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festivefun's review against another edition
5.0
A compelling tale.
I was fully immersed in the unfolding story at Craven Place. Many questions remain, but good books do that to you.
I was fully immersed in the unfolding story at Craven Place. Many questions remain, but good books do that to you.
philippurserhallard's review
5.0
As a fan of Richard Wright’s short stories, who found his apocalyptic horror The Kingdom Come frankly hard to stomach, I’d unhesitatingly recommend this to anyone who, like me, can be a bit daintier in their taste for the horrific. (Full disclosure: Richard and I share a publisher, Obverse Books, and a story by him appears in my own anthology [b:More Tales of the City|18044282|More Tales of the City (The City of the Saved, #2)|Philip Purser-Hallard|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1370559736s/18044282.jpg|25322059].)
It’s a magnificent ghost story in the gothic tradition, complete with nested narratives, a febrile female protagonist and a building which embodies the terror. For three-quarters of its length it works excellently on exactly those terms, but at that point a plot twist appears which twists the whole book into a different genre entirely, and elevates it into a realm of high cleverness. (This wouldn't work, though, if those three-quarters weren't a fine ghost story in their own right.)
The author’s mastery of prose – often in the service of effects which might otherwise seem cheap or clichéd – creates an immediacy, even an urgency which makes this a difficult book to stop reading.
It’s a magnificent ghost story in the gothic tradition, complete with nested narratives, a febrile female protagonist and a building which embodies the terror. For three-quarters of its length it works excellently on exactly those terms, but at that point a plot twist appears which twists the whole book into a different genre entirely, and elevates it into a realm of high cleverness. (This wouldn't work, though, if those three-quarters weren't a fine ghost story in their own right.)
The author’s mastery of prose – often in the service of effects which might otherwise seem cheap or clichéd – creates an immediacy, even an urgency which makes this a difficult book to stop reading.
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