Black House: A Novel

At 6:45 pm, Dale Gilbertson receives the call about George Potter and organizes a swift, unofficial operation to arrest him at Lucky’s Tavern. He enlists “Doc” Amberson, a member of the Thunder Five motorcycle club, to scout the tavern. After Doc confirms Potter’s presence, Dale, Tom Lund, and Bobby Dulac arrest him without incident and bring him back to the police station.

Jack Sawyer, having just arrived at Henry Leyden’s house, is informed of the planned arrest. He shows little interest in Potter but is very curious about the one-slippered man Railsback saw. On the way to the station, Jack tells Henry that he believes Potter is being framed and that the mysterious man is probably the Fisherman. At the Sand Bar, as Tansy Freneau, influenced by Gorg’s whispers, incites the crowd to drive to the station and lynch Potter. Meanwhile, an unidentified officer using a confiscated cell phone from evidence storage tips off reporter Wendell Green, who also rushes to the scene.

At the station, Beezer St. Pierre confronts Potter, who denies killing Beezer’s daughter, Amy. Jack persuades Beezer to stand aside, allowing Dale to take Potter inside. Shortly afterward, Jack explicitly tells Dale that Potter is not the Fisherman and suggests that the evidence against him has been planted as an act of revenge. Just as the larger mob, led by Tansy with a noose, approaches the police station, Jack—inside Dale’s office with the mob already outside—gets a call from Speedy Parker, who tells him to look in Dale’s private bathroom. There, Jack finds a bouquet of otherworldly flowers—lilies of the vale.

As chaos escalates, Jack emerges and calms Tansy by giving her the flowers and promising to find the real killer. When Wendell Green tries to reignite the crowd’s fury, the suspended Arnold Hrabowski appears and knocks him unconscious with a flashlight. After returning inside, Jack asks Dale for time to question Potter. Dale agrees to hold off the state police to give Jack time to interrogate Potter.

In a holding cell, Jack Sawyer questions George “Potsie” Potter. Jack quickly deduces that Potter is dying of cancer and came to French Landing for a peaceful end. Potter admits to having been a “moke”—a man with mob connections—in Chicago. He recounts a rivalry with another moke whose former name he can remember only as something resembling “beer stein,” whom he “swinked” out of a lucrative housing deal in 1969.

Years later, in the 1970s, Potter again beat the same man for a development contract in French Landing. The man, now using the name Charles “Chummy” Burnside, confronted Potter and warned him that he had a long memory. Potter recalls that Burnside was building a strange, isolated house for himself nearby, a place the construction workers called “Black House.” The house developed a reputation for being haunted, plagued by accidents and strange phenomena, such as workers losing their shadows.

State Troopers Brown and Black arrive to take custody of Potter, interrupting the interrogation. Jack forcefully admonishes the troopers for their unprofessional behavior, warning them not to mistreat the prisoner. After they leave, Jack asks Dale about Black House. Dale claims to have never heard of it, but a flicker in his eyes suggests a magically suppressed memory. Jack observes the telltale flicker and deliberately drops the subject, fearing that pressing Dale could push him toward a nervous breakdown. Downstairs, the other officers applaud Jack following his confrontation with the state troopers. Jack then arranges to meet Beezer and the Thunder Five at the Sand Bar the next day to get their help finding Black House. Later that night, unable to sleep, Jack lies down in a field near his home and slips into the Territories. He awakens in Wisconsin the following morning, realizing that he can now return to the Territories whenever he wishes.

The next morning, news reports are filled with footage of Arnold Hrabowski striking Wendell Green. At Maxton’s, Charles Burnside dreams of a hellish industrial world under a black-and-red sky—images originating from his master, Mr. Munshun. The facility’s director, Chipper Maxton, plots to embezzle money to pay a bookie.

Jack visits Tansy Freneau, who is now in a state of childlike madness. She tells him about Gorg, a raven from a burning, otherworldly place she calls “Night’s Plutonian shore” (338), who told her the killer ate her daughter’s leg and showed her a vision of a vast place made entirely of fire reaching high into the sky. Jack puzzles over what world Tansy is describing, concluding it cannot be the Territories as he knows them.

Jack then meets the Thunder Five at the Sand Bar and asks for their help finding Black House and Charles Burnside. One of the bikers, Mouse Baumann, recalls a disturbing experience from two years prior. While on an acid trip with his late girlfriend, Little Nancy Hale, they found a hidden, unwelcoming road off Highway 35 that led to a strange black house. The visit filled them with dread; Nancy became seriously ill afterward, briefly improved, then deteriorated again in late August and died in September. Mouse recalls that the experience became difficult to remember afterward. Mouse agrees to lead the bikers to the location. Jack tells them to scout the house but warns them not to enter without him, as he needs to retrieve a final “piece of the puzzle” (346) from someone in Arden first.

