A House Divided
Deborah LeBlanc
Leisure, Jun 2006, $6.99
ISBN: 0843957301

In Crowly, Luciana, avaricious building contractor Keith LaFleur and assistant acquisitions manager for Costless Drugs Patricia Egan meet to discuss moving a vast building. Keith explains to his brother-in-law and lead foreman Jeff Mabry who soon arrives that to accomplish the request in a week they will need to cut the building in half, move it in two parts, and then put back together. Keith and Jeff enter the edifice, but the contractor smells gas which his foreman does not. Next Keith feels something crawling on him, but nothing is there until something bites him. Other incidents follow.

Once the house is divided, Laura Toups opens a beauty salon near Matt Daigle's Tin Cup establishment. They are attracted to one another and she likes his preadolescent son. However they will soon be caught up with the inexplicable events of the LaFleur project that become a little more dangerous with each ensuing episode. Unbeknownst to them, is the Devillier family tragedies. Meanwhile Keith, acting increasingly bizarre, dismisses claims that Morgan, the ghostly mother, is trying to prevent her building from being split as no one will separate her from her children even as a more mundane culprit is also at work.

A HOUSE DIVIDED is a solid haunted house thriller that grips readers from the first moment that Keith sniffs gas and Jeff standing next to him does not. The haunting action-packed story line never slows down from that initial occurrence as it plays out on two complex levels. Though Keith displays no redeeming qualities, fans will enjoy this tense thriller because readers will empathize with most of the key cast members including Morgan.

Harriet Klausner