3.5 stars rounded up.
I truly enjoyed this classic thriller. I love books and movies from this era. The Spiral Staircase was very atmospheric and creepy. I will look for other books by Ethel Lina White.

I'm giving this two enthusiastic thumbs up! A perfect mix of gothic fiction and psychological thriller. I love a slow burning, tension filled damsel in distress narrative, and it's made even better when tucked into the isolated English countryside. Atmospheric and full of unease, this vintage classic takes you through the course of one very long day, building on the panic until its frenetic conclusion.

If you are one who finds joy in the creaking floorboard, the sudden banging of the shudder, or the unexplainable echo of footsteps from above... you will find your match within this timeless tale.

I wanted to finish this but I couldn't. I guess that also says a lot about my interest level that I knew time was running out and didn't care.

A classic novel from the 1930's. This is a gripping tension filled mystery that stands the test of time, maybe except the writing style. This will keep you guessing till the end. Thanks to Pushkin press and Netgalley for this review copy

2.5 stars rounded down. A product of its time I think, with the writing style being of the format that it wasn’t “she wondered what the person had done”, so much as “‘I wonder what he has done,” she said to herself, “it’s such a queer thing to do.” This kind of internal monologue way of showing the characters’ thoughts just grated on me after a while.

The characters were hard to like really. And while it was building up tension with the dark stormy night and people being incapacitated or leaving, one by one, it didn’t really feel like a tense mystery to me. Perhaps it’s just me though…

I received a free ARC copy of this via NetGalley and the publishers, in return for an unbiased review.

4.25 stars

This is an updated reprint of author Ethel Lina White's thrilling mystery novel from the 1930's and I quite enjoyed it. The prose, the story setting, everything was classic and spooky. I love that it's a classic written by a female author; she really knew how to set a scene and keep you guessing until the end in regards to who the killer was. The terror of the house's inhabitants really rachets up in a satisfying way through the story. If you're a fan of literary classics and enjoy a good crime thriller then go ahead and read all of White's canon of work, starting with this one.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me access to a free digital ARC of this reprinted book to read and review. All opinions are my own and are provided here voluntarily.

I suspect if you read a lot of crimes novels then you will be disappointed with this classic crime story.

I do not. At most I read the occasional cosy crime, often when I'm feeling a bit unwell and just want something easy and undemanding to read. That happened this week. A nasty ear infection saw me laid low for a few days, and The Spiral Staircase was perfect company. My only quibble was the excessive foreshadowing that didn't always amount to anything.

I would happily read another Ethel Lina White classic crime story though, the next time I need a comfort read.

The Spiral Staircase began with all the right ingredients—an isolated manor, an air of creeping menace, and a sympathetic heroine in Helen. The early imagery was compelling, and the sense of a house gradually emptying was deliciously eerie. Unfortunately, the tension fizzled out midway, giving way to tiresome dialogue and domestic entanglements that diluted the suspense. By page 220, I found myself skipping ahead, unable to remain invested. While there’s merit in the premise and atmosphere, the narrative’s sluggish turn made it difficult to finish with enthusiasm.

Many thanks to Pushkin Vertigo and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐩 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 - 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞.”

The Spiral Staircase is a 1930s suspenseful thrill!

Ethel Lina White is probably best known as the author of The Wheel Spins, famously adapted into Hitchcock’s film The Lady Vanishes. The Spiral Staircase, originally published as Some Must Watch in 1933, feels like could also have easily been adapted into a Hitchcock film. It is full of tension and suspicion that takes places over one evening. Disturbed by recent murders in their village, the residents of The Summit decide to lock down their doors of their remote country house, but live-in-help Helen relishes the excitement until one-by-one the numbers slowly start to dwindle and the murderer feels very close to home. I’ll admit that I had a hard time getting into the story at first, due to the writing style. Characters talk about events or people that aren’t super well explained, which had me feeling lost. The second half of the story though is pure tension and fear, as Helen’s protectors leave her and the feeling of isolation grows. There is constant unbalance, leading to some truly suspenseful moments; just when you think Helen couldn’t be more alone, something happens to throw her and the reader off. You don’t know who to trust, and whether or not there is an actual murderer stalking the Summit, playing tricks on Helen. I wish there was a final chapter that took place after the storm and showed what happened to some of the characters; the story felt slightly unfinished.