The Thunder Five ride down Highway 35, searching for the hidden road to Black House. Mouse Baumann, leading the group, is haunted by the memory of his visit, now convinced the place was responsible for his girlfriend’s death. They initially miss the turnoff, but on a second pass, Sonny Cantinaro spots the rusted “NO TRESPASSING” sign and the overgrown road, which seems to materialize out of the trees.

The bikers arm themselves and enter the lane. Immediately, the air grows thick, and they are hit with a combination of physical and psychological assaults, with several of the men tormented by memories of past trauma. Mouse is attacked by what he perceives as the rotting ghost of his dead girlfriend, causing him to crash. Beezer hears the Fisherman’s voice gloating over his daughter’s murder and also crashes. Doc is paralyzed by the memory of a fatal medical error, and Kaiser Bill passes out from a severe nosebleed.

A massive, supernatural dog-like creature emerges from the woods and attacks the downed Mouse, biting his leg. Doc, Sonny, and a recovering Beezer open fire. The beast is wounded but incredibly resilient. After sustaining multiple gunshots, it howls and retreats. Badly shaken and injured, the bikers abandon their mission and retreat. They see that Mouse’s leg wound is unnatural and horrifying, and they plan to return to Beezer’s house so Doc can treat it.

While driving to Arden, Jack receives a frantic call from Fred Marshall, who reports that the Fisherman sent a cassette tape to his wife, Judy, at the hospital. On it, he taunted her and forced her to listen to their son, Tyler, screaming for help, causing her to have a severe relapse.

As he nears the hospital, Jack has an epiphany, realizing that Judy’s psychic connection is with her “Twinner” in another dimension called the Territories, or “Faraway.” He understands that Judy is the doorway to her Twinner and, through her, to Tyler.

At Ward D, Jack is confronted by a resentful attendant, Ethan Evans, and the reporter Wendell Green. Jack persuades Dr. Spiegleman to allow him a private meeting with Judy in his office. Unbeknownst to them, Wendell bribes Ethan to hide him in the office closet to secretly record the conversation. While waiting, Jack takes an urgent call from Beezer, who reports that Mouse is dying from his wound.

When Judy arrives, she tells Jack the tape brought her closer to her Twinner and made her understand where Tyler is being held. She knows he is a “coppiceman” who must stop the “abbalah” and a being called “Mr. Munshun.” Judy consciously sends Jack to Sophie by taking his hands and helping him cross into the Territories. A massive supernatural disturbance rocks the hospital, the office is torn apart, and both Jack and Wendell Green disappear. There, Jack awakens beside Judy’s beautiful Twinner, Sophie.

Jack finds himself in a tattered hospital tent in the Territories with Sophie, Judy Marshall’s Twinner, and is immediately captivated by her. She explains they are in a mobile hospital run by vampiric “Little Sisters.” Nearby, a disoriented Wendell Green tries futilely to put batteries into a pile of paper that was once his tape recorder.

Speedy Parker, whom Jack knew as a child, arrives, now appearing as Parkus, a lawman who carries a gunslinger’s revolver. He leads Jack and Sophie to a “speaking circle” for a “palaver.” Parkus explains the cosmic conflict: The Crimson King (Ram Abbalah) is using psychically gifted slaves called Breakers to destroy the Dark Tower, the axle upon which all worlds spin. The King’s agent, Mr. Munshun, employs mortal killers like the Fisherman (Charles Burnside/Carl Bierstone) to find new Breakers. Tyler Marshall is a uniquely powerful potential Breaker, which is why he was taken alive.

Parkus reveals that Black House is a doorway to the “furnace-lands” where Tyler is being held and Mr. Munshun awaits him. Sophie discloses that she is the Queen of the Territories, left barren after being sexually abused by Morgan of Orris (Morgan Sloat’s Twinner) at age twelve. Sophie tells Jack that he is the only one who can save Tyler because he once touched the Talisman and retains some of its power, while Parkus confirms that this power may be sufficient to confront Mr. Munshun. After a brief, tender kiss with Sophie, Jack grabs the dazed Wendell and “flips” back to their world.

Jack returns from the Territories and finds Judy Marshall bending over him on the floor of Dr. Spiegleman’s wrecked office. They begin kissing amid blaring alarms and chaos. Wendell Green, also returned from the Territories, bursts from the closet and accuses Jack of rape. Jack knocks him unconscious. As staff members respond to the “earthquake,” Jack takes the cassette tape sent by the Fisherman after examining its wrapper, which is addressed to “Judy Marshall, also known as SOPHIE” (413). On his way out, Jack punches the abusive attendant, Ethan Evans.

