This was a pretty standard ghost story. The plot direction was obvious fairly early on. It was an overall enjoyable quick read. The last Herbert book I read was a fail....Portent...he has redeemed himself once again with this one :) ( )

A haunted house story in the classic English tradition. Creepy. Dripping in atmosphere. The literary equivalent to one of those great Hammer Horror films. Loved it. ( )

Summary:
David Ash is a renowned but troubled investigator for a paranormal research society that seeks to catalog a variety of strange and unusual phenomena. David is also the society’s resident skeptic, for reasons that he himself cannot quite explain. He is often driven to find a logical explanation for any “paranormal” events that he is tasked with investigating no matter how far he must go.
This drive has also caused David to live in a constant state of unease with something in his past that he cannot or will not remember. This is partially the reason that he is on his current assignment, a few too many sips of his ever-present flask caused him to make mistakes on his previous assignment and he earned his self a “break”. His second chance is at a mansion known as Edbrook, currently occupied by the reclusive Mariell family.
The family reports that they have had a rash of poltergeist activity along with the appearance of a female apparition. Not knowing what do to they reached out to the society in order to see if they could provide any explanation as to what has caused this apparition to appear. David dutifully arrives and sets up his equipment and conducts his preliminary investigation. All initial signs point to the “haunting” being the natural creaks and groans of an aging mansion, coupled with an over active imagination.
That is until David’s first night at Edbrook. He is checking his equipment when he suddenly sees a mysterious woman moving about the house. David pursues the woman to the mansions courtyard where he finds no trace of her. Instead he finds a ruined garden pond and a very eerie feeling that something in the pond wants him to join it.
David’s journey into horror and madness begins at this moment. His troubled past collides with a terrible present. David’s steadfast denial of the unknown has kept away a malevolent force that has followed him throughout his life at bay until now. At Edbrook it has found allies that are more than willing to help it with one simple goal. Make David Ash believe.
My Thoughts:
This is my second reading of this book as I accidentally picked it up again and didn’t realize I had read it until I got to the climax of the story. The end of this book has stuck with me over the years as it is a very effective reveal of what is tormenting David and why. On the other hand I didn’t remember anything else about this book other than that part. Hopefully that gives you an idea of what the story is like. It’s an interesting enough read if you looking for a spooky thriller, just keep in mind that it is a bit of a slow burn. m.a.c ( )

Started this book this morning and I couldn't put it down! It was a little slow going at first though, but that and the fact that the outcome was obvious to me from about half way through didn't deter me. Thoroughly enjoyed it and will definitely be reading the remaining novels in the David Ash series. ( )

Thought so. That was creepy, disturbing and strange. I read it as 80s Horror and could have used it for ghosts and haunted houses. This is the story of a man working for a psychic research institute who mostly debunks psychics and haunted house stories finding himself in a house that the occupants claim is haunted. There's a lot of strange stuff happening when he arrives and his usual crutch of alcohol may not work this time. There's no phone and it's the 80s.

Oh man, that was twisted. I'm not sure how some of the events in the plot worked but that was a twisted story that I'm not sure David Ash is going to recover any time soon from. I did get one of the major twists fairly early on, but still I was creeped out by it all.

It did display a bit too much commentary on the female characters with a lot of value judgements based on appearance. ( )