Deadlight Hall

Leo Rosendale’s life was effectively ruined in childhood when twin girls vanished at Deadlight Hall. The girls were never found, their fate, still whispered about by locals. Now Michael Flint and his fiance Nell will investigate the house and attempt to get the answers no one else has been able to produce. But they aren’t prepared for what waits for them in the Hall, how could they be……?

A ghost story in the tradition of the great Shirley Jackson

REVIEW:  DEADLIGHT HALL by SARAH RAYNE

 Whenever I become aware of a new novel by Sarah RAYNE, I leap to read it. I have read.her books for several years, with nary a disappointment. I always come away with appreciation of the depths a breadth of her novels, and also thoroughly frightened! How true this is of her newest, DEADLIGHT HALL, which kept me awake late to finish, then still awake to ponder. Ms. Rayne, who has a firm grasp of history, interleaves a horrible macrocosm of World War II, with an equally horrifying and stomach-churning thread which had its ugly fatal roots in the last quarter of the 19th century. In contrasting Dr. Josef Mengele, the infamous Angel of Death at Auschwitz in Poland with a certain 19th century prosperous British gentleman, the reader sees into.the evil recesses of the human heart, in macrocosm and in microcosm.

A colleague of Michael Flint's - Leo Rosendale - asks him to take a look at Deadlight Hall which is being turned into luxury apartments.  Leo was there as a child and fears that past crimes will affect anyone living there in the future.  Michael visits the Hall and feels there is definitely something there so he starts to research its history.  Nell - Michael's girlfriend - agrees to handle the sale of a silver figure which Leo wants to sell and finds herself engrossed in its past history.

This is a very spooky story about a house which seems to have always been blighted by evil and as its past is gradually revealed I found myself turning the pages faster and faster to find out what happened and when.  The narrative is interspersed with diaries, letters and newspaper cuttings from the past which really brings the whole thing to life.

I enjoyed reading this mystery and was glad I wasn't reading it at night otherwise I'd have been switching on all the lights to make sure nothing could hide in dark corners!  If you like mysteries with a touch of the supernatural then this one may be for you.  It is part of a series featuring Michael Flint but the books can be read in any order.  I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.

This review will appear on my blog on 26 November and on Amazon on publication day.  It is currently live on Goodreads

The atmosphere described was just what a ghost story needs.

Originally my review for this book was going to be 3 or possibly 3.5 stars for this book. I love a dark Gothic novel as much as the next person, but in places, I felt like this book was almost too dark--dismal even. In the end though, salvation came in at the last second and I was forced to reconsider.

Whilst I loved that the author managed to give life to this book with so much history (Nazi Germany being a favourite study subject of mine anyway,) I thought she lost the usual excitement and eagerness for the unexpected I usually experience with her books in the absolute darkness of this book's first half.

Still, this became later on in the story, what I expect from this author. She is a genius at tying up loose ends and making everything in the previous pages make sense by the final page. This book is filled with curiosity and engaging characters that the reader wants to see do well and escape the terrors that befall them.

The historical sections were well researched and believable, and although I don't recommend reading this book at bedtime in an old, creepy house, I do recommend the book for true lovers of Gothic horror. 4 out of 5 spine tingles.

Plus, there is a crazy cat with a bad attitude. You have to love that.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Deadlight Hall, the fifth installment in author Sarah Rayne’s series featuring Dr. Michael Flint, blends the horrors of the Holocaust with a mysterious haunted house just outside Oxford. When Michael is contacted by Dr. Leo Rosendale, a colleague at Oriel College in Oxford, the request is not altogether strange for the seasoned ghosthunter. Leo is not very forthcoming with the details, but in short, wants Michael to investigate Deadlight Hall, a crumbling estate being renovated into luxury condos. Michael’s first trip to the Hall results in some fairly strange experiences, and so the hunt is on to uncover the deadly past.
I’m a sucker for a haunted house mystery and so when I saw Deadlight Hall pop up on Netgalley, I was quick to request it. I am certainly glad that I did. I devoured the book and loved the protagonists Michael and his lady friend Nell. I’m also a fan of Michael’s grumpy, troublemaking cat Wilberforce. The plot was brilliantly put together; I was guessing until the very end, trying to put together the various ends, and was pretty wrong on all accounts. Though this is the fifth book in the series, it stands alone easily. I for one will be purchasing the four other books in the series. Highly recommended.