Driving back to French Landing, Jack receives a frantic call from Beezer St. Pierre, who says Mouse is dying and calling for him. Jack detours to Henry Leyden’s house, intending to take him to safety, but finds him gone. The housekeeper, Elvena Morton, informs him Henry is out. Jack leaves the new tape for Henry with a message to call him.

Jack then rushes to Beezer’s house on Nailhouse Row. The neighborhood is eerily silent. Jack feels the evil pulse from Black House, which he now understands is a dangerous, open portal. Beezer pulls him inside, confirming Mouse is barely alive.

At the Oak Tree Inn, Henry Leyden dismisses an obnoxious ESPN executive and takes a taxi home, unnerved by the persistent, phantom scent of his late wife’s perfume.

At Beezer’s house, Jack finds Mouse Baumann dying from a supernatural infection. His body is decomposing, and the room reeks of decay. After hours of waiting for Mouse to communicate clearly, Doc injects him with speed. On instinct, Jack pulls a living, black, slime-like poison from Mouse’s eyes, which Beezer and Doc crush.

In his last moments of clarity, Mouse draws a map to Black House. He warns Jack not to go until high noon the next day, when the sun is strongest, as the woods are filled with dangerous creatures at night. He says Tyler Marshall is temporarily safe from Mr. Munshun and warns that if Jack dies attempting the rescue, the Crimson King will ultimately obtain Tyler. Mouse attributes this warning to Jack’s friend, whom Jack recognizes as Speedy/Parkus. Before he dies, Mouse gives Jack a powerful word he will need: “D’yamba.” As Jack repeats it, books slide from a nearby shelf and hang briefly in the air before falling. Beezer takes the map to ensure Jack waits.

Meanwhile, Henry returns home and begins listening to the tapes. He recognizes the Fisherman’s voice and accent as belonging to an elderly man who interrupted Alice Weathers at the Strawberry Fest dance. He concludes that Alice Weathers will be able to identify the killer. As he pieces this together, a figure begins knocking on his studio’s glass door.

The power of the word “d’yamba” reverberates across worlds, bringing visions and resolve to Tansy, Dale, and Judy, while alerting Mr. Munshun to the discovery of Black House. In his studio, Henry Leyden realizes his visitor is the Fisherman, Charles Burnside. He plans an ambush, and when Burnside enters armed with hedge clippers, Henry attacks him with a broadcasting award and a switchblade, stabbing Burnside several times before being overcome. In the ensuing struggle, Burnside bites off a piece of Henry’s cheek, wounds him in the back with the clippers, and severs the last two fingers on his right hand.

Badly wounded, Henry tries to escape, crawling through the darkened living room as Burnside stalks him. Burnside argues aloud with his master, Mr. Munshun, who urges him to leave the dying Henry, go kill Chipper Maxton, and then return to Black House. Before departing, Mr. Munshun leaves a bloody message on the wall, later discovered by Jack: “HELLO HOLLYWOOD CUM GET MEE” (463). Burnside and Munshun then disappear.

Near death, Henry drags himself back to his studio and records a final message for Jack. Using his radio personas, he identifies the killer as a Maxton’s resident who is on his way to kill Chipper. He dies with the words “Ah, Lark. Hello” (456), seemingly greeting his late wife.

Jack, leaving Beezer’s house, is enveloped by a swarm of glowing honeybees in a comforting, sacred embrace. He drives to Henry’s and finds the bloody scene. He discovers Henry’s body and listens to his final, courageous message. Jack calls the police to report the murder, then wanders into a nearby field, where he falls asleep and his body gradually becomes translucent before disappearing.

Charles Burnside “flips” back into a toilet stall at Maxton Elder Care. Wounded and blood-soaked, he murders a nurse, Georgette Porter, who confronts him. He then goes to Chipper Maxton’s office. Chipper, aware of Burnside’s fugitive past as Carl Bierstone, tries to blackmail him. As police sirens approach, Burnside brutally murders Chipper with the hedge clippers and flips away just as officers burst in.

Chapter 25 reveals that after falling asleep in the field at the end of the previous chapter, Jack traveled to the Territories, where he rested with Sophie. He returns to Wisconsin at dawn, refreshed, and walks back to his truck. He returns home, deletes Dale Gilbertson’s cell phone messages unheard, listens to Dale’s increasingly frantic messages on his home answering machine, and sleeps again in his own bed. In that second sleep he dreams of a burning building and a monstrous face before a voice shouts “D’YAMBA!” waking him.

After showering and eating, he calls Dale. At 11:25 am, Jack and a deeply skeptical Dale, whom Jack has now told part of the truth, arrive at the Sand Bar and walk toward its rear entrance, where they are to meet Beezer and Doc.