Hell House by Richard Matheson - Classic Horror Novel (October 1999) | Perfect for Halloween Reading & Horror Book Club Discussions

I've seen the 1973 film several times. Finally decided to read the source material as a Halloween treat.It's very good... though flawed in several instances. I particularly enjoyed Matheson's writing style which made for a smooth evocative read. Those who enjoy a bit of descriptive carnality should enjoy this ;-) I can't get over the suspicion that there is a lot of derivitive material influenced by "The Haunting Of Hill House" but I suppose most haunted house stories do share a lot in common.*spoilers*The main thing that bothered me, past the midpoint they begin discussing the seeming multitude of individuals comprising the "army" of the haunting, yet they really had not been discussed or described individually in detail. We get a lot about Daniel Belasco and maybe a couple of brief references to other apparent spirits but nothing to match the later assertion by Florence of MANY apparent individual spirits had supposedly manifested or been sensed. It really isn't until Edith is massively attacked after Lionel's death that we get such a discription. Discovering the truth at the end doesn't really resolve the lack of description concerning the earlier stated "multiple controled haunting" by Florence.The end confrontation was adequate but, considering some of the earlier elaborately drawn out encounters, it was not as spectacular as I had hoped for.All that said, it was a GOOD story and U'm glad I finally got around to reading it.