Neil Spring
Author of The Ghost Hunters
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It is 1926, London, and Sarah Grey finds herself in an unlikely new job as the personal assistant to Harry Price, London’s most infamous ghost hunter. A brilliant and charming, yet selfish and contradictory man, Harry’s life is devoted to exposing the truth behind England’s many false ‘hauntings’ and exposing fraudulent psychics.
When Harry and Sarah are invited to Borley Rectory- a house so haunted that objects frequently fly through the air, and locals fear the spectral nun and show more the headless coachmen who are said to roam the grounds – they expect this case to be like no other. Yet stories of a forbidden love await them which, according to legend, has cloaked the house in a sadness that has led to years of unexplained, and terrifying, events. As time goes on, and Harry and Sarah spend more time at the Rectory, their scepticism is thrown in to doubt, and they are forced to confront an uncomfortable possibility – that the ghost of Borley Rectory may be real. And, if so, they are about to make its most intimate acquaintance.
"Do you suppose that those who hunt ghosts are haunted, in turn, by them?
I think I came to this novel with the wrong expectations, thinking it would be a straight forward ghost story with the notorious Borley Rectory as a back drop. However it proved to be so much more than that.
A clever, skilful blending of fact and fiction tell of the the life and times of Harry Price, the first paranormal investigator and Borley Rectory, ‘the most haunted house in England’. The tale is told through the eyes of Miss Sarah Grey, Price’s assistant who is attracted to and later, obsessed with Price’s enigmatic personality. I wanted to crack on with the Borley Rectory element of the novel so the first part of the book was a slow burner for me although I found the post war obsession with mediums and the surge of spiritualism both fascinating and poignant.
Once the intrepid ghost hunters get to Borley the pace picks up but it wasn’t until the last third of the book that I felt anxious about how it was all going to tie up and turn out.
Full of twists and turns and contradictions (does Price want to de bunk the paranormal or prove its existence?) … and is anybody telling the truth in this novel…all this leads to a satisfying chilling conclusion.
Though what haunted me after closing the book was sadness thinking how a generation tried to coped with something as horrific as the First World War and found they were struggling for answers, especially spiritually. As Conan Doyle said ‘‘Christianity is dead, how else could ten million young men have marched out to slaughter? Did any moral force stop that war? No. Christianity is dead – dead!’ show less
When Harry and Sarah are invited to Borley Rectory- a house so haunted that objects frequently fly through the air, and locals fear the spectral nun and show more the headless coachmen who are said to roam the grounds – they expect this case to be like no other. Yet stories of a forbidden love await them which, according to legend, has cloaked the house in a sadness that has led to years of unexplained, and terrifying, events. As time goes on, and Harry and Sarah spend more time at the Rectory, their scepticism is thrown in to doubt, and they are forced to confront an uncomfortable possibility – that the ghost of Borley Rectory may be real. And, if so, they are about to make its most intimate acquaintance.
"Do you suppose that those who hunt ghosts are haunted, in turn, by them?
I think I came to this novel with the wrong expectations, thinking it would be a straight forward ghost story with the notorious Borley Rectory as a back drop. However it proved to be so much more than that.
A clever, skilful blending of fact and fiction tell of the the life and times of Harry Price, the first paranormal investigator and Borley Rectory, ‘the most haunted house in England’. The tale is told through the eyes of Miss Sarah Grey, Price’s assistant who is attracted to and later, obsessed with Price’s enigmatic personality. I wanted to crack on with the Borley Rectory element of the novel so the first part of the book was a slow burner for me although I found the post war obsession with mediums and the surge of spiritualism both fascinating and poignant.
Once the intrepid ghost hunters get to Borley the pace picks up but it wasn’t until the last third of the book that I felt anxious about how it was all going to tie up and turn out.
Full of twists and turns and contradictions (does Price want to de bunk the paranormal or prove its existence?) … and is anybody telling the truth in this novel…all this leads to a satisfying chilling conclusion.
Though what haunted me after closing the book was sadness thinking how a generation tried to coped with something as horrific as the First World War and found they were struggling for answers, especially spiritually. As Conan Doyle said ‘‘Christianity is dead, how else could ten million young men have marched out to slaughter? Did any moral force stop that war? No. Christianity is dead – dead!’ show less
The Ghost Hunters: a chilling ghost story set in the most haunted house in England (English Edition) by Neil Spring
4.5☆ (Sono sconvolta.)
Devo dire di essere abbastanza sconvolta da questo libro. È stata una bellissima esperienza e devo dire show more di aver apprezzato molto sia la narrazione che lo stile. Lento ma comunque che attira e coinvolge.
Fino alla fine ho creduto una cosa, che quella cosa fosse certa. E invece mi son sbagliata. E il twist finale? Mi ha sconvolta davvero perché, alla fine, tutto è collegato. Dall'inizio fino all'epilogo.