The Spiral Staircase feels like a suspense radio play that would be broadcast in the 1930s. If you like Hitchcock films, this one would be for you! Thank you to Pushkin Press & NetGalley for the ARC!

Often quoted as a contemporary to Agatha Christie and her worthy peer in the crime/mystery genre, I had high hopes for this book written by Ethel Lina White. Her most famous work, The Wheel Spins, was also the inspiration for Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes.

What seemed like an exciting story plateaued to a point where I was hoping for the ‘mystery’ to end already. A series of murder gripped the isolated countryside where the perpetrator targeted young women. I loved the writing, it was as haunting and descriptive as I would like, that I even made sure that the bushes and trees near my house didn’t have enough coverage suitable for murderers to take refuge, so well was the story written that I was convinced it could happen in my ordinary, mundane life!

However, I had problems with the copy I received. There were too many typos and grammatical errors that made the reading a little unbearable that I had to reread the same sentence a few times to make sense of what the author was trying to convey. This was a shame because I rather enjoyed White’s humor, which was reminiscent of Christie’s writing style in the same era.

There wasn’t much to the plot, but the author was trying to drum up the suspense. I understood the appeal and for a while, I was entranced and enjoyed the atmosphere too. However, it came to a point where it became draggy and the prolonged state of tension turned into monotony quickly. At first I was rooting for the red-headed protagonist, but she kept on saying the wrong things and would probably be one of the characters that could be described as an airhead. For someone of her disposition, she blew up own her importance out of proportions and the word delusional would be apt for her. The misfortune that befell on the people surrounding her could be avoided if only she had the tact to think a little more about other people, and not just for her benefit and convenience.

On the whole, I did enjoy the story and wouldn’t mind exploring White’s other works, but this could have been a better read, especially on things that could be avoided such as the editing errors. What a shame!

Love a good mystery and this one, with complicated female leads (likable, flighty, resourceful, spoiled and miserable),, and a cascading series of small events leading to an avoidable disaster, delivers.

I read the book in one go today because I couldn't put it down. It was so gripping and exciting. There's something about "old" literature that modern books lack.

Chills, unexpected twists, all leading to a terrifying climax. Needless to say, this is not my usual cosy crime book, but a classic and terrifying psychological thriller. The novel builds up a sense of fear from the outset through the setting – a gothic country house and the hunting ground for a serial killer. All of the nooks and crannies in the house add to a macabre sense of isolation.

The novel’s domestic setting, with Helen in fear of her life from a home invasion, is keenly relatable. Although I didn’t especially find her a likeable character, it was easy to empathise with her situation and the danger she was in. The other characters are mostly deplorable with self-centred and often callous attitudes. The way things play out in the novel keeps the tension going throughout. The dialogue is razor sharp, like a game of ping pong that has you not wanting to take your eyes from the page.

There are other themes in the novel, such as mysgony and the fading class attitudes of the 1930s (when the novel was originally written), which gave it a perfect sense of time and place. It’s so often that the home is used as a setting in the modern thriller, but I think The Spiral Staircase still holds its own. The ending left me having to let my imagination do the rest, but everything from the main storyline exceeded my expectations. I can’t wait to read more by this author.

The Spiral Staircase is a slow-burn Gothic thriller set in a remote house on the Welsh border. Helen Capel, a young domestic helper, finds herself trapped overnight with a group of uneasy housemates while a serial killer stalks the countryside. As the storm rages and people begin disappearing, Helen starts to suspect the killer might already be inside. The story unfolds over a single night, building tension gradually. The atmosphere is claustrophobic, and the sense of dread grows with each chapter. White does a great job of making you feel Helen’s isolation and fear. The first half is a bit slow, focusing more on character dynamics than action, but the action picks up a bit in the second half. If you enjoy classic mysteries with a touch of psychological suspense, this is worth a read.

I just could NOT find my way into this one... The writing just didn't grab me, and I found the storytelling style a bit uneven. I am a fan of Christie and Sayers, so was really surprised at this, but it just was not a good fit for me.

