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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
I am a huge James Herbert fan, and I can comfortably say that he is one of my favourite authors! That being said, I can't say that this is one of his better works. You don't get the creep factor like The Rats. You don't get the atmosphere like Once. It's not a bad book, just a bit anti-climactic. The setting had good potential for supernatural horror but fell short. Also some of his best works focus on a single protagonist. With those characters you can get invested with their development and see them grow a bit. What Herbert has done here is have a whole family as the protagonists. Cool in theory, but the problem is that I didn't see that much growth to find them engaging.
In summary:
Bland setting
Bland characters
Bland plot
In summary:
Bland setting
Bland characters
Bland plot
(Audiobook) Meh
Took 11 hours to really get into it
I won't read anymore of his books
Took 11 hours to really get into it
I won't read anymore of his books
Este libro realmente me dio mucho miedo. Supongo que eso es algo bueno, considerando que es un libro de terror.
La trama es intrigante y te mantiene atento a cada línea, a cada párrafo que pueda develar más detalles sobre lo que les sucedió a los huérfanos de Crickley Hall; y la espera vale la pena, porque los acontecimientos que se revelan casi al final son escalofriantes. Y eso es lo que tiene de impactante este libro, a pesar que llega un momento en que quieres dejar de leer porque todo es demasiado aterrador y un tanto retorcido y asqueroso, la verdad es que no puedes porque ya tienes el morbo (si es que podría llamarse así) de querer saber qué sucedió y mantienes aferrado el libro hasta que lo terminas.
Las descripciones son precisas y con tan buen tino que realmente sientes miedo y nauseas de imaginarte todo lo que el autor relata, tanto la parte sobrenatural como la parte enfermiza que retrata perfectamente la locura de alguien enajenado y cegado por sus creencias y su podrido ser.
Cada personaje tiene una actitud definida ante los sucesos y sus vivencias pasadas, es así que podemos llegar a conocer bien a los protagonistas y a los personajes secundarios, aunque todos revisten una cierta importancia en la trama. Un detalle que me gustó es que en algunos capítulos, cierto párrafos cambian de personaje y eso nos ayuda a comprender cómo se están sintiendo o qué están pensando.
Y hablando de eso, uno de los personajes más insoportables que he leído es la madre, Eve. O sea, te creo que te quedes en una casa porque tienes que o porque quieres encontrarle una explicación lógica a las cosas sobrenaturales que pasan de repente (como el esposo), pero si ya estás completamente segura que hay algo maligno en la casa y te das los aires de ser receptiva y ser sensible a las cosas "místicas" entonces no tienes absolutamente ninguna razón para quedarte. Pero eso de que ya siempre no me voy porque quiero saber qué paso en esta casa, a pesar de saber que estás arriesgando a tu familia a una calamidad, eso sí ya me parece una tremenda burrada, por no decir una palabra más fuerte, además de un acto de tremendo egoísmo. Si quería saber, bien podría haber aceptado que se mudaran cuando el marido lo propuso y entonces ella empezar a investigar por su parte qué onda con la casa, pero como así tenía que ser la trama pues tomó la peor decisión posible. Lo acepto, pero realmente no lo comprendo.
El final fue digno del resto del libro, sobre todo las últimas líneas quedaron perfectas para dejar un poco el suspenso en el aire.
La trama es intrigante y te mantiene atento a cada línea, a cada párrafo que pueda develar más detalles sobre lo que les sucedió a los huérfanos de Crickley Hall; y la espera vale la pena, porque los acontecimientos que se revelan casi al final son escalofriantes. Y eso es lo que tiene de impactante este libro, a pesar que llega un momento en que quieres dejar de leer porque todo es demasiado aterrador y un tanto retorcido y asqueroso, la verdad es que no puedes porque ya tienes el morbo (si es que podría llamarse así) de querer saber qué sucedió y mantienes aferrado el libro hasta que lo terminas.
Las descripciones son precisas y con tan buen tino que realmente sientes miedo y nauseas de imaginarte todo lo que el autor relata, tanto la parte sobrenatural como la parte enfermiza que retrata perfectamente la locura de alguien enajenado y cegado por sus creencias y su podrido ser.