Il setting storico, ambientato tra gli anni '20 e '40 del 1900 in una Inghilterra post prima guerra mondiale e inizi seconda non è stato per niente male. La storia, incentrata sulla persona di Harry Price e del suo studio e della sua fissazione nel debunking, nello sfatare i "miti" e gli spiritisti mi ha conquistata malissimo. Adoro queste cose, adoro lo spiritismo, adoro il paranormale e le case infestate. Adoro anche quando affossano le teorie e spiegano logicamente ciò che realmente succede.
La presenza di Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (che non avevo idea fosse uno spiritista incallito) e la narratrice, Sarah Grey, hanno fatto sì che questo libro, che racconta comunque la storia romanzata di Harry Price e il suo coinvolgimento della storia del Borley Rectory, la casa più infestata d'Inghilterra, fosse interessantissimo e super coinvolgente! La storia del Borley Rectory non la conoscevo. Non avevo idea che l'Inghilterra avesse una casa più infestata, demolita nel 1944. Eppure la storia mi ha incollata alle pagine. Ero veramente tanto coinvolta che alla fine ne sono rimasta sconvolta. Ovviamente dopo aver finito il libro sono andata a cercare la storia della casa e, nonostante sia abbastanza diversa da quella raccontata nel libro, resta comunque interessante. Soprattutto perché le persone citate sono realmente esistite!
I personaggi super interessanti, da Sarah a Price. Da Vernon Wall a Marianne Foyster. Le sfaccettature della storia e dei personaggi particolari hanno reso questo libro una vera avventura paranormale. Price, sia nel libro che nella vita vera, è stato un personaggio abbastanza ambiguo e fuori dagli schemi. Il voler a tutti costi smascherare gli spiritisti l'ha portato ad essere un elemento scomodo nei salotti londinesi. Eppure come Sarah ne era attirata pure io, leggendo, ne ero. Volevo sapere, volevo conoscerlo. E, a dirla tutta, non mi è piaciuto ciò che ho conosciuto.
Sono estremamente curiosa di leggere gli altri suoi libri perché, come questo, raccontano in maniera romanzata la storia di persone reali e fatti veramente accaduti. show less
I should say, to begin with, that before this I was never inclined to take such stories literally. Though I have always held a deep, theoretical – and private – interest in matters of the peculiar, tales of haunted libraries and similar legends have never represented anything more to me than fascinating insights into the way people think and form their beliefs.
Devo dire di essere abbastanza sconvolta da questo libro. È stata una bellissima esperienza e devo dire show more di aver apprezzato molto sia la narrazione che lo stile. Lento ma comunque che attira e coinvolge.
‘Then what,’ I mused, ‘are mediums afraid of?’ ‘Ah, well, that’s easy,’ Price proclaimed, sweeping past. ‘They’re afraid of me!’
Fino alla fine ho creduto una cosa, che quella cosa fosse certa. E invece mi son sbagliata. E il twist finale? Mi ha sconvolta davvero perché, alla fine, tutto è collegato. Dall'inizio fino all'epilogo.
It’s the living we need to look out for, not the dead.
Il setting storico, ambientato tra gli anni '20 e '40 del 1900 in una Inghilterra post prima guerra mondiale e inizi seconda non è stato per niente male. La storia, incentrata sulla persona di Harry Price e del suo studio e della sua fissazione nel debunking, nello sfatare i "miti" e gli spiritisti mi ha conquistata malissimo. Adoro queste cose, adoro lo spiritismo, adoro il paranormale e le case infestate. Adoro anche quando affossano le teorie e spiegano logicamente ciò che realmente succede.
How sad it is, I thought as I willed myself back to sleep, that we love what is hard and run from what is easy, and only look back when it is finally too late.
La presenza di Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (che non avevo idea fosse uno spiritista incallito) e la narratrice, Sarah Grey, hanno fatto sì che questo libro, che racconta comunque la storia romanzata di Harry Price e il suo coinvolgimento della storia del Borley Rectory, la casa più infestata d'Inghilterra, fosse interessantissimo e super coinvolgente! La storia del Borley Rectory non la conoscevo. Non avevo idea che l'Inghilterra avesse una casa più infestata, demolita nel 1944. Eppure la storia mi ha incollata alle pagine. Ero veramente tanto coinvolta che alla fine ne sono rimasta sconvolta. Ovviamente dopo aver finito il libro sono andata a cercare la storia della casa e, nonostante sia abbastanza diversa da quella raccontata nel libro, resta comunque interessante. Soprattutto perché le persone citate sono realmente esistite!
This is what ghosts do, I thought as I wrapped my mother in my arms. They bleed us of life and potential and hope and happiness. They make us shadows of ourselves.
I personaggi super interessanti, da Sarah a Price. Da Vernon Wall a Marianne Foyster. Le sfaccettature della storia e dei personaggi particolari hanno reso questo libro una vera avventura paranormale. Price, sia nel libro che nella vita vera, è stato un personaggio abbastanza ambiguo e fuori dagli schemi. Il voler a tutti costi smascherare gli spiritisti l'ha portato ad essere un elemento scomodo nei salotti londinesi. Eppure come Sarah ne era attirata pure io, leggendo, ne ero. Volevo sapere, volevo conoscerlo. E, a dirla tutta, non mi è piaciuto ciò che ho conosciuto.
