Scuttler's Cove - David Barnett

64%

27.08.25

Hugely clichéd, hugely predictable and yet somehow hugely entertaining. I must like a folk horror that's leavened with humour - the light tone at times seemed to battle with the dark atmosphere but that's probably what made it so engaging, despite the uneven pacing.

(Interestingly, this very different but in some ways quite similar book is by the same author, particularly in terms of portraying the female experience.)

The Woman in Black - Susan Hill

 64%

28.10.23

This modern classic was spectacularly (spectre-cularly?) well written on a line level, a model for using different techniques to create atmosphere, which explains its presence on Eng Lit reading lists. But the pace and the story itself didn't match that poetry. It wasn't particularly scary and only slightly creepy. And it never was clear why the woman wanted to get her revenge on random people. She just did. I suppose ghosts don't need to explain themselves.

The Loney - Andrew Michael Hurley

55%
04.06.16

With great hype comes great disappointment and this follows that well-trodden path (across the abandoned beaches and into the twisted local community, fanned with the poisoned winds of misplaced religious fervour). No discernible terror, very little drama and, of course, a frustratingly vague resolution. Hmm. Did I miss something?

Great cover, though.