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China House
High on a hill in Salem, Massachusetts CHINA HOUSE, an elegant mansion, stands deserted. Something happened there twenty years ago that prompted the wealthy Evans family to abandon the house, never to return. Now haunted by the memory of his dead twin brother, Scott Evans inherits CHINA HOUSE and its secrets. With his lover, Michael Armstrong, Scott invites an authority on the Supernatural, Dr. Howard Roth, to spend a week in CHINA HOUSE. Other invitees are the doctor's son, Ken, and the doctor's assistant, Alice Miller. Three hot young men and a lady in love with her boss account for the sexual tension in CHINA HOUSE when the party is isolated by a winter storm. But WHO, or WHAT, is responsible for the mysterious sights and sounds orchestrating this erotic tableau?
204 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
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49 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 28, 2018
Thank heavens Vincent Lardo wrote extensively. Under two pen names that I know of, he's done ten books, perhaps more, and discovering either Vincent Lardo or Lawrence Sanders (the pen name) is a treat for a reader. According to the promos, under the byline of Sanders he has "more than 50 million books in print," which is amazing for any writer anywhere ... much less one who had four titles in the Alyson Books range.
Alyson did China House, The Prince and the Pretender, and The Mask of Narcissus, back in the 1980s, and they did it in an "edition" which offered the best-looking covers on gay books that were being done in that era. (GMP was around at the time, but they had a tradition of Really Terrible Covers ... "arty" kind of jackets, full of clashing colors and scribble-impressionism that didn't inspire you with much desire to order the book out of the catalog!)
China House was actually Lardo's debut novel in 1983, but you'd never have known it, because it's so polished. I don't think I'm wrong in guessing that VL had done loads of writing before getting to the "first novel" hurdle. The Mask of Narcissus was apparently the most popular novel from Alyson, but I'll be deadly honest, China House is my own favorite. I like Gothic novels, and China... is a very good one.
The first three thing I look for when I'm thinking about laying down good money and buying a book is, do I like the characters? (If you don't like the characters, you'll get irritated to death by a book that's 200pp long.) China... has fantastic characters. There are four that you meet in the first few chapters, who are crucial to the story -- Scott Evans and Mike Armstrong, friends and lovers; and Howard Roth, who's a kind of parapsychologist who's been called in to check out a creepy old house, and Howard's son, Ken.
The cover doesn't lie ... Scott and Mike are gorgeous. They're young, smart, sexy. And scared. The house, China House, is weird. You know that from the start. It's full of "atmosphere," and no secret is made of the fact that something very not-nice happened there about a generation ago.
As the story starts, Scott has just inherited the place, and rather than bulldoze it to the ground and start over (which I would be doing!) he gets in the psychic investigator (Howard) and determines to get to the bottom of what's "up" with the house.
The story is set on the east coast of the US, which has interested me since I saw Jaws in the theaters about 30 years ago. (The movie was set on a mythical island called Amity, but it was filmed in Martha's Vineyard, which is not far south of Cape Cod -- just up the road from the location of China House. So, if you've ever seen Jaws, the stage is set for the opening of the book. Then, take a swing over to Salem, MA, add in something like the creepy old house from The Changeling, and you're good to go.)
And this is the point where I have to start being careful not to give away plot spoilers. There's a dead identical twin ... and the house is seriously weird. And, is Scott haunted, or ill? Is Mike taking advantage of him? Why would he do that?!
Does the book have a downside? Not really. I kinda hoped it would turn out differently, but the ending is Vincent Lardo's prerogative, not mine! Still ... you could hope.
If you're looking for a book that's part thriller, part suspense, part ghost story, and with a great gay theme, you've found it. Marvelous reading for a winter's night, with the wood stove lit and a glass of brandy.
AG's rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Alyson did China House, The Prince and the Pretender, and The Mask of Narcissus, back in the 1980s, and they did it in an "edition" which offered the best-looking covers on gay books that were being done in that era. (GMP was around at the time, but they had a tradition of Really Terrible Covers ... "arty" kind of jackets, full of clashing colors and scribble-impressionism that didn't inspire you with much desire to order the book out of the catalog!)
