Slooooooooow, slow, slow and plodding. This is the first book I've read by Ramsey Campbell, although I have a couple of others TBR on my shelves. But I was so disappointed with this book. The premise is great but I hated the characters. They are absolutley gormless and the build up to the good stuff took until the last couple of chapters. I almost gave up but I'm glad I didn't as I caught a fleeting glimpse of the disturbing imaginings that Campbell is cleary capable of.

This is the tale of four cousins who go camping and disturb some terrible evil from the past. Years later it comes back to haunt them when one of the cousins decides to write a book about people camping who disturb some magic thing thus echoing their experience. It could have been so much more though. The cousins, despite seeming close snipe at each other and in turn their work colleagues snipe at them. Even peripheral characters are so annoying that it makes them almost unbelieveable. They are nosy, nasty, bullies giving sidelong glances and asking questions that are way too personal for first meetings. At the end as the evil Pendemon's house is laid bare room by eerie room is when the book finally comes alive and a book filled with this kind of writing would have thrilled me, but it took so long to get there that I'd have to say read it with the lights on....to keep you awake. ( )