Genre: Mystery / Supernatural
Publisher: Severn House Publishing
Publication Date: 1st April 2015
Pages: 240
MY REVIEW:
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.
