Henry Avila's Reviews > The House on the Borderland

In an isolated area of West Ireland, far from big towns or roads and crowds there was a huge unwanted house, that the local people from the nearby little village of Kraighten said was haunted, the time before the dawn of the Twentieth Century, apparently more than a score of years then. Two strangers came to the seldom visited territory, since the natives don't speak English and the the outsiders can't communicate in Gaelic, there is a little problem. But it doesn't matter the two have plenty of food and equipment for their fishing vacation. Finding a small river and the fish are biting, all is good. Sleeping in their tent, nothing to worry about just wait for their driver to come back, in a couple of weeks, fun in the sun, relax, get away from the hectic life of the big city. How wrong can you get! One day following the stream down for a change, in the direction of the sea it vanishes before them. The men look around puzzled, finally see a mist, thick, hiding the surroundings with many rainbows caused by the Sun's rays, and come to a massive pit. Strange rumbling noises are heard, something's wailing below, the men have found the river as it flows to the bottom of the chasm, a hundred feet underneath. Going further around they arrive at an immense, gloomy, desolate and now dead garden of fruit trees. A short distance away the deserted ancient creepy house, that has almost fallen into the pit the two brave young men go inside to investigate, everything's a wreck, dust, debris scattered everywhere in the rooms in what's left of the mansion, that hasn't descended to the bottomless gigantic hole. Digging with their bare hands, the outsiders soon discover under all that dirty garbage a large manuscript that is mostly intact... Reading the pages by candlelight, after going back to camp across the cursed woods in their small cramped tent the fishermen stay up all night, the two can't help it. The tale is that of an unnamed old man, and his sister Mary. He has bought the odd house, very cheaply, doesn't ask many questions and stays away from the locals , they think him mad. His food is brought monthly to his home, the lonely man has his faithful dog Pepper to keep him company. Quiet Mary, is the elderly housekeeper and the years slowly go by without trouble, until unwisely but understandable curious the old man takes a look inside the pit, weird sounds had come from the unseen bottom. With his rifle and dog along in the dark endless tunnel, Pepper is badly bitten by a hideous swine thing , that walks on his hind legs. After many adventures in the pit, the old man runs for his life as a bunch of these creatures from deep under the surface attack him, if only he can get back home, spotting his sister he yells at her to go to the house she complies very quickly, who wouldn't ? Frightening bizarre dream visions of a dying Earth follow, real or unreal ? The old man will not leave he is the bravest man in the world...A novel that is uniquely unusual for the connoisseur only of this type of entertainment...not a warning but a truism...