Elementals [Paperback]

Marian Savage has died. Her son Dauphin and his wife Leigh attend the strange funeral and afterward decide the family needs a vacation at the isolated family property of Beldame. Taking vacation with them are Leigh's mother Big Barbara McCray, Leigh's brother Luker McCray and his thirteen-year-old daughter India, and family servant Odessa Red.

While the characters are richly portrayed and fully fleshed out, the story is actually about a place: Beldame. Beldame is three Victorian style houses at the end of a sand spit near Gulf Shores, a place that can only be reached at low tide because of a channel that runs between the gulf and St. Elmo's Lagoon. The McCray's stay in one house and the Savages in the other, while the third house has remained empty for years. Empty of people, perhaps, but there's something inside that third house, something thats malevolent and dangerous.

Time stands still at Beldame, where the temperature is suffocatingly hot and there's no electronic distractions such as phones or tv's or radios. As the family lounges in hammocks and works jigsaw puzzles, India becomes intrigued by the third house and the rest of her family's fear of it. But under Odessa's rather unwanted guidance, India discovers that the third house is far from benign.

This story is much more than a simple tale of a haunted house. It's creepy and deadly, and made all the more horrific from the folksy southern charm of McDowell's prose and dialogue. As the power of the third house rises, its presence becomes dangerous for the family. There's something inside that wants all of them dead, and only Odessa holds the clues to what's inside.

'The Elementals' is a languidly rich tale of horror, sinister and frightening, and occasionally gory. McDowell's writing style is addictive, and if you finish this tale wanting more, pick up 'Cold Moon Over Babylon' and his six-book Blackwater series. This is one of the best horror books, and certainly THE best haunted house book, that I've ever read. Ten Stars! I highly recommend it. Enjoy!

This novel, by the late Michael McDowell (he passed away in December, 1999 from complications from AIDS) is the single best horror novel I've ever read, surpassing even Shirley Jackson's Haunting Of Hill House. I don't think there is a horror novel in English that I haven't read, but none combine the eerie yet almost poetically evocative atmosphere, beautiful diction, compelling, awesome (in the true sense of the word) sense of character and place, engrossing plot and tantalizingly ambiguous but totally absorbing horror in this book. Every word is worth reading over and over again. It is truly beautifully crafted. The shame is that, according to the reviews I've read, Mr. McDowell considered himself a "hack writer" of thrillers. This is unfortunate because he was an artist, and this is his masterpiece. It is must reading for any fan of horror or of Southern Gothic, the tradition from which it comes. I re-read it at least a half dozen times a year and still find it fresh and exciting each time. I wish I could rate it higher than a "five." I hope this and all his works (out of print for years) come back into print for another generation of horror fans.

just like "Cold moon over babylon", from the early
80's "Elementals" is also a classic from the late
Michael McDowell. A writer I would have put easily
in a class with King, Farris,Koontz, Coyne, to name a few
of the best of the 80's horror writers. This guy knew
how to write and the only thing missing with stories
such as "Elemental" is he just didn't become a "Super"
success in the thriller/chiller market, I enjoy all his writings and many varied titles. Great story!