Then I went quickly from that place, leaving him desperate and alone with nothing but ghosts for company.
Sono estremamente curiosa di leggere gli altri suoi libri perché, come questo, raccontano in maniera romanzata la storia di persone reali e fatti veramente accaduti. show less
I really enjoyed the start of this book. I don't very often read stories based on UFOs and conspiracies and the like, which is what drew me to this book. The story built up nicely, with just about the right amount of intrigue and suspense. I really liked the setting and it was described well, and the characters were interesting.
However, at the point where it became less about UFOs and more about the occult and the supernatural, it began to lose its credibility. The change seemed very show more sudden, and with it the story became incredibly convoluted, and I almost didn't get through the last hundred pages. One theme after another was thrown at the story, and sadly this spoilt it for me. show less
However, at the point where it became less about UFOs and more about the occult and the supernatural, it began to lose its credibility. The change seemed very show more sudden, and with it the story became incredibly convoluted, and I almost didn't get through the last hundred pages. One theme after another was thrown at the story, and sadly this spoilt it for me. show less
The Lost Village: A Haunting Page-Turner With A Twist You'll Never See Coming! (Ghost Hunters 2) by Neil Spring
Well, I didn't receive a free copy from the publisher for review, so I'm going to be honest and say I don't know what everybody else was reading! Originally, I was going to describe Neil Spring's novel as 'Stephen King lite' because he seems to favour gore over the threat of the unseen to 'scare' his readers, but getting further and further into a novel that could actually do with pruning, I realised that Spring is worse than that - Richard Laymon, maybe, or Dean Koontz. I mean, all three show more horror writers sell a lot of books, but I don't read them anymore. Same with Spring, unfortunately.
I realise that this is the second book in a series, so maybe the fact that I didn't read the first has some bearing on my interpretation, but I was initially captivated by the very real 'ghost village' of Imber, which was actually claimed by the Army after the Second World War, not the First, and the War Office owned the land because the villagers willingly sold up in the 1920s. That reality, of the villagers expecting to get their homes back after being evicted during the war but only being allowed back on special days, is contorted by the author into a macabre combination of fake ghosts and moustache-twirling villains, where the Army murder civilians for not wanting to leave and the lord of the manor keeps a hidden room of dark secrets. Thousands of children burned to death in a theatre! A woman tries to hang herself but rips her throat open instead! A man is bludgeoned to death outside the church! With every new 'shock', I was rolling my eyes so hard that reading this lengthy novel took even longer. What's wrong with plain old ghosts, or the faking of the supernatural in this case? The 'seance' scenes were actually quite good.
And then there are the 'twists' to the tale. Everything is connected to Sarah, the plodding Watson-like narrator, who spends most of the book recounting the baby she had to give up for adoption. I won't give away all of the 'shocking' revelations - mostly because the plot doubled back on itself so many times, I couldn't keep the backstory straight - but the final 'past life' connection between Sarah and Imber was so cliched I think I actually groaned out loud. Keep It Simple, Spring!
If Imber fires your imagination like mine, read 'Little Imber on the Down' by Rex Sawyer, as the author recommends. If your imagination works like a horror novel turned into a soap opera, then read this, but don't say I didn't warn you. show less
I realise that this is the second book in a series, so maybe the fact that I didn't read the first has some bearing on my interpretation, but I was initially captivated by the very real 'ghost village' of Imber, which was actually claimed by the Army after the Second World War, not the First, and the War Office owned the land because the villagers willingly sold up in the 1920s. That reality, of the villagers expecting to get their homes back after being evicted during the war but only being allowed back on special days, is contorted by the author into a macabre combination of fake ghosts and moustache-twirling villains, where the Army murder civilians for not wanting to leave and the lord of the manor keeps a hidden room of dark secrets. Thousands of children burned to death in a theatre! A woman tries to hang herself but rips her throat open instead! A man is bludgeoned to death outside the church! With every new 'shock', I was rolling my eyes so hard that reading this lengthy novel took even longer. What's wrong with plain old ghosts, or the faking of the supernatural in this case? The 'seance' scenes were actually quite good.
And then there are the 'twists' to the tale. Everything is connected to Sarah, the plodding Watson-like narrator, who spends most of the book recounting the baby she had to give up for adoption. I won't give away all of the 'shocking' revelations - mostly because the plot doubled back on itself so many times, I couldn't keep the backstory straight - but the final 'past life' connection between Sarah and Imber was so cliched I think I actually groaned out loud. Keep It Simple, Spring!
If Imber fires your imagination like mine, read 'Little Imber on the Down' by Rex Sawyer, as the author recommends. If your imagination works like a horror novel turned into a soap opera, then read this, but don't say I didn't warn you. show less
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- Works
- 7
- Members
- 292
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- #80,151
- Rating
- 3.2
- Reviews
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- ISBNs
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