Usher's Passing

Thanks to Kendall unlimited, I just finished enjoying this book. If you're a fan of Robert McCammon, then this book is highly recommended! I was immediately sucked right in to the storyline, As usual this is another one of his excellent stories.

I've enjoyed all of the Robert McCammond books, but this is probably my favorite.

The premise is based on the E.A. Poe story, Fall of the House of Usher. In McCammond's version, the Ushers go on to become fabulously wealthy as leading munitions producers in the modern day,though it brings little joy to the family.

Highlights include a compelling investigation of the family's history by its black sheep, a creepy haunted lodge, and host of well concieved plot twists-- I literally could not put the book down for the last 100 pages.

There's particular chapter where a nasty bully gets his comeuppance, going from "king of the world" to shattered blubbering in the process. Without giving anything up, it's an outstanding example of Hitchcock-like escalation of tension.

The twists were foreshadowed subtly throughout the book, and held up well when I immediately re-read it.

One last thing, I've read some of the character comparisons on this website, and personally the Ushers reminded me of a sick and twisted version of the Bluths from FOX's defunct Sunday night gem, Arrested Development (especially the MOTHER, SISTER, and WORTHLESS OLDER BROTHER!!)

If you like Steven King but are tired of the same 2-3 concepts he's driven into the ground since 1989-- I cannot recommend McCammond enough.

This book has some of the most hideous passages I've ever read. They paint a picture of noxious smells, piercing lights, the creepiest family this side of Sarah Palin's, and a 200 room lodge that seems to be a hybridization of The Winchester House, with a hearty dollop of Gormenghast to round off the edges.
This is one of the best horror books I've read.
When you read this, my advice is hold your walking stick tight in one hand, ignore the voices in your head and keep the lights on.

slow read. kept jumping back and forth from one one family to (what seemed like an unrelated) to another. dull. unclear where the author was going. wasn't until the very very end that the (poor) conncetion was made. I normally really like McCammon but this is a bust.

Although obviously inspired by Poe's classic tale "The Fall of The House Of Usher", Robert McCammon's "Ushers Passing" goes in directions WAY beyond anything Edgar Allan Poe thought possible- it is original enough to stand on its own two feet! It answers many of the issues left unaddressed by his classic tale as well as the successive film versions( full disclosure: I myself have the 1960 version on DVD with the late Vincent Price , Myrna Fahey and Philip Damon)!

Usher's Passing is absolutely my favorite book. I have read it about 6 times over the years and will probably read it again! The whole story is just plain creepy, the characters are fascinating, and the ending is quite a suprise. Everyone I have loaned this book to has loved it as well. This book would make an awesome movie! Read the book, you won't be disappointed.

I normally love McCammon, but this book is horrible. He tried to combine the stories from The Shining and Firestarter and failed miserably. And when I say combined, I mean he comes close to committing plagiarism. A child with the ability to control minds, the huge remote Mansion filled with an evil presence who wants the young boy dead...and yes, even an insane writer who types nothing but the same sentence over and over.

Do yourself a favor and choose A Boy's Life or Swans Song instead. Both show what a truly talented writer McCammon can be.

This book was long and at some points boring. The beginning seemed really good and then it just seemed to go nowhere. I really liked his other books: Wolf's Hour and Swan Song. Two of his best. If you liked Poe's "Usher" , then your probably like this continuation of the Usher story. Otherwise, try the other two first.

Robert R. McCammon is one of my favorite authors and Usher's Passing kept me up all night reading. I could not put this book down. The characters are interesting, the plot is excellent, and next to Swan's Song, this is one of my favorites of his. You'll never guess the ending! :)

[Note: Spoillers at end of review. Borrowed this book from the store.s library] Summary: Ridiculous plot, average writing skills. The author took every scary concept* he could think of (whoa), borrowed a jumble of mysterious situations** (ooooooo…), mxed ecerything together (ssscritchhh……squaaWish…), and (KaaBOOM!!!) a horror book was born.

The good news: (1) very few typos (hard to find in a kindle book)
(2) the writing wasn.t bad
(3) no hokey romances filled with longing and stomach fluttering
(4) a very good suprise***at the end
(5) (best of all) there were no vampires fighting werewolves (which is sooooo very prevalent in today.s tales).

Don.t waste your time, even if you can borrow it for free or buy it cheap.

Spoillers I have to list some of them because, if you.re not going to read the book, you can be amazed (wwwoooooowww) at all these elements used by the aythor.

*haunted mountain, 3 to 4 missing children a year taken by a man with a pumpkin for a head, mansion that is soooo big and confusing (plus, it "changes" configuration) that people who live there frequently get lost, witches and warlocks living in a commune, animal torture, mean and powerhungry old men, thorn plants that grow rapidly and in such dense formations that people and deer become permanently snagged, Devil wordshippers, bad things occuring on Oct. 31, stalking creature with the hesd of a TRex- the body of a black panther- the tail of a rattlesnake- and the ability to walk on two legs, a powerful weapon that could destroy the world (of course, kept in the subbasement of the huge mansion), evil magical powers that can "freeze" and control animals and people, cannibalism, frightning thunderstorms, birds committing suicide by flying into mansion, incest, brother having sex with other brothet.s slutty wife,..

**rotting- smelly disease with no cure- passed genetically- stsved off by eating children, mystical evil cane, cryptic repressed memories, magical powes over msn and beast, adolescent boy who discovers he has supernatursl powers, wierd old hermit, walking stick with good magical powers, insanity, windows breaking for no reason, supernormal storms, "closed off" mountain people who don.t like outsiders, panic attacks, baffled law enforcers, a go-get'um reporter with a crazy dad, unexplainable suicide, haunted legends, music that makes you want to die, clandestined military visitors, perplexing earth trembles, neglected mansion slowly going to ruin, people feeling an almost irresistsble urge to go in the mansion, mysterious gravestone, enigmatic town ruins, secret tumnels, missing children, bad blood, sibling rivalry, secret careers, winding nearly impassable roads, powerful secret weapon, …

***the good guy is really the bad guy

It's unbelievability irritated me. No, I'm not talking about the supernatural elements, of course you expect those, this is a gothic horror novel. What irritated me is the unbelievability of one of the story's main focuses: that the Ushers must keep their doings and what's going on in their estate a secret because otherwise the media will engage in a, I quote from the book "feeding frenzy." One character says that in the fight for who will inherit the family business, the sister will get it but the older brother will destroy her by pedalling her stories of drug abuse to the tabloids.
Hello? Am I the only one with any sense here? The media is not going to care one bit about the head of a munitions-making family dying, or the daughter of the owner of the weapons maker using drugs in the past. How often do you see tabloids print things like that? They talk about reporters flooding the estate, what a joke. Is there some big public interest in who is going to inherit a weapons making business? No. It makes no sense to pretend like the media is going to care that much.
This problem erupts again when the middle child, the younger son, wants to make a fortune by writing a book about the dirty secrets of his family. He acts like it will make him a billionaire. Uh, yeah. Nothing gets on the best seller faster than a tell-all book of a family who owns a weapons development company. Give me a break, that's weak.
After all that, I found Pumpkin Man very believable in relation.