Other Worlds

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
The old-fashioned ghost story has never fallen out of style: Charles Dickens is still best remembered for A Christmas Carol, and Peter Straub, despite his many fine novels, found in the ghost story his most potent tale (Ghost Story, of course!). When Shirley Jackson wrote The Haunting of Hill House and Henry James wrote The Turn of the Screw, did they know they were creating their most-remembered works in the horror genre?

Barbara Michaels has written everything from outright horror (Ammie, Come Home) to horror cozies (The Crying Child), but her new one has more in common with Peter Straub's Ghost Story (without the violence) than with anything she's written before. As several men gather in a special club to discuss unexplained mysteries of the past, an aura of chilly darkness surrounds them.

The men are famous and the time is the past. In a London Club, Houdini, Conan Doyle, and other psychic investigators and debunkers gather to tell ghost stories. Their purpose is to tell the tale, and then each will pick it apart to try to find an explanation for the phenomenon in question. The first story is one of the most famous historical hauntings in U.S. history: the Bell Witch in Tennessee. The second is a moderately well-known haunting in Stratford, Connecticut, called, appropriately, the Stratford Haunting. Each tale is told, and then the guests gathered around the club describe their understanding of whether the hauntings are either fake or very real.

But an eerie edge begins to creep like fog into each tale,andalthough there is no Grand Guignol to Michaels's novel, there is a decidedly eerie — and yes, old-fashioned — feeling of dread. Imagine a séance with some of the best storytellers gathered around the table, or a fire at a campsite, or even the distinguished London club where these men congregate. Michaels captures this mood better than most, and she has a way of telling a tale that is never violent but features a mounting fear of the unknown that persists and becomes captivating.

Those unfamiliar with the Bell Witch and the Stratford haunting will enjoy hearing these stories as well as the various solutions proposed by the august assembly. In the second section of the novel, which deals with the Stratford haunting, a new guest joins the men's table to tell the tale, and in many ways Other Worlds becomes more thrilling as this one — a story of family madness and human experimentation from a previous century — begins.

When you pick this novel up — which you should — think Hawthorne, think Melville's short stories, and you'll definitely see the mastery of what I'd term a horror cozy that Barbara Michaels has at her fingertips. This novel is not for anyone who loves outright violence in dark fiction, but for the millions of readers who love a good ghost story, superlatively told.

Douglas Clegg is the author of numerous horror novels, including The Halloween Man and Bad Karma, written under his pseudonym, Andrew Harper. His recent Bram Stoker-nominated short story, "I Am Infinite, I Contain Multitudes," can be found in the anthology The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Volume 11.

—Barnesandnoble.com

Washington Post

A writer so popular the public library has to keep [her] books under lock and key.

Marion Zimmer Bradley

Simply the best living writer of ghost stories and thrillers.

Mary Higgins Clark

A master storyteller.

Publishers Weekly

In an unusual blend of mystery, suspense and the occult, veteran suspense novelist Michaels The Dancing Floor, etc. recounts two classic American ghost stories: the Bell Witch of Tennessee and the Phelps haunting of Connecticut. A unique mix of historical and fictitious crime experts with an avid interest in spiritualism and fakery--among them Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry Houdini, Frank Podmore of the Society for Psychical Research and a mysterious woman who may be the author herself--gathers over the course of two evenings to hear of the two legends, sift evidence and render judgment. As retold here, both hauntings boasted various manifestations, from frivolous to life threatening, over a period of many years--the Bell Witch in the early 19th century and the Phelps case in the 1850s. Both were observed and investigated by a number of persons outside the families that played host to the unwelcome poltergeists, and both had disastrous consequences for those families. This novel isn't a mystery by any strict standard, but Michaels's fans won't care, as the telling is adept, suspenseful and appropriately spooky. Most readers are likely to echo Houdini's opinion that the replay of the hauntings, though still shrouded in ambiguity, makes for "an entertaining evening." Feb.

Library Journal

Using a plot device introduced by other mystery greats, including Agatha Christie, veteran novelist Michaels assembles a group of specialists to review unsolved puzzles of history in this supernatural mystery. Participants such as Harry Houdini, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and a practicing psychiatrist from Vienna named Dr. Fodor expound on their solutions. The first case, "The Bell Witch," is an American ghost story involving an actual haunting. Michaels recounts the story of a poltergeist and its effects on the Bell family in early 19th-century Tennessee. Afterwards, the experts present their specialized interpretation of the causes behind the haunting. In "The Stratford Haunting," Michaels describes the 1850 haunting of the family of the Reverend Dr. Phelps in Stratford, CT. The puzzles are fascinating, the conclusions less so. Buy where there is demand for Michaels's work.--Jill M. Tempest, Ocean Springs Municipal Lib., MS

School Library Journal

YA-Crossing the boundaries of time, Michaels gathers together a group of experts to listen to two different stories dealing with poltergeists and paranormal experience. The participants include Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Harry Houdini; Frank Podmore, member of the Society of Psychical Research; Nandor Fodor, of the International Institute for Psychical Research; and the Reverend Montague Summers, author of books on witchcraft and magic. First, they listen as Houdini recounts the early 19th-century haunting of the Bell family of Tennessee by what came to be known as the "Bell Witch." At the conclusion of the story, the experts put forth their own theories as to what really happened. The next night, an unnamed woman narrates the story of a family's encounter with poltergeists in Stratford, CT, in 1850. Again, each person offers a possible explanation of what might have occurred. Both of these tales can be found in many collections of U.S. folklore. Michaels imbues the retellings with atmosphere and details that give the supernatural events additional chill and portent. The characters are succinctly drawn, yet the story lines remain the focus of the novel. While this book does not exhibit Michaels's writing at its best, teens will enjoy reading about the odd occurrences and the thoughtful theories brought forth to explain them.-Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

The Washington Post

A writer so popular the public library has to keep [her] books under lock and key.