Some houses live in perpetual shadow. Valhalla is one of them. The old mansion was built by legendary gambler and womanizer Jack Belias, and every inhabitant since him has met with tragedy. Even today, Valhalla echoes with a terrible, agonized sobbing. When Craig Bellman stumbled upon Valhalla he felt a fascination he had never known and was determined to live there. He knew it would be the perfect place to save his troubled relationship with his wife, Effie. Out of loyalty to her husband, Effie tried to ignore the horrible feeling the house gave her. But she still hired a spiritualist to rid Valhalla of its fearsome vibrations. As death and injury return to Valhalla, Craig becomes increasingly obsessed by the house spirit of the past "Masterton is a crowd-pleaser, filling his pages with sparky, appealing dialogue and visceral grue."