China House was actually Lardo's debut novel in 1983, but you'd never have known it, because it's so polished. I don't think I'm wrong in guessing that VL had done loads of writing before getting to the "first novel" hurdle. The Mask of Narcissus was apparently the most popular novel from Alyson, but I'll be deadly honest, China House is my own favorite. I like Gothic novels, and China... is a very good one.
The first three thing I look for when I'm thinking about laying down good money and buying a book is, do I like the characters? (If you don't like the characters, you'll get irritated to death by a book that's 200pp long.) China... has fantastic characters. There are four that you meet in the first few chapters, who are crucial to the story -- Scott Evans and Mike Armstrong, friends and lovers; and Howard Roth, who's a kind of parapsychologist who's been called in to check out a creepy old house, and Howard's son, Ken.
The cover doesn't lie ... Scott and Mike are gorgeous. They're young, smart, sexy. And scared. The house, China House, is weird. You know that from the start. It's full of "atmosphere," and no secret is made of the fact that something very not-nice happened there about a generation ago.
As the story starts, Scott has just inherited the place, and rather than bulldoze it to the ground and start over (which I would be doing!) he gets in the psychic investigator (Howard) and determines to get to the bottom of what's "up" with the house.
The story is set on the east coast of the US, which has interested me since I saw Jaws in the theaters about 30 years ago. (The movie was set on a mythical island called Amity, but it was filmed in Martha's Vineyard, which is not far south of Cape Cod -- just up the road from the location of China House. So, if you've ever seen Jaws, the stage is set for the opening of the book. Then, take a swing over to Salem, MA, add in something like the creepy old house from The Changeling, and you're good to go.)
And this is the point where I have to start being careful not to give away plot spoilers. There's a dead identical twin ... and the house is seriously weird. And, is Scott haunted, or ill? Is Mike taking advantage of him? Why would he do that?!
Does the book have a downside? Not really. I kinda hoped it would turn out differently, but the ending is Vincent Lardo's prerogative, not mine! Still ... you could hope.
If you're looking for a book that's part thriller, part suspense, part ghost story, and with a great gay theme, you've found it. Marvelous reading for a winter's night, with the wood stove lit and a glass of brandy.
AG's rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars.
April 12, 2012
It was a very good mystery but I was disappointed because the romance was non existent. There was a hint of attraction but it was more of an after thought and was never pursued in the story. It was a very elaborate mystery thriller. No supernatural ghosts either.
July 6, 2025
Scott Evans, the troubled scion of a wealthy family is convinced that his twin brother has returned from the dead and is murderously interfering in his life. Desperate to lay his fears to rest, he and his lover Mike invite Howard Roth, a psychologist with an interest in the paranormal, the psychologist’s assistant Alice Miller, and his son Ken, a bestselling author, to spend a week at the spooky Salem mansion where Scott's brother died.
By far the creepiest element of this novel is the tense, flirtatious, quasi-incestuous relationship between the Roths. This was evidently considered a selling point, since the back-cover blurb promises that ‘China House has everything: romance, intrigue… and a father-son relationship that’s closer than most.’ Perhaps I’m being naïve, and within the genre of modern gothic this is no more than a mildly titillating element which more experienced readers know not to take too seriously, but I didn’t like it. It really spoilt the first third of the story for me, and I was minded to downgrade my rating. However, since I was already hovering at the two-star mark – although the plotting is decent with a good final surprise, the prose is basic, the people stock figures and the dialogue no great shakes – this felt unfair.
I became bored by the amount of chain-smoking and whisky- and wine-drinking everyone was doing; it made the novel (first published in 1983) seem peculiarly dated, and the twentysomething characters implausibly dissolute and middle-aged.
