Scan barcode
A review by manwithanagenda
Blackbriar by William Sleator
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
William Sleator's first novel, 'Blackbriar', is a slow build of suspense and growing unease that leads to a rapid finish with unanswered questions. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It was creepy as all-get-out and I would have liked it as a kid.
After his mother's death Danny Chilton has lived with the school secretary Philippa Sibley. They have an unsual relationship in that Philippa treats Danny as much as a friend as a minor under her care. Philippa is tired of city life and convinces Danny to go alone with her to a remote house she was able to buy cheap because it had been listed for sale for years without a buyer. They leave without informing the school or his legal guardian - a lawyer who issues stipend checks from his mother's estate - and set up in the lonley house known as Blackbriar.
The house has a reputation. Locals grow silent and cold when they hear that is where the new arrivals are staying. The house also lacks a proper road, there's no electricity, and water is supplied by a hand pump on the cellar stairs. This was published in 1972 when such things were still not unheard of - my father's house in the United States in that year had only just had plumbling installed. It is still a radical adjustment that Sleator uses to establish just how isolated the two (and Philippa's cat Islington) are.
Danny meets a girl his age at a local ancient site and befriends her. This doesn't sit well with Philippa, who likes to keep Danny to herself. She often forces him to give up friends. This is another layer to the suspense and horror.
Then there are the dark secrets of the house itself. Fires light themselves. A young woman's voice laughing in the night. A sinister wooden doll found hidden which Philippa begs to be discarded.
This was a quick read and worth checking out. Sleator would reach greater heights in his writing, but from the beginning he had the touch.
After his mother's death Danny Chilton has lived with the school secretary Philippa Sibley. They have an unsual relationship in that Philippa treats Danny as much as a friend as a minor under her care. Philippa is tired of city life and convinces Danny to go alone with her to a remote house she was able to buy cheap because it had been listed for sale for years without a buyer. They leave without informing the school or his legal guardian - a lawyer who issues stipend checks from his mother's estate - and set up in the lonley house known as Blackbriar.
The house has a reputation. Locals grow silent and cold when they hear that is where the new arrivals are staying. The house also lacks a proper road, there's no electricity, and water is supplied by a hand pump on the cellar stairs. This was published in 1972 when such things were still not unheard of - my father's house in the United States in that year had only just had plumbling installed. It is still a radical adjustment that Sleator uses to establish just how isolated the two (and Philippa's cat Islington) are.
Danny meets a girl his age at a local ancient site and befriends her. This doesn't sit well with Philippa, who likes to keep Danny to herself. She often forces him to give up friends. This is another layer to the suspense and horror.
Then there are the dark secrets of the house itself. Fires light themselves. A young woman's voice laughing in the night. A sinister wooden doll found hidden which Philippa begs to be discarded.
This was a quick read and worth checking out. Sleator would reach greater heights in his writing, but from the beginning he had the touch.