If books could win awards for their covers then "A House of Ghosts" would win hands down, such beauty - black with gorgeous gold etching, just truly beautiful and worth every penny just to adorn your bookcase. I guarantee that this will be the main talking point from a lot of reviewers and rightly so.
The premise of the story is based on a World War One military espionage theme with elements of the supernatural. The tone of writing for the era of the book is spot on and I could quite clearly hear the voices of that time in my head as I read.
I liked the story in general but I would have liked either more on the ghosts rather then them just 'appearing' in the background or the plot completely without them since to be honest they didn't really feature enough to give the book it's name in my opinion. What surprised me was the ease with which all the characters seemed to be un-phased by these supernatural visions - had I seen just one of the many and varied apparitions I would have fainted on the spot! The inclusion of a 'magic mirror' didn't quite work for me and really needed you to suspend disbelief. The atmospheric description of the island and the house were eerily spooky and since the story was set during a raging storm this made the location even more sinister.
I thought the combination of Donovan and Kate was superb and it was good to see them understand each other's tactical thoughts and I'd love to see them develop their relationship further in a future book.
Very Agatha Christie in its creation this story was easy to follow with an uncomplicated plot that enabled me to read this in a couple of days. However, I wouldn't say it was gripping, I did still enjoy reading it though and can see it being more of a read for the older generation looking for a more genteel read.
The author W C Ryan is the pseudonym for the well established William Ryan and I would be happy to read more involving these characters again.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for the beautiful cover.
The premise of the story is based on a World War One military espionage theme with elements of the supernatural. The tone of writing for the era of the book is spot on and I could quite clearly hear the voices of that time in my head as I read.
I liked the story in general but I would have liked either more on the ghosts rather then them just 'appearing' in the background or the plot completely without them since to be honest they didn't really feature enough to give the book it's name in my opinion. What surprised me was the ease with which all the characters seemed to be un-phased by these supernatural visions - had I seen just one of the many and varied apparitions I would have fainted on the spot! The inclusion of a 'magic mirror' didn't quite work for me and really needed you to suspend disbelief. The atmospheric description of the island and the house were eerily spooky and since the story was set during a raging storm this made the location even more sinister.
I thought the combination of Donovan and Kate was superb and it was good to see them understand each other's tactical thoughts and I'd love to see them develop their relationship further in a future book.
Very Agatha Christie in its creation this story was easy to follow with an uncomplicated plot that enabled me to read this in a couple of days. However, I wouldn't say it was gripping, I did still enjoy reading it though and can see it being more of a read for the older generation looking for a more genteel read.
The author W C Ryan is the pseudonym for the well established William Ryan and I would be happy to read more involving these characters again.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for the beautiful cover.