Devils In Dark Houses

Four creepy novellas with two common factors

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I was going to. Usually when a book is set up as separate stories or novellas like this one is, some stories are weaker than others. I didn't find that with DEVILS IN DARK HOUSES. Each novella was totally different than the others but all were good reading.

And I thought author Scully did a good job intertwining the stories, using a backdrop of Oregon plus having Detectives Monte Martinez and Cassie Shirdon involved in all four "cases."

Case 1: The Eye That Blinds

Case 2: Each Castle Its King

Case 3: Nostri

Case 4: Devils in Dark Houses

The stories involved games and a love triangle; a fixer-upper house called the Blood House with a truly creepy neighbor; teen revolutionaries; and a homeless man with all kinds of secrets. I liked each one for different reasons and really can't choose a favorite, which is unusual for me.

I received this book from DarkFuse through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.

Review: DEVILS IN DARK HOUSES by B. E. Scully

This is literary horror in fine fettle, a collection of subtly horrifying vignettes, interwoven into a thought-provoking, terrifying tapestry certain to lodge itself into the reader's mind and linger there for an extended duration. This is the Pacific Northwest as you've probably never witnessed: gritty, deep, complex, and riveting. Each vignette Is complete in and of itself, connected by the framework of two city homicide detectives, Cass Shirdon and Monte Martinez.

DEVILS IN DARK HOUSES is much more than just the four connected novellas that I was expecting to read. As I started reading the first novella, THE EYE THAT BLINDS, it gave me a start. Why? I read this last year and though it was never released in anything other than a signed/limited version I remembered it fairly well. I enjoyed it quite a bit and gave it four stars. Reviews can be found under the title, but the link can't be posted per Amazon's rules. Back to the review!

This novella of EYE was even better for me having read the first. It tackled the story from a different angle. But if this is your starting point, you should still love it. It's a story of madness...or is it?

I think that my favorite of the four stories was NOSTRII. It's so timely and a perfect story for a book groups. It's sure to cause long lasting heated discussions for some time. It brings so many current events into play, as well as a question of madness...

All four stories are linked by the police that are handling the cases. They play a smaller part in some of the novellas than others. I would class these as psychological thrillers and highly recommend DEVILS IN DARK HOUSES which I received from from the publisher at DarkFuse.
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B. E. Scully is a very talented writer. I read Verland last year (I was a bit late getting around to it) and it was one of my favorite novels that year. I have also read some short stories and was quite impressed. Definitely an author to follow if you enjoy well written and thoughtful dark fiction.

The Eye That Blinds
Very interesting story. In some ways my favorite, more from a narrative standpoint. It was more compelling in the way the story was set up. Much more direct and action oriented. More traditional if that has a meaning anymore.

Claustrophobic. Externally deranged yet with internal logic. Madness has many flavors and even the most insane ideology makes sense once you find the core of the maelstrom.

Each Castle its King
Dreamlike story dripping with atmosphere, as you would expect from a story whose primary locale is a residence called “Blood House.” Asks the question of whether buildings can be haunted or even more to the point, can a building be evil. I am not sure if it the building or the people, but this very modern haunted house story is quite well written. I must confess that I was a bit lost by the end but I realize that the ambiguity is probably intentional.

Nostri
I really enjoyed this story. Quite political without taking any real sides. I can imagine reading a story like this in Atlantic of The New Yorker. Not a horror story at all, I found myself stopping and thinking several times. It all comes down to what are we willing to put on the line for our “convictions.” Sure, we all make, and get into, arguments about political and social beliefs, but are these true beliefs, or just taking a side.

As one of the characters describes the way college students will become passionate in ways that is almost impossible later in life when so many “real life” factors enter the equation, I thought that if I had read this story in college I would have taken a lot out of it, although maybe at this time I would have missed the point.

The whole Seneca plot line just made this story even better—I mean, no one would base their entire world
view around a philosopher dead for millennium, but is that any less logical than basing it on a political position?
I am worried that I am making this story sound dull. It is anything but. In fact, it is compelling and I was riveted, wondering what the anarchistic group (Nostri) would come up with next—what new political “joke” would bring horrific results in the real world.

Devils in Dark Houses
I was reminded of the end of Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” where we see the house described as it falls apart and realize that it is an exact model of a human face. Madness lives not in the house of Usher but in the mind—and such is the case in Devils in Dark Houses.
Each richly drawn character has his or her own devil or devils and their personal stories unwind like onion skins as the overall story develops. I think that a reader will either find this story to be too much in terms of layers or richly rewarding, but isn't that the case with most literary fiction?