Unrelatable

The story has very little to do with a girl on a landing and is not a ghost story. It doesn't seem sure what it is. I didn't like the characters, but in all honesty that may be because i found them difficult to relate to. This is most evident in the epilogue, I won't give anything away but it is almost comical. Would be bizarre if it wasn't so boring.

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3 people found this helpful

Subtle story that hooks from beginning to end

Beautifully narrated by David Monteath and Clare Willie this story ensures that you very quickly care what happens to the two main characters. While early clues are available as to their pasts and potential futures you will be hooked to the very end. Paul Torday also wrote Salmon Fishing in the Yemen which I also thoroughly enjoyed. I will now seek out anything else he has written.

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1 person found this helpful

Menacing

Any additional comments?

Fully expected not to enjoy this book. It is peppered with man-splaining pompous gentlemen's club members and the social circles, wealth and mores described are completely out of my range of experience. Yet the skill of the author is such that all that stuff is unimportant and you find yourself connecting with the human element of the characters. It was mesmerising listening to Michael and Elizabeth's story unfold, with the constant menace of the paranormal (and/or insanity). I found myself identifying with many of their struggles and caring deeply about the outcome of increasingly menacing influences in their lives. What was particularly powerful for me was the complete absence of heavy handed tricks usually present in stories like this. The constant low-key sense of threat and turbulence beneath polite socially acceptable behaviour had a far bigger impact and I found myself quite tense and nervy as I listened to the story develop.

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5 people found this helpful

Gripping

This was so good. A description of schizophrenia and its destruction of a personality plus a thriller which led to my listening in 2 days despite having to go to work. Strongly recommended

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4 people found this helpful

Gripping

Ate this book up in a very short time. It's a thriller, a mystery and at the same time extremely well written with characters you can get into. And the narrators were perfect. I want more!

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3 people found this helpful

Couldn't put it down!

I loved this audio book and found it hard to pause. The narrators were perfect. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys a story with what I would consider a supernatural theme

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6 people found this helpful

Gripping!

Excellent story and narration, I listened to the whole thing in 2 days and couldn't stop! Would certainly recommend it!

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5 people found this helpful

It's ok

A bit longwinded, all around one subject but gripping enough for me to finish listening to the book. That is

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3 people found this helpful

Fantastic.

A great listen. compelling story that's like Jekyll and Hyde afresh, with more sympathy and thrills for the modern reader.

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3 people found this helpful

Gripped from start to finish

The story centres on a couple who are in a dull but servicable marriage. Michael spends his time in his gentleman's club mixing with a bunch of buffoons and with few interests apart from shooting and fishing. These are not shared by Elizabeth, his brittle wife who is in a stressful job and resentful of having to socialise with Michael's friends. They have put up with eachother for ten years but appear to be on the brink of separation. Then things mysteriously change when they take a trip to Ireland and Michael sees a ghostly figure in a painting. Elizabeth begins to see her husband in a completely new light and realises he is completely different from the man she thought he was.

This is a truly original spooky tale weaving in themes of racism, mental illness, national identity and love within a marriage in ways I did not expect. I loved the characters and really cared about what happened to them. The story is unpredictable and densely atmospheric and it is brilliantly read by the narrators.

If you are looking for a fresh take on the ghost story genre, then I thoroughly recommend this book to you.

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7 people found this helpful