After the initial pages, I found myself not connecting with the story or characters, so I decided to pass on this book. Did not finish

This is one of the fabulous early crime classics that one can read again and again over many years and still with great pleasure. It has been filmed four times but the novel is far superior to any of its adaptations.
In the first half of the novel the author conducts some robust character building and toys with her readers through some deliciously dark dialogue and black humour.
The strength of the novel lies in the second half. As the storm rages outside The Summit the tension builds inside as the story moves - with nail-biting suspense - to its shocking conclusion.
Many of the crime novels from the 1930s suffer from bland or fragile characterisation but Ethel Lina White's characters are full-blooded and vivid. Her eccentrics make splendid red herrings.
This is a classic crime novel deserving of many new fans.

A mystery/thriller novel with not a drop of either, The Spiral Staircase is misleading down to its title and cover art, as it never plays a role as a setting for any action — it is merely there and avoided, and not for any good reason, as it turns out.

On page 30, we get this chapter ending: “She was visited by no prescience to warn her that – since her return – there had been certain trivial incidents which were the first cracks in the walls of her fortress. Once they were started, nothing could stop the process of disintegration; and each future development would act as a wedge, to force the fissures into ever-widening breaches, letting in the night.”

So you’d think we’d finally be beginning, right? You couldn’t be more wrong. Because the book never really begins, and ends without having created a grand total of zero thrill and mystery (not even at its supposed climax, which is over before it actually reaches the summit). This is the best paragraph in the entire book, and it amounts to nothing other than a giant misdirect.

What this book is, is an endless slop of boring, pointless, moronic, if not outright malicious dialogues. Sprinkled in between are juvenile over-descriptions. It’s as if every ounce of care went into making sure not a single sentence would amount to any tension — even the fact that the murderer we’re supposed to be dreading is a strangler ruins any chance at that . . . because maybe White did not know, but it takes a long time to strangle someone to death, so the essential implication is that the attack will have to take a long time, giving ample opportunity to be saved, especially in a house full of other people, which ruins the necessary sense of isolation.

It doesn’t help that the main character is an utter idiot who acts like an impetuous child, engaging in the same ugly behaviours time and again, despite vowing after each to never repeat them.

It took me 11 days to push myself through this, and it ruined my reading month because of that. I have not a single positive thing I can say about this waste of time.

'And you all know, security Is mortals' chiefest enemy'

Do you like an isolated country house, locked room murder? If so, you need to read The Spiral Staircase by Ethel Lina White.

Blurb:

The Summit-a mansion buried deep in the countryside, on the Welsh Borders. Somewhere outside, a murderer lurks in the darkness. Four young women have already been killed, and each murder has been closer to the house than the last.

Now a storm is coming. Professor Warren decides to batten down the hatches for the night-no one may come in or go out until morning. But what if the killer is already inside?

Thoughts:

This book held me in a vice like grip, gently luring me into a false sense of security that this may be a gentle and twee cosy crime set in the standard big house in the isolated countryside, like many books set in the golden age crime era. I was incredibly misled by Ethel White's first few chapters.

Helen, a pretty little redhead, can not believe her luck when she lands a job in The Summit. With only a skeleton staff consisting of Mrs. Oates the cook, Mr. Oates general handyman and any nurse that lasts more than 24 hours dealing with the vicious and seemingly decrepit Old Mrs. Warren, Helen finds herself caught in a limbo between the downstairs staff and the Warren family as the none skilled help.

As word spreads of the murder of local young women, The Summit is forced to bolt its doors and refuse entry when the murder of an ex employee occurs just outside the grounds of The Summit one wild, stormy night. Hostilities boil as one by one, the occupants of The Summit escape to the Bull pub until Helen is finally left to her own devices to survive the night. She quickly realises she has more to fear inside the house than out and is terrified to trust anyone.

When I say that Old Mrs. Warren terrified me as did the terrifying replacement nurse Barker with her masculine features and spite, I'm not exaggerating! They actually caused me to have nightmares. This is an incredibly atmospheric and slightly claustrophobic read, I honestly thought I had it all figured out and double guessed myself until I read the final chapter.

#thespiralstaircase is a book that is all consuming and creates such an ominous and dark atmosphere that reaches fever pitch as Helen battles to last through the night, not knowing when and where her predator hides.

This really is a fantastic 1930s piece of #goldenagecrime with murders, twists and suspects aplenty. I plan to read everything Ethel Lina White has written as this is as thrilling as any crime book from todays contemporary writers. Thank you so much to @pushkin_press and #netgalley for the chance to read this ARC. It's one I certainly won't forget!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to this early. Review has been posted on Waterstones and Goodreads.