Review: The House at Phantom Park by Graham Masterton

The House at Phantom Park has a fabulous, eye-catching cover and I do love traditional haunted house mysteries. This is a 'haunted house' with a difference, though, as the building was originally a military hospital, now left abandoned.

Lilian Chesterfield is in charge of developing St Philomena's Military Hospital into a luxury housing complex, but as soon as work begins on the Jacobean-style mansion, she hears screaming and doors slamming, and sees faces peering through windows. Lilian doesn't believe in ghosts - but what if St Philomena's is haunted by something worse than spirits?

Although The House at Phantom Park had all the chills I usually love in a ghost story, some scenes were a little too graphically gory for me! While the cause of the haunting was original, I found the telling a little repetitive in places and I didn't like the ending. But if you're the kind of reader who doesn't mind a bit of gore with your jump-shocks, add another star!

Trigger warnings: graphic descriptions of war and associated injuries - and it doesn't end well for the animals!

Thank you to Graham Masterton and Aries/Head of Zeus for my copy of this book, which I requested from NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.

Review: Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

I love Riley Sager's books. He takes a classic horror trope, puts a modern spin on it and then twists it out of all recognition. Home Before Dark is a super-spooky read that mashes up The Amityville Horror and The Haunting of Hill House (the Netflix version), with a dash of The Enfield Haunting, and creates something new and sparkling.

When Maggie Holt was five years old her family moved into Baneberry Hall, a rambling old Victorian mansion that already had a sinister reputation. They lasted all of three weeks before fleeing in the middle of the night, never to return. No one would have known or cared - except Maggie's father then decided to write a book about their ghostly experiences. Now, nearly thirty years later, both Baneberry Hall and Maggie are still notorious.

The story starts as Maggie's father dies and she inherits the house. She's a property developer so she has the idea to move into Baneberry Hall and renovate it to sell. She's not at all worried about the ghosts but because ghosts don't exist - do they?

This is such a fun (and spooky!) read. If you love ghost and haunted house stories, you will absolutely adore this. If' you've read lots of horror you'll recognise the nods to various books. I was on the edge of my seat throughout most of the story, which I read very quickly because I couldn't put it down. It was doubly unfortunate that after the scariest part I was supposed to be putting the light out and going to sleep - as if!

I loved the characters. I loved the setting and the historical background the author created. The clever little twists - the graveyard is one but I can't say any more before of spoilers. I can't say much because of spoilers, actually, so I'll just say that it's a five-star read and I particularly liked the way some of the threads were left loose at the end for you to make your own mind up about what really happened...

Thank you to Riley Sager and Hodder and Stoughton for my copy of this book, which I received via NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.

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Review: A House of Ghosts by W.C. Ryan

I was attracted to this book because of the absolutely gorgeous cover and the title. I love, love, love stories about spooky old houses as well as traditional-style murder mysteries. I should probably have paid a bit more attention to the blurb because, while there is both a deliciously haunted house and a clever murder mystery, the story is set in 1917 and is also about spies, secret plans and traitors - which is not normally my thing at all. However, I absolutely loved it!

Donovan (the sole survivor of his regiment) and Kate (employed by the War Office to crack codes) are dispatched by 'C' to a house party at Blackwater Abbey on a remote island just off the Devon coast. Lady Highmount has invited her friends and two psychics to her house for a seance. She is hoping to make contact with her sons who are missing in action, believed dead. Her husband, Lord Highmount, is a man of working class origins who has made his fortune manufacturing weapons. Someone is selling plans of these to the Germans, and it's up to Donovan and Kate to find out who.

While there are plenty of (real) ghosts at Blackthorn Abbey, I think this book would suit readers of murder mysteries best. There are some truly chilling moments (the seance!), but perhaps not enough jump shocks for fans of ghost stories. There are, however, plenty of twists for vintage crime fans and a good puzzle to get their teeth into!

I adored the characters and their sparky dialogue. The action is shared equally between Donovan and Kate; she's a thoroughly modern heroine and not just there to make the hero look good. I really hope this is the first book in a new series, because I would love to read more!

Brilliant stuff! Thoroughly recommended!  

Thank you to W.C. Ryan and Bonnier Zaffre for my copy of this book, which I requested from NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.

Review: This House is Haunted by John Boyne

This House is Haunted is set in 1867, when Eliza Caine takes the post of governess at Gaudlin Hall. She should have suspected something was not quite right when she learned that the advert for the job was placed by the previous governess, not the master of the house. And that the other woman is so keen to hightail it out of there, she literally passes Eliza on the train platform on her way back to London.

In the tradition of all the best ghost stories, as soon as Eliza tells anyone where she works they look shifty and quickly change the subject. The house is huge, gothic, and very creepy. It appears to run without any servants and there is no sign of any other adult - just two very strange young children. What happened to the five other governesses before her? And why does she get the impression that someone really, really doesn't want her there?

I absolutely loved this book. It's brilliantly written, in the style of a traditional Victorian ghost story, but ever-so-slightly tongue-in-cheek. I adored Eliza, particularly her dry sense of humour and her ability to stand up to all those (male) authority figures who try to tell her she's imagining things when she tells them, 'This house is haunted'.

If you've read a lot ghost stories it won't be too hard to work out how it all ends, but it didn't spoil my enjoyment. Recommended, particularly to fans of Susan Hill and stories such as The Woman in Black. One of my favourite books this year! 

Review: The Ghost Hunters by Neil Spring

As a teenager I devoured ghost stories, particularly true-life ghost stories, and I soon learnt about Borley Rectory, 'the most haunted house in England' and the man who investigated it - Harry Price. So I was thrilled to discover this series of books written by Neil Spring (the second one is called The Lost Village), which give a fictional account of Harry Price's most famous cases.

The real-life Harry Price was a fascinating, larger-than-life character, and this comes across very well. Despite the title, the book is more historical mystery than ghost story, although there are a few chilling moments towards the end. It covers a twenty year period and, in addition to Borley Rectory, there are accounts of Harry's other well-known cases - he was famous for exposing fake mediums and 'haunted' house hoaxes. The book is packed with historical detail, and the nerd in me loved the illustrations, photographs, floor plans of the rectory, and the newspaper 'cuttings' about other ghostly legends. I loved the character of Harry, even though he was deeply flawed and (in the story) seemed to let down his friends and family on a regular basis.

Fans of traditional ghost stories and jump shocks should look elsewhere for their thrills, but if you love historical mysteries about real-life people and places, with a hint of the paranormal, then this is the book for you. Recommended - and I do love that cover! 


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