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The House that fell from the Sky by Patrick Delaney

Oblivion Publishing, 2020

ISBN-13 : 978-0578660790

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook

This book is perfectly placed for those who miss the weird horror of Bradbury and Bentley Little, and are aching for something new. Patrick Delaney has arrived with a strong entry into horror that is tough to classify here; is it weird horror, cosmic horror, or something else? Read on. The journey (quite long at 566 pages) is a wild and rewarding one.

What do you do when a house lands in the middle of town, seemingly dropped from the sky? Well, first off, it’s not quite a house. What it truly is defies logic. Several stories tall, with unknown rooms within, it both petrifies and intrigues the town. In classic horror novels, the townsfolk would run for cover (save for the cliched characters in bad movies). In this case, true to the current unreality that’s taken over our world, everyone treats the unknown entity like a traffic accident that needs to be examined, eschewing any dangers.

Scarlett, Tommy, Jackson, and Hannah meander through life. Scarlett, a recent dropout from college at age 29, is in search of something to connect herself to anything meaningful. She’s the glue that holds the group– and the novel– together. Each major character is drawn in believably flawed design, so that the mixture of the group adds to the intrigue and horror that lead them to enter the house, and elicits true empathy for the characters– not neccesarily a given in horror today.

Of course, corporate America steps in (a nice touch) and offers up a lottery to determine who will be the first visitors/victims to the monstrosity sitting in their city. There is a cash reward for entering, but  exiting could be a bit difficult from this Lovecraftian Hotel California.

When Hannah buys her way in, the others jump in to help save her.

What is the house itself? To save the secrets within and protect readers from spoilers, what lurks within is drawn much differently from any generic haunted house. Delaney borrows from the greats and devises something unique. Refreshingly, his storytelling and plot twists sidestep a number of cliches common to the haunted house subgenre.

Delaney has spun a fun tale that will keep fans of intriguing horror entertained throughout, and produced something that will keep everyone on their toes. Recommended.

Reviewed by David Simms