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Conrad Harrison buys a large Victorian house in Wisconsin purely on impulse, only to find that his wife does not share his enthusiasm for leaving Los Angeles behind. Within a few days she has left to tie up loose ends in California, with Conrad finding out that the house harbours many secrets, all of which appear to be related to its past as a birthing house, where midwives delivered babies in the absence of a hospital. As he finds himself and his young neighbour, Nadia, being drawn deeper into the web of evil, Conrad realizes that lives might well be in danger. Part-thriller, part-horror story, THE BIRTHING HOUSE is Ransom's first novel and is a powerful debut. The house itself is in fact based on Ransom's very own birthing house in Wisconsin and he does a superb job of creating an atmosphere of foreboding and malevolence from the very beginning of the novel. Ransom cuts between past and present, giving the reader a picture of Conrad's later teenage years as a counterpart to the events of the present day. He does not shy away from graphic sexual scenes and there is no shortage of blood and violence, as one would expect from a horror novel. The high quality of the writing is obvious, but there is no doubt that this novel was written with one eye on a film adaptation, particularly as Ransom has been involved in screenwriting. THE BIRTHING HOUSE could be adapted to the big screen with little difficulty. Overall, I was somewhat ambivalent about the novel. While there were sections that I enjoyed, at times the horror and supernatural aspect became rather overwhelming. I was expecting a prosaic, rather than other-worldly denouement, but the action-packed scenes more than made up for that. THE BIRTHING HOUSE is certainly recommended for horror fans and thriller fans will find elements therein that will be to their liking.
Reviewed by Luke Croll, January 2009
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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