Inheritance: The House Pledged to Evil is the first book by debut author Randolph Lord, and it comes with a rather dark twist. Unlike most of the books that have gone through this review process, Lord’s story is based on personal experience. Although this can be considered a novel, there are elements of a manuscript involved.
Lord, his wife Kelly and two year old son, Ambrose, make their transition to their new house. He inherited the property from his aunt and as it turned out, she had quite a strange history. In fact, the house has a reputation for unexplained deaths. Even though Kelly is opposed to the move, she settles in rather quickly. Neither Lord nor his wife would anticipate her growing connection.
Lord is the first one to notice strange apparitions and his wife begins to think that he is losing his mind, but as the intensity of the hauntings increase they begin to take extreme measures. They contract the help of a spiritual medium, but Lord finally realizes he is going to need much more than just a cleansing spell. As the house continues to “act out” Lord finds assistance from a Catholic priest. Unfortunately, the damage has already been done and there is simply no turning back.
The opening chapters don’t really indicate the makings of a horror book. Instead, it reads like a poetic drama. Gradually the poetic style gives way to darker interpretations and finally settles on more familiar terms associated with this specific genre. There shouldn’t be any doubt that Lord is more than capable of expressing his thoughts in a very sophisticated tone and he definitely has a way with words.
There are some technical issues so-to-speak that would have made for a much better read if they could have been avoided. For example, Lord has some difficulty when it comes to controlling run-on sentences. His use of adjectives are also a little excessive and the amount of unnecessary detail is simply too much. It will serve him better to pay a little more attention to the experiences of his characters, even if they aren’t fictional, rather than putting so much effort in detailing the house itself. I had a clear picture of what the house looked like, but I only started connecting with the characters after several pages.
On the plus side, Lord definitely shows potential as a writer. His ability with words alone is a tell-tale sign that he is capable of putting together an exciting story. I would liked to have seen Lord pick up the pace at some sections in order to create more intense climaxes.
Books that are based on true events always have a certain mystique about them. When taking this into consideration, some of my criticisms may be overlooked as this story is told by the person who experienced these events first hand – Randolph Lord.
Reviewed by Damnetha Jules
Damnetha is a staff writer, horror book and movie critic.
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