Amanda Mason

The synopsis of The Hiding Place had a lot to draw me in. The Whitby setting and the house full of secrets were enough to entice me into reading this well-drawn and quite eerie story.

Nell Galilee is a jewellery designer and one half of Galilee Clarke, a gallery selling art and jewellery, with her husband Chris. When Nell's stepdaughter, Maude, has to take time away from school they decide to head to Whitby, Nell's childhood home, for an extended break at Elder House, a newly renovated holiday cottage. I always think there is something so interesting about holiday cottages, many of which have a lot of history between their four walls. Elder House lured me with its setting within a Whitby Yard, an almost secret area containing houses close together around a shared yard with lots of history. It's fair to say the house itself has a rather sinister feel to it. Nell feels it in particular, the little footsteps, the knocking, the sense that something isn't right. I had a pervading feeling of unease from fairly early on. Whitby itself is also portrayed well, which is no surprise as the author lives there. I've only been a few times but I recognised it easily from the descriptions.

Alongside Nell's story and the growing difficulties she has with Maude, are the stories of Evie, another resident of the yard and the daughter of a woman who recognises Nell from school (the recognition is not reciprocated which adds to Nell's unease), and Kym, whose grandmother, Gina, lives in an even more hidden spot close to Elder House. These two teenagers have their own reasons for being wary of Elder House and their stories become woven together with the main narrative of Nell and her family.

There's a lot of atmosphere created between the pages of this book. The crux of the story is motherhood and what people will do to achieve it but it's also about the history of a house. I think Amanda Mason has done a great job with this book. It's a compelling story with fascinating characters and a truly mesmerising setting.… (meer)

Chris, Nell and twelve year old Maude go to stay at Elder House in a coastal town for a family celebration. The house has lots of history and ghostly goings on.

I've read The Wayward Girls by the author and enjoyed it very much so was looking forward to this book. I liked this book but felt slightly disappointed with it too.

The story follows the family as they settle into the house and what follows afterwards. I love stories set in old houses and Elder house has a lot to offer with it history.

I enjoyed the coastal setting, which is most definitely Whitby. I've been to Whitby and the town is full of history so it's the perfect setting for the story.

As Nell gets to know the neighbours it's obvious things are not quite right and something is been kept hidden. As the story progresses everything all makes sense and comes together.

The house of course had its ghosts with footsteps, hidden objects and possessions going missing. Again for me old houses with ghosts are my thing. Disappointingly though I felt the story wasn't creepy enough. I didn't feel any sense of foreboding and I felt the story needed a little more spook.

There are also plenty references to witches and witchcraft, which again is great and set in Whitby is just perfect. Again I would have liked this angle explored a bit more.

I enjoyed the story but for me it lacked what it was trying to be. I would still recommend this book and author and will read more books by her as they come out.

Thank you to the publisher via Readers First for the book.… (meer)

I think this is supposed to be a twist on the 1977 Enfield 'poltergeist' mystery, but far too long and muddled in the telling. I was intrigued at first, at least to find out the story behind 'Tib', the spirit haunting Iron Sike Farm, but the constant back and forth between 1977 and the present day and the less than captivating cast of characters started sending me to sleep rather than scaring me silly.

Like the Enfield haunting, the story centres around two teenage girls, Bee and Loo (everyone has annoying nicknames) in the long hot summer of 1976, who attract the attention of a local reporter and then a psychic investigator when they claim their rented farmhouse is possessed by a destructive spirit. Knocking in the walls, slamming doors, moving furniture and showers of marbles and stones seem to back up the girls' story, not least when the youngest girl Loo starts talking in the ghost's voice, but is the problem supernatural or closer to home?

The problem is that there are too many characters and we don't really get to spend enough time with any of them before the story flips back to someone else. Cathy, Bee and Loo. Michael, Simon and Issy. Nina, Hal and - I can't even remember the other modern day investigator's name! The atmosphere at Iron Sike Farm, especially with the claustrophobic heat of the summer, is great, and Bee especially is a fascinating character - but just when the plot is thickening, the reader is turfed out of 'Then' and thrown back into 'Now', where Nina - apart from the revelation of her tie to the past - is far less engrossing.

I also think this could have been told in far fewer pages. The final chapters are a tedious ping pong match back and forth between haunting and hysteria - did the girls make everything up or were they really in danger - or both? There are a couple of dramatic scenes in and amongst, but the tension is lost by trying to draw out the final revelation.

I know everyone seems to be raving about this debut novel - a 'near perfect ghost story'? - but the I found the 1992 BBC spoof of the Enfield haunting far scarier!… (meer)