By far the creepiest element of this novel is the tense, flirtatious, quasi-incestuous relationship between the Roths. This was evidently considered a selling point, since the back-cover blurb promises that ‘China House has everything: romance, intrigue… and a father-son relationship that’s closer than most.’ Perhaps I’m being naïve, and within the genre of modern gothic this is no more than a mildly titillating element which more experienced readers know not to take too seriously, but I didn’t like it. It really spoilt the first third of the story for me, and I was minded to downgrade my rating. However, since I was already hovering at the two-star mark – although the plotting is decent with a good final surprise, the prose is basic, the people stock figures and the dialogue no great shakes – this felt unfair.
I became bored by the amount of chain-smoking and whisky- and wine-drinking everyone was doing; it made the novel (first published in 1983) seem peculiarly dated, and the twentysomething characters implausibly dissolute and middle-aged.
June 3, 2013
I didn't like this at first. Howard, who is more or less the central character at the beginning, is a middle aged psychologist, a single father to a twenty-something son. We're told that he looks far younger than his age. He certainly acts it, with a strange immaturity and a raging jealousy of his son's success. He also has a bizarre sexual focus on his son. The son, Ken, is an author with five best sellers under his belt so far, and he's making as much on each book as his father makes in a year. Not implausible at all. The other characters are Scott, the rich, troubled young man; Mike, his best friend/lover; and Alice, Howard's assistant and former lover, whom he keeps falling into bed with.
The story really takes off at the half way point, when they arrive at China House, the mansion that Scott's family has left standing empty for 20 years, since his twin brother died in a tragic accident in the house. From this point on it's pure, delicious, creepy Gothic, with a blizzard, mysterious happenings, and the mental state of all five characters seemingly deteriorating.
At about 70% I was pretty sure I knew what was going on, and I was half right. Like all well done mysteries, the solution was there, but enough was going on that I didn't pick up on the whole picture until the reveal at the end.
I'm glad I stuck with it, even though I really didn't like Howard in the beginning. I thoroughly enjoyed the creepy atmosphere, the shifting relationships among the five characters, and the mystery that evolved through the whole book.
The story really takes off at the half way point, when they arrive at China House, the mansion that Scott's family has left standing empty for 20 years, since his twin brother died in a tragic accident in the house. From this point on it's pure, delicious, creepy Gothic, with a blizzard, mysterious happenings, and the mental state of all five characters seemingly deteriorating.
At about 70% I was pretty sure I knew what was going on, and I was half right. Like all well done mysteries, the solution was there, but enough was going on that I didn't pick up on the whole picture until the reveal at the end.
I'm glad I stuck with it, even though I really didn't like Howard in the beginning. I thoroughly enjoyed the creepy atmosphere, the shifting relationships among the five characters, and the mystery that evolved through the whole book.
April 19, 2018
This is an underrated and unfairly forgotten book. It's a compelling LGBTQ gothic novel in the classic sense, with everything you could possibly want from the genre: a mysterious house atop a lonely snow-covered bluff, mysterious noises in the night, sightings of a dead child's ghost, dreams and hallucinations, a slew of red herrings, and scene descriptions worthy of Daphne Du Maurier. I almost forgot to mention the serious incest vibes between a main character and his father.
The author published more acclaimed LGBTQ mysteries including The Mask of Narcissus and The Jockstrap Murder; he would go on to ghostwrite novels for Lawrence Sanders.
The author published more acclaimed LGBTQ mysteries including The Mask of Narcissus and The Jockstrap Murder; he would go on to ghostwrite novels for Lawrence Sanders.
April 22, 2012
Ok gay gothic mystery about a small group of people staying for a week in China House, which has been empty for 20 years... except for a ghost? I didn't particularly care for any of the characters and could've definitely lived without the incestuous overtones in the story.
April 12, 2016
I liked this book a lot. It had spooky qualities and I wasn't sure if it was a genuine spook or a case of human fuckery. The characters were good, it made me think, plus I didn't know what was going to happen ten pages ahead of the narrative. Great ending.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews