The House Next Door (novel)

"The House Next Door" is a 1978 horror novel written by Anne Rivers Siddons. It was first published by Simon & Schuster and became a "New York Times" bestseller. [Richmond, Ray, October 30, 2006, [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/television/reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=6735 The House Next Door,] "The Hollywood Reporter".] In his book "Danse Macabre" noted horror author Stephen King writes that this is one of the best genre novels of the 20th century. In 2006 it was adapted into a made-for-TV movie starring Lara Flynn Boyle and Mark Paul Gosselaar. [Cutler, Jacqueline, October 30, 2006, [http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/zap-story-housenextdoor-laraflynnboyle-ferguson,0,5617237.story Buyers Dying to Get Into Lifetime's 'House Next Door',] "The Baltimore Sun".]

The novel is written in the first person narrative (with the brief exception of the epilogue, which is written from the third person perspective) and is told from the point of view of Colquitt Kennedy, who lives with her husband Walter next to the house of the title. One of the more interesting aspects of the story is that it is never definitely stated what force occupies the house next door; though Colquitt and her husband come to believe that it is possessed by some kind of malevolent intelligence Siddons never explicitly makes it clear. The novel is comprised of three main sections and is bookended by both a prologue and an epilogue.

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