Cada personaje tiene una actitud definida ante los sucesos y sus vivencias pasadas, es así que podemos llegar a conocer bien a los protagonistas y a los personajes secundarios, aunque todos revisten una cierta importancia en la trama. Un detalle que me gustó es que en algunos capítulos, cierto párrafos cambian de personaje y eso nos ayuda a comprender cómo se están sintiendo o qué están pensando.
Y hablando de eso, uno de los personajes más insoportables que he leído es la madre, Eve. O sea, te creo que te quedes en una casa porque tienes que o porque quieres encontrarle una explicación lógica a las cosas sobrenaturales que pasan de repente (como el esposo), pero si ya estás completamente segura que hay algo maligno en la casa y te das los aires de ser receptiva y ser sensible a las cosas "místicas" entonces no tienes absolutamente ninguna razón para quedarte. Pero eso de que ya siempre no me voy porque quiero saber qué paso en esta casa, a pesar de saber que estás arriesgando a tu familia a una calamidad, eso sí ya me parece una tremenda burrada, por no decir una palabra más fuerte, además de un acto de tremendo egoísmo. Si quería saber, bien podría haber aceptado que se mudaran cuando el marido lo propuso y entonces ella empezar a investigar por su parte qué onda con la casa, pero como así tenía que ser la trama pues tomó la peor decisión posible. Lo acepto, pero realmente no lo comprendo.
El final fue digno del resto del libro, sobre todo las últimas líneas quedaron perfectas para dejar un poco el suspenso en el aire.
The story behind the dead kids is quite good, but how they get there takes long time. I would still recommend it, I've definitely enjoyed it.
Loved this. James Herbert is a horror-story master!
When I first picked it up, my initial thought was: uh-oh... another predictable, haunted house story.
Herbert gives it his own twist, which kept the pages turning and the holding of breath.
Horror fan? Give it a chance.
When I first picked it up, my initial thought was: uh-oh... another predictable, haunted house story.
Herbert gives it his own twist, which kept the pages turning and the holding of breath.
Horror fan? Give it a chance.
Thouroughly enjoyed this spooky ghost story. I have always been a sucker for this genre. Would have liked a little more fleshing out of what actually happened to their son, but other than that I loved. Had watched the mini series with Tom Ellis and I needed more after the viewing. Mini series also really never tells you what happened to their son either. I know I know but I just needed to know. This is perfect reading for a cold stormy night!
One of the better haunted house stories I've read in a while, but far from perfect. When the focus is on the house, it's tight and tense and everything you could possibly ask for in a horror book. When the focus is on the protagonists, I just lost interest fast. Plus the ending can perhaps be as bit on the saccharine side.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Crickley Hall is an old house with a very unpleasant history, so the house is often not occupied, apthough it is never truly empty. When bad things happen in a place, it can leave its mark. Some very bad things have happened in Crickley Hall, so when the Caleigh family move in it isn't long before they discover that things are not quite right in their new home.
.
Full of creepy supernatural happenings, this is a must read for fans of the genre. I've found Herbert to be very hit or miss. The Secret Of Crickley Hall is definitely a hit.
.
Full of creepy supernatural happenings, this is a must read for fans of the genre. I've found Herbert to be very hit or miss. The Secret Of Crickley Hall is definitely a hit.
James Herbert is held with a great deal of respect in the UK: there’s quite a few horror readers out there who were weaned on the author’s The Rats(1974) and The Fog (1975) from the 1970’s.
Since then (and twenty odd books later) Herbert’s current reputation is, well... odd. There’s been a few books that readers haven’t been too favourable of, and it seems that Herbert’s reputation as ‘Britain’s answer to Stephen King’ has not turned out the way many predicted it would. He sells very well, and yet whereas many general readers may recognise Mr King’s name, I doubt they would know James’.
So this is an interesting one for me. Having not really read any Herbert myself for about twenty five years, this most recent book (though a new book, his first for six years, is due imminently) shows both the strengths and weaknesses that may have led to this frustration.
