The Hiding Place By Amanda Mason is a slightly spooky mystery. It focuses on Nell, her husband and her step-daughter Maude as they rent a holiday cottage in the seaside town where Nell grew up. she is recognised by a neighbour who seems rather eager to befriend her, offering tea and coffee and for them to come over for the evening for dinner.
The house feels strange, something just doesn't feel right to Nell but Maude seems to be intrigued by the house and the strange marks she has found carved into the beams in her room and the old, dusty shoe they find hidden within the walls.
I was excited to read this book as I had enjoyed this authors previous book, The Wayward Girls a lot. Although, the writing itself is very good the story itself was just way too slow for me. I love a spooky haunted house story and I thought this would tick that ghostly box but unfortunately I found it disappointing. It just wasn't spooky at all. The footsteps fail to be scary when they are so commonplace, the fuses tripping so often became rather boring and nothing of much interest occurred in the darkness anyway. I disliked the majority of the characters, unfortunately, Nell in particular I found irritating and quite horrible to Maude who seemed rather an extreme caricature of an teenage girl, (though only twelve). All the action occurred in the last couple of chapters and sadly, these were a disappointing anti-climax.
Please, remember that this is only my opinion, and as I mentioned earlier the writing itself is good. If you enjoy a slow burn, domestic drama with a HINT of spookyness, then this may well be for you. Sadly, it wasn't for me.
The house feels strange, something just doesn't feel right to Nell but Maude seems to be intrigued by the house and the strange marks she has found carved into the beams in her room and the old, dusty shoe they find hidden within the walls.
I was excited to read this book as I had enjoyed this authors previous book, The Wayward Girls a lot. Although, the writing itself is very good the story itself was just way too slow for me. I love a spooky haunted house story and I thought this would tick that ghostly box but unfortunately I found it disappointing. It just wasn't spooky at all. The footsteps fail to be scary when they are so commonplace, the fuses tripping so often became rather boring and nothing of much interest occurred in the darkness anyway. I disliked the majority of the characters, unfortunately, Nell in particular I found irritating and quite horrible to Maude who seemed rather an extreme caricature of an teenage girl, (though only twelve). All the action occurred in the last couple of chapters and sadly, these were a disappointing anti-climax.
Please, remember that this is only my opinion, and as I mentioned earlier the writing itself is good. If you enjoy a slow burn, domestic drama with a HINT of spookyness, then this may well be for you. Sadly, it wasn't for me.