Black House

French Landing, Wisconsin - home of Kingsland Beer, the Piggly Wiggly supermarket, Goltz's farm implements, Maxton's old folk's home and Radio WDCU, the voice of the Coulee Country. A comfortable, solid middle-American town inhabited by comfortable, solid middle-Americans - and a serial killer. Ten-year-old Irma Freneau's mutilated body lies in the rotting ruins of Ed's Eats, Ice Cream & Dawgs in the woods close to the Black House. No one has discovered her yet; no one, that is, except for a host of flies and a wild dog. But her severed foot, complete with size 5 New Balance sneaker and an obscene note, is about to make its way home to French Landing, packed into a shoebox. Slippage is occurring in the Coulee Country. Three children have been lost to the world. Three children: slaughtered by a fiend with a taste for child's flesh. Linking the murders with those carried out by a previous century's serial killer, the local newspaper has dubbed the perpetrator 'The Fisherman', and if local police chief Dale Gilbertson doesn't catch the Fisherman soon, he'll lose his job and another French Landing mother will lose her child. If only Jack 'Hollywood' Sawyer - the ex-detective from LA who cracked their last case for them - would help, Dale might save his neck. But, plagued by visions of another world, Jack has retired to this pretty rural retreat at the early age of 35 precisely to avoid such horrors. And having recognized the touch of madness on this case, he has no wish to revisit the Territories whence such madness issues. Soon, he'll have no choice, for the Fisherman is about to select his fourth victim. Tyler Marshall, left behind one afternoon by his bullying friends, pedals past Maxton Elder Care and is accosted by a crow. 'Gorg,' it caws, and 'Ty.' It bobs and winks at him. What ten-year-old could resist a bird that speaks his name? Not Ty, that's for sure. And as he follows the crow towards the old folk's home, he is grabbed by the neck and dragged into a hedge. The Fisherman has made another catch... --front flap Preceded by: [The Talisman][1] Black House is a horror novel by American writers Stephen King and Peter Straub. Published in 2001, it is the sequel to [The Talisman][1]. This is one of King's numerous novels that tie in with the Dark Tower series. Black House was nominated to the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel. The novel is set in Straub's homeland of Wisconsin, rather than in King's frequently used backdrop of Maine. The town of "French Landing" is a fictionalized version of the town of Trempealeau, Wisconsin. Also, "Centralia" is named after the nearby small town of Centerville, Wisconsin, located at the intersection of Hwy 93 and Hwy 35. [1]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15119769W/The_Talisman Abandoned by his friends as they cycle through the Wisconsin town of French Landing, ten-year-old Ty Marshall spots a crow hopping towards him down the sidewalk. Then it calls his name. Fascinated, Ty gets off his bike for a closer look - and is dragged into the shadows. Is Ty destined to become the forth victim of the Fisherman, the serial killer who's stalking this sleepy town? If so only ex-detective Jack Sawyer may be able to save him--back cover French Landing, Wisconsin, is a solid middle-American town inhabited by solid middle-Americans ... and a serial killer. Three children have been taken by a monster nicknamed "The Fisherman". It's all beyond the experience of the local police, whose only hope lies with ex-detective Jack Sawyer. Right here and now, as an old friend used to say, we are in the fluid present, where clear-sightedness never guarantees perfect vision.