A too-long story in which the protagonist was too much of a ninny to gain much sympathy. (And had the author not told us every time the guy lit up a cigarette he could have shaved about 20 pages off the book.)
The copy I read had quotes from a reviewer who wrote it was "the best ghost story I have ever read..." but in my opinion it's nowhere near that. {The best ghost stories I have ever read include "The Uninvited" by Dorothy Macardle, "The Elementals" and "Cold Moon Over Babylon" by Michael McDowell, "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson, "The Woman In Black" by Susan Hill, "Hell House" by Richard Matheson, and even "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James -- although that's a difficult read.}
The "twist" was logical but could have been inferred by being told of all the previous bad occurrences along the way. The writing was fine, but too many annoying points (why use the full name of one of the characters every time when we know who he is talking about from just the first name? Why, knowing the consequences, does the hero keep going back into the cottage? Why doesn't he tell anyone what he believes is going on? Why....?) In the end, why bother when there are so many really good supernatural tales available?
The copy I read had quotes from a reviewer who wrote it was "the best ghost story I have ever read..." but in my opinion it's nowhere near that. {The best ghost stories I have ever read include "The Uninvited" by Dorothy Macardle, "The Elementals" and "Cold Moon Over Babylon" by Michael McDowell, "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson, "The Woman In Black" by Susan Hill, "Hell House" by Richard Matheson, and even "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James -- although that's a difficult read.}
The "twist" was logical but could have been inferred by being told of all the previous bad occurrences along the way. The writing was fine, but too many annoying points (why use the full name of one of the characters every time when we know who he is talking about from just the first name? Why, knowing the consequences, does the hero keep going back into the cottage? Why doesn't he tell anyone what he believes is going on? Why....?) In the end, why bother when there are so many really good supernatural tales available?
I found this difficult to get going on. It was well written, descriptive and definitely told a good story. The ending was a nice twist.
From the back cover: Deep in the English countryside, surrounded by rosebushes, trees, and meadows, Gerrard's Hill Cottage promised comfort and peace to all who entered. But beneath its placid surface seethed an aura of murder, madness, and betrayal. One by one, the inhabitants of the cottage died unimaginably gruesome deaths-- the victims of an unholy force. Those who survived became the helpless prisoners of this ghastly evil, and their only hope for escape was unraveling the mystery behind the malevolent power that threatened to destroy them.
