Saturday, February 9, 2013

The LIttle Stranger

by Sarah Waters

Seems I am on a roll of disappointing reads. I had high expectations for The Little Stranger, especially because of Stephen King's endorsement, but I wonder if he actually read the book or just a summary of it. The premise is good, a post WWII haunted house story set in a crumbling mansion estate in GB,  the characters are well developed, including Hundreds Hall itself and the writing is descriptive. But it was a roller coaster of building up to a climax that never came, building up a ghost that never appeared and building up an awkward romance that falls flat.

It seems that Ms. Waters wanted to write a Gothic horror the likes of Rebecca or Jane Eyre, but wasn't capable of blending the suspense with the romantic, which left the story jumping between the ghost business and the people business without satisfactorily resolving either.

This book had so much potential that after investing the time it made the end a greater let down. 

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