Article 1974 by Foncell Powell

State Writer Pens Thriller
by FONCELL POWELL

     The House that Samael Built,  Ruby Jean Jensen, 1974, Warner Books, Inc., $1.25.

     So you like to feel the hair on the back of your neck stand up, do you? You’re hooked on Gothics and there’s that constant quest for a really good one. Then add “The House that Samael Built” to your list.

    “The House . . .” is written by an Arkansan, Ruby Jean Jensen of Rogers, AR. The book is an original paperback. 

     Ms. Jensen is a good story teller. And even in the two or three places where questions arise (why would a girl who doesn’t trust her newfound companions become indebted to them for $300 worth of clothes?), it matters only seconds and you go on to the next page to see what happens next. Arousing that eager curiosity is the mark of a good story teller every time.

     Normalcy is comforting, but when the norm is disturbed so are we. And it is in picturing abnormal behavior of inanimate objects that Ms. Jensen is in the company of another great horror narrator, Shirley Jackson.

     Both tell tales of strange houses and the people who innocently go there to live.

     Actually, you will never be able to call the group that goes to the Bishop House to live innocent. And you’ll soon learn that the Bishop Place is called Black Swamp Mansion.

     Tara, our heroine, is the only one without guile in the commune of hippies. She fights to keep her sanity while dealing with her immoral companions and Black Swamp Mansion.

     One of the strong points of the plot is Tara’s reason for staying on with the group.

     If, when you are reading horror stories footsteps sound like a monster in seven league boots and a tiny squeak of a door sounds like the rusty door of a dungeon, then you’ll need company on this one.

     Pick someone who tolerates wild-eyed looks and muffled screams with cool concern. Then, if apoplexy strikes at the sound of the refrigerator door closing, your fears will be calmed with a minimum of chiding.