I picked this up a day or so after finishing Atlas Shrugged, wanting something completely different, and that’s what I got. This novel comes to life instantly; within a few pages I was drawn into its world and felt that its characters—only two in the lengthy opening scene—were alive. The title had me expecting a haunted house story, especially since I knew Kirk had written ghost stories, but this is more like Eric Ambler with a good touch of Charles Williams. I thought of Ambler’s Light of Day, in which a protagonist who initially seems pretty ordinary (well, actually, sort of on the scummy side, unlike Kirk’s hero) gets drawn into danger and reveals unsuspected abilities.
In an odd coincidence, Old House has a few things in common with Atlas Shrugged, and the comparison is not in the latter’s favor. Old House, for instance, includes a steel tycoon, who seemed more alive within the first page or two than Rand’s hero ever did. And both books are romances, in both senses: they tell a very unlikely story not necessarily intended to be realistic, and they are in part love stories. And the hero and heroine of Old House are really rather too gifted and capable to be believable. And yet I did believe them for the moment, which was not the case with Rand’s people.
To tell you the truth, I never would have expected this from Kirk. I expected something self-consciously quaint, mannered, discursive, maybe a bit pompous. I did not expect a taut action and adventure yarn. It could be made into a spectacular movie. Give it a try if you want something relatively brief and undemanding, but not without substance. My only complaint is that the end is predictable and a bit of a letdown, but getting there is a delight.
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