binhwa.blogg.se - The house next door anne rivers

Norman mistreats Melissa to punish Susan for her perceived infidelity (even though the kid was born well before Susan and Norman married). Claire learns that he's hard on Melissa because her mother Susan had her out of wedlock.

Affair? Blame the Bastard: Norman Greene demands total perfection and obedience from his daughter Melissa and often drives her to tears when she can't deliver.

The novel is noteworthy for being a story of a contemporary haunted house and has been referred to as "The Making of a Haunted House." It was made into a TV movie in 2006. As the only witnesses, Colquitt and Walter must decide if they will risk their reputations and lives to warn the world about the House Next Door, while suspecting it has enough power to reach beyond its own walls if anyone stands in its way. They begin to suspect that something terrible lives in the House Next Door, something that will destroy everyone who ever lives there.

Colquitt and Walter watch in horror as three families in quick succession are driven to madness and murder shortly after moving in.

Almost as if it were alive.īut even before anyone lives in it, the House Next Door is the scene of a tragedy that claims an innocent life. Colquitt is prepared to hate the house next door, but once she finally sees it, she has to admit that it looks exactly as though it has always belonged there. The biggest scandal to hit the neighborhood for years is the introduction of a huge, modern-styled house in the long-vacant woodlot adjacent to the Kennedys. "We've never stuck our necks out for anyone," Walter complains. Here, everyone lives in everyone's back pocket, everyone knows everyone's business, and everyone is too comfortable to make waves. The House Next Door is a not-so-typical Haunted House novel by Anne Rivers Siddons, a notable departure for an author otherwise known for her novels of upper-middle-class family drama.Ĭolquitt and Walter Kennedy live placidly in a quiet, upscale suburb full of quiet, upscale neighbors.