Black House: A Novel

The narrator recounts Charles Burnside’s arrival at Maxton’s in 1996, following his admission to a hospital with symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. His stay is mysteriously funded by checks from a person named Althea Burnside, who cannot be located through official records. After years of cognitive decline, Burnside unexpectedly regains some of his abilities and begins alternating between severe impairment and periods of alertness. The narrator then reveals that Charles Burnside’s real name is Carl Bierstone and that he conducted a secret rampage of wretched deeds in Chicago from his mid-twenties until age 46 before arriving at Maxton’s. His stay is mysteriously funded by checks from a person named Althea Burnside, who does not appear to exist. The perspective then shifts to an aerial view of a hidden, dilapidated house in the woods that was once painted black but has since faded to gray-black. The narrator introduces the concepts of “borderlands” and “slippage”—places where the familiar world appears distorted and unnatural.

In a ruined shack that was once a diner called Ed’s Eats & Dawgs, the narrator reveals the corpse of the Fisherman’s third victim, ten-year-old Irma Freneau. Her body has been mutilated: the Fisherman has severed her right leg and kept it, leaving behind her detached foot, which a stray dog is now chewing on. The narrator reveals that Police Chief Dale Gilbertson will discover her body a little over a day later.

Elsewhere in French Landing, a salesman named Fred Marshall reads a newspaper article detailing the discovery of Johnny Irkenham’s dismembered body, found hanging from the rafters of an old henhouse by chains, with the thighs, torso, and buttocks bitten. Fred worries about his wife, Judy Marshall, who has been exhibiting increasingly erratic and fearful behavior, including speaking gibberish in her sleep. During his morning run, Fred recalls how Judy once confronted an angry man threatening another driver with a tire iron, a memory that contrasts with her present fearfulness. The previous day, Fred had consulted Dr. Pat Skarda about her condition, describing it hypothetically; Skarda told him mental dysfunction is a process with signs. Meanwhile, Judy lies awake in her bedroom, troubled by visions of a red eye, a tower, and suffering children. She speaks about the “Crimson King” and scribbles a note identifying the “Black House” as a doorway to Abbalah and referring to the Tower, the Breakers, and the Crimson King, then chews and swallows the paper. As she falls back asleep, she mutters, “Burnside is not your name. Where is your hole?” (43) The narrator reveals that the Marshalls’ son, Tyler, will be the Fisherman’s fourth victim. The chapter concludes with Tyler waking to George Rathbun’s radio broadcast, which reassures listeners that the original Fisherman, Albert Fish, has long been dead.

The popular morning radio host George Rathbun is revealed to be the on-air persona of Henry Leyden, a slim, elegant, and blind man. At the KDCU-AM radio station, a summer intern named Morris Rosen approaches Henry shyly, revealing that he knows Henry is also the voice of the Wisconsin Rat, who hosts an evening program on KWLA-FM, a college station. Having learned the secret from an engineer named Howie Soule, Morris agrees to keep quiet after Henry warns him, and Henry tells Morris to put the Dirtysperm CD in his locker, saying he will pass it to the Rat if he sees him. The narrator notes that Henry also has another persona called “Henry Shake.”

Meanwhile, French Landing’s Chief of Police, Dale Gilbertson, is at home reviewing the Fisherman case file. He is disturbed by letters the killer sent to the victims’ families, which closely imitate passages from letters written by Albert Fish, a real-world cannibalistic child murderer from the 1920s. Feeling overwhelmed and out of his depth, Dale fears that further murders could cost him his job and endanger more children. He wishes he could enlist the help of his friend, a former LAPD detective the locals called “Hollywood,” who had assisted him years earlier in solving the Thornberg Kinderling murder case. Dale recalls Jack’s unique investigative talent: Jack had first heard a prostitute mention Kinderling’s distinctive nose-pinching habit, then listened to bartender Janna Massengale confirm the same gesture, which broke the case. Dale subsequently traced the murder weapon, strengthening the evidence against Kinderling. However, Jack has already refused to become involved in the new investigation, insisting that he is retired.

The narrative introduces Jack Sawyer, a wealthy former LAPD homicide lieutenant who retired to a remote farmhouse in Norway Valley three years ago. Dale Gilbertson sold him the property, formerly owned by Dale’s father, after Jack felt an immediate and inexplicable connection to the surrounding countryside. He is a close friend of his neighbor, Henry Leyden, who is the only person to have deduced that Jack’s mother was the famous actress Lily Cavanaugh Sawyer.

In his kitchen, Jack is deeply troubled. He feels responsible for the “Fisherman” media frenzy because it was pure, irresponsible malice that inspired him to tell reporter Wendell Green about Albert Fish. He is also haunted by the memory of a disturbing incident at a Santa Monica Pier crime scene where the sight of a murder victim beside a carousel provoked an overwhelming reaction. He resigned from the LAPD less than two months later and now struggles to suppress memories of the incident. Jack has been experiencing what he calls “waking dreams,” such as a hallucination of red feathers erupting from his ceiling, and he is so disoriented that, craving the comfort of his mother’s voice, he picks up the phone to call her before remembering she is dead. Earlier that morning, he also discovered a robin’s egg in his refrigerator and destroyed it in the garbage disposal.

Jack picks Henry up from the radio station, passing by Tyler Marshall on his bicycle. On the way home, Henry raises the topic of the Fisherman case once, gently, saying he will only say it once, urging Jack to help Dale. Jack angrily rebuffs him, and Henry drops the subject, saying “You’re the boss” (93). Henry then confesses that he fears he is losing his mind because he has been hearing the footsteps of his wife, Rhoda, who died six years ago. To comfort his friend, Jack explains the phenomenon of “waking dreams” caused by stress and grief. After dropping Henry off, however, Jack discovers another tiny, perfect robin’s egg in his truck’s ashtray—an occurrence that challenges his rational explanation for the earlier events. He smashes the egg with his foot and retreats into his house.