Charles Burnside

Black House

First edition cover
Author	Stephen King, Peter Straub
Cover artist	Mary Steinbacher
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Jack Sawyer Trilogy
Genre	Horror
Publisher	Random House
Publication date	September 15, 2001
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	625
ISBN
Preceded by	The Talisman
Followed by	TBA

Black House is a horror novel by American writers Stephen King and Peter Straub. Published in 2001, it is the sequel to The Talisman. This is one of King's numerous novels, which also include Hearts in Atlantis and Insomnia, that tie in with the Dark Tower series. Black House was nominated to the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel.

The novel is set in Straub's homeland Wisconsin, rather than in King's frequently used backdrop of Maine. The town of "French Landing" is a fictionalized version of the town of Trempealeau, Wisconsin. Also, "Centralia" is named after the nearby small town of Centerville, Wisconsin, located at the intersection of Hwy 93 and Hwy 35.

A chapter of the book is written around Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven".

A series of murders has begun to plague the town of French Landing, Wisconsin. The murderer is dubbed "The Fisherman", due to a conscious effort by the killer to emulate the methods of serial killer Albert Fish. Like Fish, French Landing's killer targets children and indulges in cannibalism of the bodies. Two victims have already been discovered as the story opens, with a third awaiting discovery. The nature of the crimes, and the local police's inability to capture the killer, have led people all over the region to become more anxious with each passing day, and certain elements of the local media exacerbate the situation with inflammatory and provocative coverage.