Dale Bailey

A skittery but delightful examination of some of the best known haunted house fictions in American writing. This is not written by an academic for other academics though there is an underlying thesis which requires Bailey to separate 'haunted houses' from other forms of horror (some may find this well-taken and others may find it contrived.) That said, this is a very enjoyable read for people who prize the genre. As a note, Bailey references Stephen King's Danse Macabre throughout the book show more -- if you have not yet read King's exploration of the broader horror landscape, I would highly recommend that to you. show less

I have always dreamed of living in an atmospheric cottage/manor in England, preferably the countryside with an ancient wood/forest around or beside it where I can imagine old mythological creatures abound like elves, satyrs, Gods, pixies, and who knows what else from the Celtic past.
The book starts off easily enough with an American and his wife moving to the Yorkshire home she has inherited hoping to rekindle all they have lost of the future they expected to have together.
They both see show more things that are impossible and are drawn to the primeval wood called The NIght Wood.
I loved the writing. It is so lyrical, poetic and descriptive that I could imagine myself wandering the rooms of the house or the paths of the Night Wood itself. It really set the tone and atmosphere for me. I didn't find it spooky in the sense of a haunting or typical "scary" story but more a slow sense of dread of the unknown especially an ancient unknown. I really like novels where the horror isn't obvious and it is more the style of writing and the words chosen that develop the ambience of the story. show less

Well, that was a tedious collection of cliches to waste a day on reading! Like Pet Sematary, only King actually developed a plot before miring his characters in grief and guilt, this story hinges on the loss of a child. And wow, what a study in misery that is - true to life, maybe, but tedious to plough through, especially from the perspective of the usual self-centred father caricature (and yes, in this case, Charles, your daughter's death was entirely your fault). Charles is so show more ridiculously pompous - sorry bookish and introverted - that I kept wanting the eponymous night wood to claim him. Violently. His internal monologues are full of literary allusions and thoughts like 'The language of transcendence was alone adequate to the Eorl Wood’s mystery and beauty'. His wife, Erin, who he was cheating on just before their daughter drowned in the bath (two more cliches) just floats through the story in a drug-induced haze.

There is an attempt at a spooky backstory before all Charles' 'Woe is me!' bleating kicks in. Drawing on the author's catchphrase of life being a story in a story, a year after daughter Lissa's death, Charles and Erin inherit a family property in the UK, and promptly up sticks from their previous life of middle class academia and anguished estrangement in the US to move to North Yorkshire. Not the North Yorkshire that any UK readers would recognise, but a county still trapped in the nineteenth century, full of fog-bound moors and isolated country piles, where the locals don't add ice to drinks and intelligent women are forced to have Edgar Allen Poe's poetry mansplained to them. I think the author might have been inspired by An American Werewolf in London. Seriously: 'He stepped off the path despite the prohibitions of a thousand tales — broken every one, as such prohibitions must be, subject like us all to necessity or fate, the grim logic of the stories everywhere and always unfolding. This door you must not open, this fruit you shall not taste. Do not step off the path. There are wolves.'

So they move to this Victorian Gothic heap of grey stone, called Hollow House, because Erin is a descendant of some crazy author who once wrote a twisted but nicely illustrated novel called 'In The Night Wood'. Then went mad and burned the original house down. But what did Crazy Great-Great-Grandpa Hollow see that sent him over the edge? Charles wants to find out, ever since finding a copy of The Book in his own grandfather's house as a child, and possibly write a biography. Local historian Silva volunteers to help him, in more ways than one, naturally, and they set about digging through handy boxes of the author's archives. What they find, far too late in the book for me to care, is that 'Time was a snake that bit its own tail, the old story grinding round upon the wheel of fate', AKA 'It's all happening again and only we can stop the cycle of horror!' (Another bar for the cliche tally.)

I started out with high hopes for this one, really I did. I expected a quick read, and apart from Charles being an egotistical dick, the story isn't exactly challenging, but I could have done without the literary deja vu. Strained couple who have Lost a Child. Americans inheriting a haunted house in England. Locals divulging cryptic advice. Power cuts, Storms. Old diaries in code. Creepy woodland. Folklore. Ghosts. This reads like a compendium of every modern gothic novel ever. I started skimming long before Charles' great revelation about his daughter, and the connection between Erin and the Hollows was never really developed (and why was Charles so important to the story, apart from his big head refusing to allow him to believe otherwise?)

Boring, Not even recommended as a library read. show less

Charles Hayden is watching his life and his marriage go down the drain. An Affair. His daughter dying. He and Erin have just drifted apart. Then his wife inherits the Hollow family home. Hollow House. Maybe the house, the money, the new start will make everything ok? Charles and Erin don't realize that Hollow House and the Eorl Wood surrounding it hold dark secrets. Very dark secrets.

This story unfolds like a deep, dark, demented fairy tale. An old house sitting in the middle of the deep, show more dark woods. Legends about disappearances, murder, The Horned God. And an ancestor that wrote a strange, mesmerizing novel about the woods before killing himself. Visions of a dead little girl. What a creepy, awesome story! I loved it! I started reading the book on Halloween night and it ended up being a total binge read. The story sucked me right in and kept me reading until the end.

Dale Bailey has written many short stories and several novels. In the Night Wood is the first book by Bailey that I've read. I enjoyed this story so much that I'm definitely going to read more of his work. I like his writing style. He doesn't hit readers in the face with roaring monsters and jump scares. The horror in this novel was more subtle...more chilling...the sort of scary that sneaks out of the woods at night and waits at the end of your bed while you sleep. I'm definitely reading more by this author!

The cover art for this book is just awesome.

*I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.* show less