House of Bones
Masterton’s latest horror novel features a young man, John, who’s just starting out in a new job at the real-estate agency run by the mysterious (and somewhat cadaverous) Mr. Vane. When John makes the rookie mistake of lending a potential customer the key to one of the houses on Mr. Vane’s “special list,” he tries to make amends and stumbles on a horrible secret about the house. As always, Masterton puts realistic, carefully drawn characters into bizarre, otherworldly situations and lets us watch what happens to them. This novel is lighter than most of his work but just as suspenseful and just as frightening. --David Pitt