Smiggals' Book Reviews

Book Review 1

James, Peter (2016) The House on Cold Hill. Pan: London.
Started Reading 13th July 2019.
Finished Reading 18th July 2019.

Well...here we go. With any of my reviews, it is not my intention to provide detail of the narrative, as this will ruin it for the reader. I was recommended this book by my friend, who very kindly (the catalyst) lent it to me to read. She spoke very highly about the work of Peter James and in particular this book. I am extremely grateful to her for lending me the book to read. I've not read any of Peter James' books before so being pointed in a different literature direction will be interesting, and it intrigued me to read something new.

I also prioritised this book as the follow up to this novel, The Secret of Cold Hill (released October 3rd 2019), will be released later this year. A good early incentive to read the follow up just shortly after I've read this one.

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So what did I think?

First, it's an old fashioned haunted house story, which is set in a contemporary setting. Even though the book was written in 2016 most of the small minor details rang-home in 2019. On a very personal level, the story was very relevant to my own situation. The main protagonist was only a little bit younger than me, he had a daughter who is the same age as mine and a lot of the protagonist's thoughts about life, family and adjusting to his daughter growing up mimicked my own.

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Second, I loved the way the chapters were structured. Each chapter was date-related, so it was easy to know exactly where, in the story's timeline the reader was. Additionally, each chapter didn't seem too long, which meant that there were plenty of opportunities to take a break from reading and get yourself a cup of tea or something to eat. However, if you were reading in bed and you'd just finished one chapter you knew that it wouldn't take too long to read another, Ultimately leading to the reading of another...some nights never ended. Sometimes this was a good thing but occasionally a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. 

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Third, the story. The first chapter really through me. Exactly the start I was looking for. I was engaged and engrossed, trying to digest as much information as possible. I just didn't the ending coming. This is exactly the kind of story I like! After the first chapter, I knew I was going to like this book. As the story progressed I was also seeing similarities within the narrative of not only my own but that of my friend who lent me the book. Was this the reason why she liked the book so much? I have no idea until I ask her, but whilst reading small elements that were similar to her own circumstances kept on popping up - cats, dogs and the most uncanny element was the daily alarm at 6.20 am...spooky!

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The narrative continues at a good steady pace, introducing characters, location and the eerie, unknown significance of Cold Hill House. 

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Other characters are slowly introduced, as the lead protagonist (Ollie Harcourt) tries to unravel the mystery of Cold Hill House. As these additional characters are introduced to the story the mystery deepens and for me, this is where the story really gripped me, especially chapter 13, where Mr Parkin is introduced and the traditional haunted house story is transformed into more than just a mystery that focuses on the property and the individuals that are haunted by it. Personally, every time Mr Parkin is part of the narrative the scare factor of the story increases. To be fair Mr Parkin is my favourite character. There are other characters introduced, who live locally, have lived locally or had a link to Cold Hill House in some capacity.  However, even though these characters are important to the narrative none of them really grabbed me as much as the interesting Mr Parkin.

The narrative continues to flow at a steady pace and the strange goings-on continue. However, what sets this apart from traditional haunted house stories is that not all the scary encounters or goings-on are contained within Cold hill House. For me, this is what I liked about the book the most. Even outside the house, no one is safe.

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So overall, a decent first read and an interesting book to read first of all. I can't see this book making a good film but it could make a nice 3-part TV drama. I've already the main things I like about the story. However, I do have two issues with the narrative. As I mention in my "What I like" page of my blog, I don't like unexplained, ridiculous or silly elements of a story. Unfortunately, there is a big one in this book. I won't mention it, as it will ruin it for the reader, but it typically is a reveal close to the end, which at least 10, if not more, people would have seen. However, eventually, someone sees it and to be fair it's not much of a reveal either. I think this could have been written better and the reveal could have been embedded within the story and not so forced on the reader...subtably identified but not thrown into the face of the reader. I just don't know how nobody saw it until the end of the book? Have a read and see what you think.

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Another issue I have is with some of the additional characters. I agree some are key to the narrative but some add little or nothing that impacts significantly.

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Finally,  the ending. I can't say too much about it, as I don't want to ruin it for anyone else. I don't have an issue with it really, but I was left quite disappointed and felt that it was a copout. Personally, I wanted to go "wow" or "no way" but I just ended up reading the last page and going "ok", and I think that sums up my opinion on the book.

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If I was to give a score, I would say 3.5/5.0, as I liked a new take on the haunted house story but it was the ending and that forced reveal (how did no one see it???) that lowered the score for me.

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p.s. thanks for lending me the book AJ!

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RATING: 3.5

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