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Magnetic Mansion (Return to Eden) | 
| Author: Forrest Haskell
Publisher: Top
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $7.90
You Save: $8.05 (50%)
New (15) Used (8) from $7.77
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 849542
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 360
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9
ISBN: 1929976429
EAN: 9781929976423
ASIN: 1929976429
Publication Date: September 15, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: NEW PAPERBACK, NEXT DAY SHIPPING IN PADDED ENVELOPES
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Product Description
Zack Heikel buys on a whim an old abandoned mansion and after moving in, he stumbles upon an enormous vault hidden in a secret room in the basement. After using an acetylene torch to gain entry, he finds four million dollars in cash, along with journal records from illegal rackets in the Chicago and Detroit areas in the 1930's. More surprising was a jar of formaldehyde containing nine severed human fingers, three of which wore a very unusual silver signet ring. An ancient manuscript found among the rubble in an upstairs library explains the rings and also spoke of an order of men from biblical times calling themselves "The Knights of Zion." Zack spends years trying to find answers to these mysteries woven into the old mansion as well as why it was built the way it was and who is the old hunchback caretaker that still lives in a shack on the rear of the property. Stranger still, who were the nine bodies buried in the woods behind the mansion and what exactly was the secret elevator shaft that enabled a phantom observer to spy on guests in various parts of the house? Zack finally meets an old time gangster at the hunchback's funeral who is all too familiar with the interior of the mansion. He gives Zack several answers to the mysteries surrounding the old place because he was once a prisoner in the basement dungeon. After hearing these revelations Zack fearing for his family from remnants of the Knighthood, flees the state taking with him the millions in greenbacks and most important, although he is unaware of it at the time, the Mystic RINGS and the Ancient Manuscript. In the future, these two items will have a very profound influence on his life as well as all of Mankind.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Not the typical haunted house tale August 18, 2008
Part 1 brings the reader into the action: Honey, wouldn't it be wonderful to have a nice little cottage at a lake?
The speaker, Zachary Heikel, mid 30's, married to his high school sweetheart, stay at home mom, Peggy Sue, goes on to relate that that simple, sincere statement while it didn't sound like the beginning of an eight year journey into bizarre and haunting experiences that would envelop himself, his wife and his four children, did just that.
The narrative opens in 1971 with a circle drawn around an ad in the Ann Arbor newspaper. The ad was Cottage for Sale.
Living in the small Southern Michigan village, Dexter, the speaker and his family lived in a house out in flat open range land. Setting out in the morning the speaker and his wife set out to locate the cottage and think about a purchase. To their surprise the asking for the so called cottage is $125,000. The Heikels are quick to make the purchase.
From that beginning the reader is carried along on the strange whirl, based on true experiences of Writer Haskell.
Part I finds Zack, Peggy Sue, and their kids buying the -cottage-, actually it is quite a manor, before long the second home becomes their permanent residence. Each room of the house and its decor is described fully. Part one ends with a contractor set to begin renovations to the house.
Part II opens a few days after the renovator pockets his check and drives away. Zack and his family trek to the cottage to spend a little time there during a school holiday.
From this point the tale really begins to heat up, anticipation, weird and wonderful events and the historical record of the house itself lead the reader deeper into the intrigue. The Heikel family begin to divide their time between the two residences. Almost from the outset they notice out of the ordinary things taking place in the mansion. With concealed passages, sounds from the fireplace, diverse escape means scattered all over the house, and finding doors on the basement floor to seeing unknown faces in the mirror, finding a secreted elevator and locating hidden rooms and a dungeon; this is not your average lake cottage. The mystery surrounding the house takes the reader to criminal factions, a group known as The Purple Gang, and the Knights of Zion.
The family sells their home in Ann Arbor house and moves into the mansion where they find money hidden in a secret safe in a hidden room, Zack is startled to see a face, not his own looking back at him from a mirror, tableware begins to float in the air, green fog bothers the family pets, Zack notices a dog that the rest of the family cannot see.
From the opening pages set in 1971 through an eight year period ending early in 1979 Writer Haskell presents a fast paced work filled with other worldly phenomena, excitement, characters who are believable and interesting in a setting sure to excite the senses and retain reader interest.
The snows finally came in fury, and one dark evening after a family dinner in town, Zack and Peggy Sue travel toward home when they see a deep red glow on the horizon. Their worst fears are realized as they turn onto the street leading to their -cottage-. The residence was fully engulfed in flames. As the family watched the fiery inferno that was their home Peggy Sue was the first to notice the flames had become a deep purple, and an immense shaft of spiraling white smoke and steam was rising from the center of the house.
Not the typical haunted house tale, Magnetic Mansion Return to Eden is a spell binding recounting of the experiences dynamic storyteller Haskell presents in dynamic prose. Characters are well developed, settings a meant to draw the reader into them, dialog is believable and compelling. Writer Haskell has set down a well planned and executed tale. Magnetic Mansion is a quick read for those who enjoy a good mystery and like a little paranormal along with the mystery. The Knighthood of Zion and Mankind's Second Genesis complete the series. I hope the author or publicist send them soon, I would like to continue reading this author to the end of the story. Happy to recommend.
Molly Martin
Reviewer
Amazing! October 18, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Magnetic Mansion is a wonderful fictional story based on a true story of a house that my family lived in in Michigan. Many of the details concerning the house itself are true and I love the way Mr. Haskell made the storyline interesting and intriguing. I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a mystery and doesn't like to get bored when reading!!
Cynthia Bain
Texas
 A house of mystery September 26, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Reviewed by Stephanie Rollins for Reader Views (8/07)
"Magnetic Mansion" is based upon true experiences of the author, Forrest Haskell. Part I is a bit slow-moving. In this section, Zack, Peggy Sue, and children buy a mansion as a second home. They end up moving there permanently. This part tries to build up suspense. He describes each room of the house and its decor.
After Part I, the suspense begins. The strange events at the house and the history of the house are fascinating. The mystery of the house leads the reader to the Knights of Zion, the mob, and the Purple Gang. It leaves the reader wanting to visit the mansion.
Haskell did not intend for the relationship between Peggy Sue and Zack to be mentionable, but I was taken aback throughout the entire book by it. Peggy Sue is a stay-at-home homemaker. Zack worships the ground she walks on, and he brags about her cooking. He even referred to her as "the little wife" in one section. They are a happy family that respects traditional gender roles. I found that to be interesting, because I do not know how I would respond to being called "little wife."
"Magnetic Mansion" is a quick, enjoyable read. Anyone who enjoys a good mystery will love this book. There are two more books in this series, "The Knighthood of Zion" and "Mankind's Second Genesis." I am off to get a copy of both.
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