I was intrigued, and I’m so glad I picked up a copy. I never really ever expected to read an Anne Rivers Siddons book, but when I was researching best horror/gothic books, this book appeared on almost every list. The question is, where did this evil come from? It wasn’t there before the house was built, so what brought it there? You will meet the parade of owners from Pie & Buddy Harralson, to Buck & Anita Sheehan, and finally Susan & Norman Greene, and watch perfectly ordinary people change before your eyes. Something that makes them feel desires they should never feel. Something that takes the very best from people. There is something sinister about that house. But in the fact that I feel currents and whorls and eddies keenly, even when, perhaps, they are not there.” Not in any silly, conventional psychic way we have both always laughed at that. To seduce, evil must be beautiful.Ĭolquitt is more tuned into the unseen elements around us than the rest of us. It is state of the art.Įvil, of course, is never ugly. The house that emerges, as if it just pushed its way up through the crust of the Earth from the fiery depths of hell, is gorgeous.

Deer, rabbits, and even more exotic wildlife can be spotted moving in the relative safety of this green sanctuary. It gives them more privacy than the other houses in the neighborhood, and the trees, bushes, and plant life provide a burst of varied colors throughout the year. He is young, ambitious, and determined to build a beautiful house that will be a monument to his genius.Ĭolquitt likes the lot next to them being empty. An architect would need imagination to design a house to set on it properly and not be considered an eyesore. It has never been developed because it is a strange shape. The empty lot next to the Kennedy’s has always been there. They are all as reasonably happy as anyone can expect to be. The women are attractive, and the men are still handsome, even though their sparkling 20s have become a distant memory. They are all friends who barbeque, have drinks, and rely on each other for support in times of trouble. I do not think we will be alive long enough.”Ĭolquitt and Walter Kennedy live in an upscale neighborhood among people of similar socioeconomic status. If it should come to that, I do not think we will be punished. In another time they would have plowed the charred ground and sowed it with salt.

We will do this at night, before it is occupied. ”If we find that all our efforts have failed and someone buys the house, we shall set fire to it and burn it down.

The house next door anne rivers