As the title suggests, House Infernal follows Edward Lee's latest series of works (including City Infernal, Infernal Angel, and Messenger), which seek to explore Hell as it might be after millennia of evolution/progress. No more the cave and fire pits of Dante, this Hell is a sprawling, nightmare city, the Mephistopolis.

This time around, the reader is invited to explore this world via two storylines. The least fantastic of these follows Venetia Barlow, something of a theological prodigy and who, at age twenty one, is considering joining the brides of Christ. As a summer project, she has agreed to help renovate a priory house designed by one of the Vatican's top architects (and a closet Satanist, naturally). The building is rumored to be haunted, was site to a pair of recent, unsolved murders, and holds quite a few unholy secrets, which tie it to the future of Hell.

The second storyline takes place in Hell itself, starring the unlikely pairing of a foul-mouthed new arrival (Ruth) and a dismembered priest on a mission from God (Alexander). Their task -- promising an escape from Hell and Purgatory should it be successfully completed -- will take this pair on something of a whirlwind tour of the New Hell, from Rot-Port (where the buildings themselves are built from rot or, in the case of the high end real estate, painted with the finest rot) to Sewageton (a crappy place to visit, much less to live in) and beyond...

The earthbound tale, which combines a spooky house exploration along with something of a murder investigation -- who killed those two girls, a few month ago? -- to give a fairly interesting, if somewhat straight-laced horror mystery. Serviceable to the story, if not particularly special.

However, it is in the secondary storyline that author Edward Lee's strengths come to the fore. Here, he demonstrates a perverse genius for showing us a Hell the likes of which few readers have ever seen. The approach is nearly that of the classic fantasist, immersing the reader in an intriguing and unique vision of a world that is ultimately unlike ours, a place populated by "humans" (their souls, anyway) and some fascinating inhuman critters. This dark fantasy world has a demented but workable logic and a cast of creative atrocities that mimic our world's progress. What makes this bombardment of foul, nasty, and disgusting subject matter palatable is the consistent thread of humor running through most everything, like the hum of electrocity (sic) power lines. Yes, the severed tongue is planted firmly in cheek for much of this Hell tour (actually, this reader envisions quite a few tongues bloating a pair of cheeks in the manner of a macabre, hording squirrel), so chuckles and repulsion come with equal measure.

Lee's pulp horror roots are on display in this narrative, as the plot races along, throwing heaping helpings of twists, surprises and gore onto the reader while plunging through the tropes of not only horror but high fantasy. Readers curious to see what a collaboration between Robert E. Howard and Richard Laymon might look like should seek out this hellish adventure.

Unfortunately, the novel offers too much repetitious exposition. At points, this reader found himself revisiting previously explained concepts and skimming ahead, while muttering "I get it, I get it. Hell works in diametric opposition to Earth..." There are few High Concepts that are not explained to death, alas. This, combined with some wooden dialogue are the novel's real stumbles, but the imagination on display in the Hell sequences are reward enough for the price of admission.

House Infernal is another grotesque gem in the crown of hardcore horror king, Edward Lee.

House Infernal by Edward Lee
369 pages
Leisure Books (mass market paperback edition)
Published October 2007
Cemetery Dance (limited hardcover edition)
Published February 2008

By This Book >>>> Paperback Hardcover
Author's Website
Publisher's Website: Leisure Books
Publisher's Website: Cemetery Dance