Douglas Clegg's novel "The Infinite" is a perfect example of a sports car that can go from 0 -90 in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately,when Mr. Clegg's novel decides to take off, he left readers like me stranded in the dust.

The first 200+ pages of this novel are simply outstanding. Mr. Clegg does a wonderful job fleshing out the three protagonists who happen to share an ability known as "Element X", in different forms, and are hired by Mr. Jack Fleetwood, the head of a NYC psychic organization to investigate the infamous Harrow House in Upstate New York at the request of the new owner, Ms. Ivy Martin.

Needless to say, the original owner of the manse, Mr. Justin Gravesend did a bunch of particularly spooky and nasty stuff in an attempt to transform his house into more than just a home. The three psychics, Cali Nytbyrd, Chet Dillinger and Frost Crane, eventually find they are in way over their heads.

The first 200+ pages of this novel is an excellent Jamesian exercise in establishing mood, plot and prepping the reader for the climax. Unfortunately, Mr. Clegg starts the fireworks without any warning and, quite frankly, without making any plot sense. I wonder if his editor told him to wrap it up for the final 40+ pages make no sense at all.

I would recommend "The Infinite" for mood, stylism and character development. Perhaps Mr. Clegg needs to concentrate more on plot and cohesion in his future works.

First 3/4 of book =5stars

last 1/4 of book =1 star

Overall =3 stars

My first, I believe, was The Halloween Man. A good book, but not my favorite. Mr. Clegg and I grew up in the military (I'm a Navy brat who grew up in CT....and was in DC when I wrote my review--married to a member of the Coast Guard). I LOVED this book--it was entertaining, endearing and a little bit creepy. For some reason it reminded me of Event Horizon--a movie most seemed to abhor but I loved.

Please keep up the good work, Mr. Clegg. I am currently reading The Machinery of Night and love it, as I have enjoyed everything since I was 12 and read Goat Dance:)

I keep going back to Douglas Clegg hoping that with each new novel he's finally come into his own; after all this is an author that gets repetitively compared to Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Clive Barker, so he definitely has some big shoes to fill as the new kid on the block. Unfortunately, the last few books I've read by the author have all felt extremely amateurish and bland without any real linear plot. That is, until I recently finished THE INFINITE. Now I see that this guy is capable of so much more.

THE INFINITE is the third cycle in a series revolving around an allegedly haunted house called Harrow (and I'm sure there will be more episodes to follow). Seems that Harrow is more than merely filled with ghosts and things that go bump in the night, and one man has offered $10,000 each to three talented people to come and test his theory. Of course, these three guests all possess paranormal abilities, rendering the story even more unoriginal. But what the heck -- it works!

Clegg uses his magic and attention to detail in building the generic plot, creating along the way some extremely well-written characters that you can't help but enjoy. In some certain way Clegg manages to keep things simple while moving the tale along in a steady, subtle pace, which ultimately thrusts the audience into a tight (if only too quick) ending and leaving us begging for more. And here's the real damage the author does unto himself: by building the climax at such slow tempo, the average reader feels gypped when finally the "horror" story begins -- only to end less than seventy pages later (see the other reviews for proof). But not me. I completely enjoyed the fact that I was able to use my imagination a bit longer while Clegg cleverly created a very believable setting, uncertain what I was truly being set up for. I loved that each and every one of his characters had flaws, making them that much more human and real. I even found his ending brilliant as it's done and over with before you can even catch your breath, leaving you with an unsettling feeling of chaos. It's evident when comparing THE INFINITE to MISCHIEF (the second in the Harrow series and one that I think you can totally miss) that Clegg has come a long way and finally stands out on his own. Recommended.

Douglas Clegg, The Infinite (Leisure Books, 2001)

I didn't exactly go to school with Doug Clegg, but we shared a fraternity at the same school ten years apart. (No word on whether he was a previous occupant of my room, though that would probably explain some of the many unexplainable things that happened within its walls.) I found this out a little less than a decade ago from Clegg himself, and ever since then I've had the "you know, I really should pick up one of this guy's books" thing turned up a notch up under the constantly-boiling saucepan that is my TBR stack. But somehow I never got round to it till just now.

Here's your apology, Doug. I really did mean to get my hands on The Halloween Man and You Come When I Call You. But don't worry, now that I've actually read one, I will be attempting to pick them up posthaste (in the ragtag way I do such things, which often involves used bookstores and library book sales).

The Inifinite starts out, well, slow. Glacial. Seeming as if it's going to be just another incarnationof The Haunting, which has had so many pale imitators over the years. But get yourself past the prologue and you realize that was just the chain pulling the car up the first hill, and you're sitting at the top. You sit there for a sickeningly long time letting the anticipation buld as Clegg takes his sweet time filling us in on the characters. In fact, he spends over half the book this way. But anyone who's seen the film Lord of Illusions, and the disturbing flashbacks Scott Bakula suffers therein, should be well aware that filling in background material can be loads of fun by itself.

Then you actually get to the house. And yes, the story does start sounding a bit like The Haunting (or Matheson's The Haunting of Hell House, perhaps a closer parallel) retold for a modern, more blood-soaked audience. And while it's impossible to say what it is about the book that makes it better than its contemporaries without giving away a major plot point, trust me. It's something not done nearly enough in novels, and almost never in movies, but when it is it's an autmatic step towards classic status.

Am I saying that in seventy years Doug Clegg will be as read and revered as Lovecraft is now? Nah, he's probably more an M. R. James, someone the aficionados are well aware of, but that the outside world is unfamiliar with. Let them rot in their ignorance, we have Douglas Clegg. *** ½

Harrow House Watch Point, New York has seen many tragedies and is rumored to be haunted. When Ivy Martin purchases the house, she agrees to allow Jack Fleetwood of the PSI Vista Foundation, a group of paranormal investigators, to conduct an investigation into the alleged hauntings. He hopes to prove the existence of ghosts. Three psychics Chet Dillinger a telekinetic, Cali Nytbird who has precognitive and psychometric abilities, and Frost Crane a best selling author who has premonitions, though he seems more psychotic than psychic, are hired. Jack Fleetwood and his daughter run the detection devices.

The novel is divided into books. Book One Lifetimes introduces the principal characters. Book Two Palace of Night sees the team arrive. Book Three Empire of the Mind is where the paranormal activity begins 300 pages into it! The book has only 377 pages!

First off the investigative team isn't even qualified to conduct an investigation into a haunting. Cali with her psychometry is okay but where are the clairvoyants and what does precognition and telekinesis have to do with the past? This story was very reminiscent of Rose Red also billed as a ghost story but in both cases the activity isn't caused by ghosts but by psychic portals or demons or both. Both were awful stories! If I could rate this book a zero, that's what it would get!