After spending so much time in online book communities and getting recommendations from people I trust, I almost never take a risk on a book I know nothing about. But it's good to step out of your comfort zone once in a while, and how risky can a book be that's been labeled "British Fantasy Award Winner for Best Horror Novel of the Year"?

Well. Hmm. On the one hand, this book is hilariously awful. I'm not sure when I've last seen such intrusively awkward writing. On the other, though, the story was so interesting and inventive that I just kept reading in spite of it. I was even able to forget to be annoyed by the writing style, for brief periods of time.

The writing features frequently incomplete sentences, commas missing or randomly inserted, and seemingly premature periods. I sometimes had to stop and re-read sentences to understand them. For example:

Catherine glanced again at the doorway. And realized Edith's silhouette was no longer looking in her direction, but to the side of the unlit room, opposite the door. From which direction there now issued a scraping. Sharp metal against masonry, but faint. And then a flap of cloth. She would have screamed if her air wasn't sealed inside her petrified lungs.

I get that he's describing sounds that Catherine is hearing, but my first thought was still, "what about the flap of cloth?" before realizing the author meant she was hearing the sound of cloth flapping, not describing an object.

I suppose it's possible that the writing style represents some kind of local speech pattern that I'm just not familiar with, as little attempt has been made to "Americanize" the word choices, etc. for the US edition. The author does demonstrate standard sentence structure and punctuation in the acknowledgements, so it's clearly a choice of writing style on his part.

As for the story, I'm evidently not the only one who finds both puppets and taxidermy super creepy. And that awful doll in Trilogy of Terror. Now just combine them all into a single concept and be prepared to sleep with the lights on.

Hardcover edition, picked up on a whim from a Halloween display at my public library. ( )

Dear Ms Edith Mason

I am writing to you in response to your invitation to stay at the 'Red House'. Whilst I appreciate your interest in me as a client I can't say I find you as a host to be welcoming or polite, frankly you creep me out, and your maid who glares into my soul does nothing to ease my uncertainty about the place.
Whilst walking around the Red House for a short while I got intense feelings of bad goings on's, like an unnatural presence that wanted to ward me off. And after being told of a previous client of yours going missing after finding hard evidence from a dark past kept safe by yourself and your maid I thinks it's only fair to say that whatever you are hiding is likely to cost my sanity, and possibly my freedom thus I leave you now with this note as a thanks, but no thanks.

Enjoy finding your next victim.

K. Keenleyside.



So all letters aside, this book is fantastic and creepy. Adam Nevill brings to life a house of taxidermy and puppets in a vivid and well detailed way that makes the story easy reading but dark and intrueging at the same time. While i did see the twist in the story early on I didn't feel this ruined my reading experience. But I am pleased to close the door on the tale of the Red House and its Small Shadows. ( )

In the end the book wasn’t a hit for me. It started out interesting; I wanted to know the mystery with the house. Then the story goes weird and confusing. And suddenly I turned the last page and the book was over. And I felt let down. It was never ever scary, if stuffed animals creeps you out, then perhaps this book will scare you. But for me it felt just like a waste of time, I could have read something much better that this book. ( )

As a novel of horror and dread, this book really works. When I started reading it, I had one of the worst nightmares I can ever remember. Now that I've finished it, I don't imagine my sleep tonight will go untroubled. The prose, which was dense and claustrophobic to begin with, really intensifies at the end and becomes almost dizzying at how off-balance it made me feel. Just bizarre things are happening, and it's slightly confusing. It's really effective at building a world of terror. So A as far as horror goes.

That said, I don't think I really liked the book. There are just so many words. Words piled on words that, for me, don't really add to the story. The descriptions of things are so lush, that yes, they help build the sense of place, but I just began feeling overwhelmed by the things in this place. Perhaps this is what the author was going for. But it made the story clunky and hard to focus on. ( )

Ahh, jeez. It is possible to enjoy puppets, as long as you don't think too much about them. Dolls, never -- but puppets I like.

But not these damn puppets. Not marionettes with black wooden faces and little ivory peg teeth and mops of curly black hair, or crazed porcelain faces and clappy wooden hands and grotty sawdust innards.

These are freaky scary. Do NOT read this at bedtime -- I won't be held responsible for your nightmares. ( )