Breakdown

by Ed Naha

JEFF MCQUEEN THOUGHT HE WAS CRACKING UP...

He believed the strange laughter and the children's voices in his rented mansion were created by his own tormented brain -- and his guilt over the accident that had killed his son.

Then he saw the strange footprints in the garden...

Then "they" came to steal his daughter.

Now Jeff McQueen knows he is sane. The unspeakable terror is real. He alone can save his daughter's life, her immortal soul . . . and his own.

Genres: Horror

216 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1988

Reviews

[Jack Tripper · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a tightly-paced, fairly unnerving read about a writer who, overwhelmed by the extreme guilt he feels over the accident that claimed his young son's life the year previous, decides to rent an old New England mansion with his wife and daughter so that he can get back to writing and attempt to move on in a peaceful environment. Jeff's immediately creeped out by the giant, misty "monster garden" as his daughter calls it, which is filled with several huge, demonic looking stone statues. His daughter ends up loving it, though, and talks about all the other children who play there, even though there are seemingly no kids in town. Jeff thinks she's making it up, but then why does he hear child's laughter there at night? And why ARE there no other children in the entire town? Jeff thinks something wants his daughter, but his wife thinks he may be losing his mind.

I had a lot of fun with this one, as there are a good amount of chilling scenes that slowly ramp up in weirdness and intensity as the novel progresses. At 216 pages, its fast pace kept me reading into the small hours while still providing enough characterization so that I connected with Jeff's plight. The prose style is functional and no-frills, which worked well here, as its "invisibility" allowed me to become fully immersed in the story. It's brimming with horror tropes (but the kind I dig), and gets a bit over the top on occasion in the latter half which somewhat broke the spell at times, but overall this was one of the better 80s paperback originals I've read recently. It reminded me of the 1985 horror/comedy House in a lot of ways, only played straight.

It won't blow anyone's mind, but for a quick and spooky late-night read that can go from cozy to horrifying in an instant, you could certainly do worse. It's too bad Naha didn't write very much horror*, as I would certainly be up for reading more.

*Only this and Orphans, though his work on the post-apocalyptic Traveler series with John Shirley contains a lot of horror elements, and it's a good time if you like men's adventure-style action, but in a Mad Max-ish world filled with roving gangs and mutants.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fast, fun and very pulpy novel by Naha. Jeff McQueen, a popular horror author (ugh!) starts the novel off with a car crash, which kills his 10 year old son. Devastated, he and his wife spend a year or so moping around, along with their 7 year old daughter Crissie. Jeff cannot write, cannot concentrate, but he can drink and so he does to excess. One day his manager comes to him with an offer to move for a while to an old mansion in New England ("think of it as a working vacation!") and so he and his family temporarily relocate.

What a house! Looks like something the Addams would live in! Plus, the back grounds are filled with bizarre statuary. The local lore has it that the builder of the estate was Catholic (in a sea of Protestant New England) and worse, was from England itself. The statues are supposedly reminders that sin will lead you to hell and such. Jeff's little daughter loves playing in the 'monster garden', however-- ah, the joys of youth! After a bad accident out there, however, it looks like little Crissie maybe going the way of little Jeffy...

I really dig pulp horror and this reads like and exemplar of the genre. Completely OTT from the get go and it reads like a train going off the rails. The main trope consists of the old 'am I going crazy or is this really happening?!?' that has been done to death, but Naha does it well. My main complaints concern another age old trope, that of the main protagonist being a popular horror author; a deadly sin in the Book of Phil. Nonetheless, Naha bring in enough horror clichés here to partially offset that: spooky old house? check. Strange local village? Check. Ghosts? Check. Fun read, and also a quick one at barely over 200 pages. 3.5 pulpy stars, rounding down for the deadly sin.

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

What started out as an average tortured author that moves his family to a remote mansion in New England to finish a book turns in to a pretty nice, campy little horror novel. Once we get going, it's easy to keep reading. There is a rock garden that has monster statues. There are spirits of long dead children. A small town that shuns strangers. The ending wasn't what I was expecting but it did make sense.

This starts out with an author that has a car accident that kills his young son. He moves to a creepy mansion with his wife and younger daughter to try and pick up the pieces and write a book. The unthinkable happens again and his little girl is taken from him. He finds out things about the town that appears that his daughter might not be lost after all. He has to figure it out before it's to late.

[WayBackWhen]

DNF at 20%. Could not get into it.