it's just horrible writing. Deservedly forgotten.

[Bob Box · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read in 1991. Low grade horror novel.

[Kimberly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really?

[Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of T.M. Wright's bests. A ghost story like only he can tell, with subtlety and style and a touch of the surreal.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very strange ending