The Search for Joseph Tully
This is the story of one of the strangest quests in recent years.
In Brooklyn, in an historic part of that shambled borough, the failing iron ball of the wrecker's crane is at work. One of the few buildings still standing amid the rubble is the Brevoort House, older than memory. Its only remining tenant is Peter Richardson. Abandoned. Menaced. Alone. The Brevoort Houses, like people, can go bad, and the Brevoort emanates an evilness, and undefined terror, aimed directly at him. The house – something in the house – is telling Richardson of his impending death.
In another part of Brooklyn, Matthew Willow, a solicitor just arrived from London, takes up quarters. He is seeking a man who may not exist. He has one clue only, the name of the wanted man's ancestor: Joseph Tully. This eighteenth-century wine merchant had sent his four sons to colonial American to make their fortunes, and Willow's search takes him into the fascinating world of the genealogical detective. He follows a circuitous trail through old courthouse files, colonial church records, graveyards, dockets of wills, property deeds and bastardy laws. One after another, he traces the lines of Tully's sons. One by one, he reaches dead ends: No issue. Oddly enough, he is profoundly relieved. He is about to return to England when he chances upon an ancient diary. Its contents hold the vital information he has been so afraid he would find. Now he is forced to carry out his awesome revenge.
The Search for Joseph Tully is a harrowing tale, beautifully written: a powerful novel of tyranny beyond the grave.
"The Search for Joseph Tully is the kind of book you can t put down while you're reading – and will never forget after you finish. A super-shocker." Robert Bloch (author of Psycho)
"Reading The Search for Joseph Tully is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle where each piece, as it is locked into position, provides a chill of terrifying premonition." Stanley Ellin (author of Stronghold)
"William H Hallahan's new novel, The Search for Joseph Tully, kept me on edge from beginning to end. Mr. Hallahan not only knows how to write exciting fiction; he knows his occult background. Thoroughly enjoyable." Hans Holzer (author of The Truth About Witchcraft)
"Move over, Blatty and Tryon. Move over everybody. Hallahan's book is a relentless, terrifying thriller." Dean Koontz (author of After the Last Race)