First Sentence:  “I don’t mean to imply the house is haunted,” said Professor Rosendale Firmly.
     Michael Flight is asked to investigate Deadlight Hall, a building currently being renovated that had been used as an orphanage and hospital during WWII.  At that time, a pair of twin sisters, Jewish refugees, disappeared for the hall.  Going back into the house’s history, Michael and his fiancée Nell, discover another pair of sisters who vanished in the 1880s.  In spite of the fact that no one now lives at the Hall, it quickly becomes clear that the house is not empty.
     Rayne immediately achieves just the right atmosphere and sense that things could be perfectly fine…or perhaps not.
     One disadvantage of reading an eGalley, is that one lacks the chapter headings and other breaks which usually indicate a change in scene or time period.  Even so, the device used to convey some of the information is interesting, but it doesn’t really allow to story to unfold page by page.
     The suspense is very well done; gripping and decidedly creepy, and is enjoyably offset by the inclusion of Flint’s fictional cat, Wilberforce, and his adventures.  The plot leaves one questioning whether things are natural or supernatural and what is motivating them.  There is also a fascinating concept of “The Silent Minute,” quite different here from the historical Silent Minute from WWII where people were asked to devote one minute of prayer for peace at nine o’clock each evening.
     Rayne’s descriptions are wonderfully atmospheric…”The poison book was in good condition….There was, though, the feeling that the light which fell over the pages was tinged with the flickering radiance of candlelight, wax-scented and dim, or even the bad-smelling gaslight that came later.”      
“Deadlight Hall” is a intriguing, creepy story with lots of twists and is sure to entertain anyone who appreciates things that go bump in the night.

DEADLIGHT HALL (Susp/Myst/Para – Dr. Michael Flint – England – Contemp/1940s) – VG Rayne, Sarah – 5th in series Severn House – April 2015

I received an advance copy of Deadlight Hall from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is published by Severn House Publishers.

Well now this is a book and a half. I say this because at the beginning I half hated it and half loved it. What transpired in my first venture into the world of Sarah Rayne was confirmation of the old prophecy – “Never give up on a book, because you never know where it may lead and how much pleasure you may end up getting out of it.”

Deadlight Hall is a building that has stood in the Oxfordshire countryside for many years. It has a long history. Much of it hidden and secret. A builder has started to refurbish it and University Professor Leo Rosendale has asked his colleague Dr Michael Flint, an amateur ghost hunter by all accounts, to go to the building and see if he can sense anything. When Flint visits the house, he has a huge sense of foreboding and can hear a voice whispering to him. Professor Rosendale also has a silver “golem” (a Jewish statue) to sell and asks Flint’s partner Nell to look after the sale.

What is the connection with Rosendale, Deadlight Hall, the golem and the ghosts? In this mosaic tale, nothing is ever as it seems. No one is ever as they seem. Everyone has secrets. Even the ghosts.

Now, the most annoyingly infuriating thing about this book? The narrative. When we meet our characters at the beginning, the conversations between Flint, Nell, Rosendale and combinations of all of the above, are written in such a way that they are the most incredibly posh English people you could ever possibly meet. It’s like the entire cast from Downton Abbey in present day. It was mind-bogglingly frustrating.

An example: (made up for explaining purposes) Normal speak in 2015 – Nell asked, “Would you like a cup of tea?” “Yes” said Michael. Actual speak Nell asked, “Would you like to partake of a delicious brew of the finest tea in one of ones fine bone china cups?” “That would be absolutely, splendidly wonderful my dear. I would be awfully delighted if you could add some of that delicious premium sugar as well!”

Now, the reason this was so annoying is the fact that do people still speak like that? Also it took thirty words to say the same thing that one word can do. This really annoyed me to the point of nearly binning the whole book.

Then, the story started to develop. I am not going to tell you anything more of the plot than I already have because I do not in any way want to spoil it for you. All I can say is that when it got into second gear, this story was simply superb.

The story basically tells the history of the goings on in Deadlight Hall. It features specifically around some happenings in the late 1800’s, then jumps back to the present day, then jumps to the 1940’s during WWII. It follows the plight of children staying at the house in all time periods and the ghosts that haunt their lives.

There are sections that are told through secret letters sent between 2 men during the war about sneaking Jewish children out of Poland to get them away from the clutches of the Nazis and Dr Josef Mengele. These scenes are absolutely delicious.  The feelings of absolute fear they give you are outstanding. They are so harrowing that you will feel knots in the very pit of your stomach and as the story progresses, right to the very last pages, you will shed a tear or two at the outcomes.

When you get past the style of the narrative this is first class. Thankfully that style only rears its ugly head when the present time characters are in discussions and the flashback narrative is very relevant to the times.

There are quite a few twists in this story that at first may seem a bit confusing but all get explained as things unfold and you will not believe some of the directions the story takes.

To summarise: Try to ignore that style of the narrative (if, of course, it winds you up as it did me). What develops is a ghost story of the highest order. It will creep you out and make the hairs on the back of your neck stand to attention. A lot. The way the story is written, particularly with the flashbacks to the times during the war, is absolutely divine.

This is book five in a series, so I have come to the party late. I will however be checking out numbers one to four.

4 stars.

This review is on Goodreads and my blog and will be added to Amazon on publication date.

It's hard to find a really good haunted house mystery novel these days, but I can always count on Sarah Rayne's series. This 5th one in the series is no exception. Spooky, scary atmosphere with the likable combo of Michael Flint and Nell West on the case.