Review: Doom "Really Capture[s] The Old Bellairs Flair"

Book review: The Doom of the Haunted Opera

This is the sixth book in the fantasy/horror series that began with The House with a Clock in its Walls, the third that was completed after John Bellairs's death by longtime fan Brad Strickland, and the first of those three to really capture the old Bellairs flair. Lewis Barnavelt and Rose Rita Pottinger are left on their own in their home town of New Zebedee when Uncle Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmerman, both kindly wizards, are called out of town to attend the funeral of an old friend. Exploring the town's dusty old opera house, Lewis discovers an unpublished opera score--which, as its opening movement is played, casts a long-dormant spell on the town, shutting out the outside world, and cutting off any hope of rescue as the long-dead composer returns to pursue his evil goals. I've loved the Lewis and Rose Rita books for years, and after being disappointed in Strickland's first two completions, I'm delighted to see that he's written a book that really seems to fit in among the first three. He does still have a tendency to overuse his characters' linguistic quirks (I don't think Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmerman used to use affectionately hostile nicknames for each other quite so often), and one or two plot points seem inconsistent with the earlier books, but in all other ways he's really caught their feel--the prose has the same casual elegance, the pacing has just the right amount of tension. Interestingly enough, this book had less input from Bellairs himself than either of the other two; according to Strickland, it was written from a bare outline. An impressive job.

Evan Hunt
copyright © 1996 Notes From the Windowsill
Used with permission