The Haunted Hotel (1878)

Wilkie Collins, a close friend of Charles Dickens, is best known for his novels The Woman in White and The Moonstone, and The Haunted Hotel is very similar in its tone and atmosphere. The Countess Narona steals away Lord Montbarry from Abby Lockwood. Despite Abby's forgiving nature, the Countess is convinced that Abby has doomed her to a tragic ending. When Montbarry dies and his courier disappears, Montbarry's family slowly unravels the mystery that is left behind.

Collins has a tendency to constantly switch narrators, a technique that is also present here. It can be disconcerting until you meet all the characters and get a feel for each of them. He uses each narrator well, however, as each one is able to fill in parts of the story that the others are not able to.

The resolution of The Haunted Hotel is particularly horrific, which is odd, given how simplistic it is compared to the many serial killer and horror novels I've read. The chills come from the total depravity and indifference that the villains exhibit towards the victims and towards each other.

The Haunted Hotel is available in many editions; I recommend one that contains Collins' other (very) short stories as well. ( )

This book is all about the plot, which Collins deftly builds towards its climax. It's a proper "page-turner", which keeps you wanting to read the next chapter to see what will happen. He also keeps you guessing as to whether the central mystery is of human devising or whether there really is a supernatural agency involved.

Where the story is let down is in the use of stock characters and a lack of effective use of its setting.

The conventional Gothic characters are used: Villainous Baron; Sinister Continental Lady; Aloof, Emotionless Lord; Wronged English Gentlewoman; and so on. There is little character development, with the best drawn being that of the apparently conflicted Countess Narona: is she really racked with guilt for obscurely guessed crimes? Is she a victim herself? Is she playing a part designed to further enmesh the innocent heroine? The Countess really carries the story and is by far the most interesting person in it.

Then there is Venice, or the lack thereof. Having subtitled the story A Mystery of Modern Venice, apart from a couple of mentions of St Mark's Square, canals and gondolas, the setting could have been anywhere. I think Collins really missed an opportunity of building atmosphere: no chases through moonlit canals, no ghostly gondoliers, no introductions into Venetian society, whether high or low.

A quick read, and an enjoyable one, but not a masterpiece. ( )

There are some really good passages and ideas in here, and they would have worked stellarly in a short story, or perhaps a novella. As a novel, however, this story falls short. The premise is to elaborate and complicated the lead-up to the revelation is way, way to long. There's so much unnecessary explanation of relationships and a lot of completely pointless characers that are all related to one another and named the same thing as to maximize confusion. the suspensful ending makes up for some of it, but not enough.

I expected more from Collins. This is not one of his better efforts. ( )

This melodramatic story contains some chilling moments and it manages to keep the attention of the reader most of the time. However, it is slightly repetitive at times and the characters are slightly uninteresting because they are not very nuanced. The story becomes more interesting towards the end, when the characters visit the haunted venecian hotel which gives its name to the novel. ( )

A mysterious woman consults a doctor to see whether she is going mad or not. She tells a tale of her fiancee ditching his previous beau to marry her. however, she has left a reputation across Europe - justified or not - that has raised more than a few objections but results in the fiancé blackmailing her into the marriage.

Four months later, the husband with £10,000 in life insurance, dies whilst on honeymoon in Venice and the .

A year later, the Venetian palace where he died has been converted into a hotel, into which the man's brother has a financial stake. A wedding in the family takes place, and the Grand Tour, combined with theatrical business required in Europe results in the various members of the family staying at the new hotel. Who ever from the family stays in the room where the death occurred is distressed, and refuses to stay another night in the room. In the mean time the widow (who is becoming more disturbed) arrives back in Venice and starts writing a novel.

Investigations take place in the hotel which answers some questions but raises more. However the younger brother is pressed with reading the widow's "play" and soon we hear an alternative answer to the death, which is only more disturbing.

There are some truly creepy points in this book - the disembodied head floating above the bed for instance. The "cast of thousands" and who was related to whom was a little confusing at first but settled down to the main characters. Certainly gives some of the more modern horror writers a run for their money!