With a killer on the loose and a storm raging, Professor Warren seals the guests in the remote mansion for the night—but the greatest threat may already be inside. This classic thriller is tense and atmospheric with a fascinating cast of characters.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

It was a dark and stormy night, both inside and outside of The Summit. Inside the isolated house, tempers were boiling over and jealousies were flaring. Outside, the rain was lashing down and the trees were blowing in the wind. The trees, casting their shadows and scraping, tapping menacingly against the windows set people on edge--and they're not all quite right. Could it be that some of them are moving? What can the trees tell about the women that have been killed closer and closer to The Summit and who will be next?

Helen Capel, the newly arrived 'help' at The Summit starts off feeling pretty good about things as she returns from her first day off in her new job. Only 19, but employed at various places since she was 14, she's pretty pleased with her new job and feeling fairly confident as she sees the house in the distance. But it's getting dark and there have been murders and as her unease grows and she tries to distract herself, she thinks maybe she should get a move on. She's almost there, but that tree looks funny. Better go in the back way. Once inside, she's back to her usual, extremely curious self. She finagles a visit to the blue room, where the matriarch of the Warren family, an invalid, is grudgingly cared for by her step-daughter and a series of nurses. The house is isolated, the family is strange, and Lady Warren is difficult. In fact, a new nurse is on her way. Helen is friendly with Professor Warren's pupil, Steven, and enjoys the family dramas unfolding between him and the Professor's son and daughter-in-law. But, still a bit tense from her dash back to the house and looking forward to her tea and toast with dripping, she makes her way through the dark passages and down the spiral staircase with its shadows to the kitchen and the company of Mrs. Oates. Everyone is waiting for the return of Mr.Oates with the new nurse as the storm intensifies. When they arrive, the nurse is not what they expected--is she who she says she is? Later they get the news. Another young woman has been killed, this time on the grounds of The Summit. Professor Warren orders all the doors and windows locked. No one is to leave or be admitted until morning. With some grumbling, everyone agrees. Helen feels safe, locked in with all those people. Until, for one reason and another, they start to leave. Helen's fear grows as daylight seems very far away and she feels increasingly alone. Who can she trust?

I've never read this book before and am not a movie person, so never saw any of the movies based on it, either. I started the book not knowing what to expect, but once I started, I could not put it down. I set it aside for a few minutes at one point to make a cup of tea, but other than that, I was engrossed in it, eager to see what was going to happen. I knew I wasn't going to bed until I finished it because how would I even sleep? From the first page, White drew me in as the setting goes from a momentary spacious feeling in both the physical surroundings and Helen's thoughts, to an increasing sense of claustrophobia as she gets closer to the house, the nights creeps up, and the trees wave in the wind. There are a few moments of respite for Helen and the reader as she takes tea with Mrs Oates, but then weird things start to happen again. There is some foreshadowing as the author says things about how Helen will only see later how all these small, seemingly insignificant things fit together and lead to what will come, so we're given some clues that remind us stay on our guard. This is a slow burn of a book, which I think makes perfect sense. The seemingly endless night that Helen is experiencing would not go by in a flash. It would drag slowly towards daylight, which would seem like it would never arrive. I never felt like the story got bogged down, though. Indeed, I could feel the tension and confusion Helen felt as she tried to determine what was going on, who she could trust, and what she should do. Being young and having been on her own for years, she's had to rely on her wits to survive. Her curiosity has taught her a great deal, replacing formal education in some ways, but although she's had more experience than many young women of her age, she's more naive than she knows. She is sometimes all over the place in her thinking--sure of her conclusions one minute and reaching different ones in the next--which seemed like exactly the way someone in her situation would behave. In addition to the setting and atmosphere, I thought the characterization in this novel was masterfully done.

There was one scene where two people talked things over and action was begun, but that was the end of that. It was dropped right there with one character saying what he planned to do and starting, but then we never see these people again. It's easy enough to fill in the blanks, and figure out how that would've played out, but I did wonder why that scene was there. The denouement was chilling, not so much for the discovery of the killer, but for the reasons given. This isn't really a whodunnit. It's more psychological and even sociological in some ways. I loved this book and I highly recommend it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Pushkin Vertigo for a DRC

I did enjoy this, but at times I had trouble keeping up with who was who.
It seemed farcical at times, and I never felt a lot of tension.
However some of the characters and their interactions were fascinating.
It's aged well, so much so I hadn't realised how old it was until now.
It's an author I'm going to have to look into.