Well.

Consider me—for the first time in reading all of Herbert's novels—actually blown away by one of his books.

What's even wilder? I read the three David Ash books back to back, so I end my years-long reading of everything Herbert with this, his second-last book. And I have to say, had he written any other books this well-written, this well-plotted, and without his usual man-meets-woman-eventually-have-explicit-sex feature?

Yeah, that twenty-three book read would have been far more enjoyable.

I enjoyed this novel possibly because it was lacking the standard Herbert elements, but also because, quite frankly, it was just so well written and so well plotted.

I actually started this final novel with a lot of trepidation, having just DNF'd the novel right before it, Nobody True. Herbert had seemed to completely forget about carrying any plot forward in that one because he was more concerned with giving far too much detail about the inner workings of an ad agency.

And I got a little worried when he launched into the engineering project that Gabe was taking on, but it was just lightly sketched in, and then we got on with the story. And it's an incredible story. So many elements that, before this novel, I would have sworn the author could never have juggled.

And yet, juggle them he did. And very well. This novel has it all. Grief. Sorrow. Anger. Hate. And a slow burn of terror running underneath all of it, like the river under Crickley Hall.

This was just brilliant. I'm so glad I didn't give up on Herbert, and finally got to read the best book he ever wrote. ( )

Really a 3.5 star rating. Very creepy story, but I am a bit jaded when it comes to child ghosts and evil adults who abused them. I think this book could translate to the movie screen quite well. I definitely will try another James Herbert. ( )

A nice creepy ghost story that is full of sinister character and great atmosphere building. Really enjoyed listening to the audiobook narrated by David Rintoul (sp) he really gave a good performance. ( )

I have the softest spot for haunted house novels and I've often found this book at the top of most lists. Of course, I had to read it.

The author is apparently well known and referred to as the British Steven King. Huh. I've always disliked Steven King so I have to say that, after reading this, the description feels kinda accurate.

Started off nice and kept getting worse the closer it got to the end.

Written in 2005 but the casual sexism reads like it's much older. The women are called by their names and the husband gets called by his profession, the Engineer, more than he does by his name. His profession is irrelevant to the plot other than being the plot device for the family deciding to move into the titular haunted house.

We are surprised by unnecessary descriptions of women's beasts like, she walked clutching the papers on her small breasts. However, we never encounter a description of what the husband's firm buttocks or flaccid penis are doing while he does menial tasks.

The husband is smart and good and kind and does everything right and is the skeptic and the logical one. The wife is on the verge of a breakdown, believes in ghosts and is unbelievably naive.

Towards the end of the book we get so much exposition that it feels like a parody and the bad writing really starts to show. The husband is so smart, he is an Engineer after all, that he understands everything about the spirit world, even if he thought it didn't exist 5 minutes before. For instance. A hideous ghost appears in front of him and another man. Later the other man mentions the same ghost as a beautiful one. The husband immediately and with the utmost certainty concludes that this was a conscious choice the ghost made, due to the emotional bond the ghost had with the other man, and thus chose to alter her appearance to each man watching her.
Oh so I guess ghosts can do that? And you can reason this in a split second while having barely escaped a mad man trying to kill your kids? Of course the Engineer would deduce so.

And by the end there is not even a tiny thing left to the imagination. Even things that don't need to be described are explained to us in detail. Someone gives us the exposition. Always.

And there's much more uncomfortableness still. Rape of a minor passed of as consensual because the child was born evil. The sexual deviancy of the bad guys.
Uuugh.
This reads so much like a 70s book. ( )

I really enjoyed this book, although I made the mistake of reading it too soon after I'd seen the TV adaptation. I probably need to read this one again at some point. ( )