The Secret of Crickley Hall is basically a haunted house story, in the same manner as, say, Shirley Jackson’s The Legend of Hill House or Richard Matheson’s Hell House.
The Caleigh family decide to move away from London for a while, following the disappearance of Gabriel and Eve’s five-year-old son Cam, a year ago. American husband Gabe thinks that Eve could do with a rest after her near-breakdown and the two remaining children, Loren and Cally, agree.
The family move to Crickley Hall, left empty after a couple of years. Though a large house in a seemingly-charming rural area, people, even renters, don’t seem to want to stay long. Soon after moving in, the family notice odd things around the hall: glimpses of ‘something’ moving along corridors, the family dog’s reluctance to be inside the house, the child’s swing in the garden that seems to move without a breeze, little puddles of water as if made by children’s footprints on the stairs....
And the point that it is so obviously a haunted house tale may be the issue. The creepiness here is highlighted from almost the first page as ‘odd some-things happen’. This happens so immediately and so clearly that my inner voice soon began to question: if things are that bad, why don’t you just leave?, but Herbert’s characters listen to none of my advice and soldier on, for the good of the children, the spouse, the family.
Now I realise that a reader should realise just by picking up the book that it’s pretty obvious what’s going to happen. Some readers will have bought it just because it promises, no, it is expected that that will happen.
The book however fits too many clichés. Whilst a reader can feel slightly comforted in knowing what’s going to happen next, that all the pieces are falling into place, some may feel that it is just too much ‘something we’ve read before’.
This déjà-vu was re-emphasised when we have the arrival of Lili Peel, a local psychic, who, when brought in by Eve definitely feels presences. Reminiscent of Shirley Jackson’s Eleanor Vance, Lili picks up on the presence of children and a darker, more malignant adult who seems to be stopping them from moving on. There’s a lot of filling in of back history as we read: the children were war orphans, kept in the hall when evacuated there in 1943. They were kept under the harsh regime by a brother-and-sister pairing of Augustus and Magda Cribben, whose punishments usually involve liberal use of the cane. A flood from the underground river there seems to have drowned the children and Augustus, but as the story continues, we find out other reasons.
It is quite nice to read something so ‘English’, though it tends to pander to the clichés rather than the reality. I did get the impression that the lead male character was an American for no other reason that it is something some readers (or target audiences!) would want – it covers a certain dynamic. And that is unfair, perhaps, but it can’t be a good thing when the inner cynic makes itself known so quickly.
Some of this Herbert clearly recognises himself: there’s a point where the family go to the local village where the folk there fit every horror staple you can think of: ancient local handyman with knowledge, busty barmaid, colloquial barman, stoic residents... even Gabe notices it when the family visit to the Barnaby Inn, in that sort’ve “Hey, this is like a horror movie!” kind of way. (Reminder - First rule of my reading: never, NEVER self-reference – it destroys the reader’s sense of disbelief.) There’s touches of other horror here: the interior monologue of a major character is like Anthony Perkins at the end of the film Psycho, to the point where some of the dialogue is near-identical.
The book is, at over 600 pages, too long. A shorter, tauter narrative would have kept the sense of unease going longer than it did. However, in this version, events are drawn out and recapped, mused on and deliberated, to the point where the tale moves from exposition to padding.
To its credit, the build-up to the climax is unrelenting. Even though it’s pretty clear to the reader that what’s going to happen isn’t good, Herbert keeps piling things on, just to make sure, until the ending. And the last part of the book was a real page turner, even when you thought you know where it was going.
Some readers will draw comfort from the fact that you get here pretty much what the reader expects. It’s done well enough and with enough skill to keep those pages turning. However, there will be others that will feel disappointed that there’s nothing here they’ve not read previously.
A book of conflicting results ultimately, then. The book delivers what is expected: it’s a solidly entertaining novel, logically written through to a satisfactory conclusion. But, for me, that’s all it does. The ending was pretty much what was expected, and fairly easy to work out from the beginning. Many will enjoy this combination of all the elements that make a haunted house tale, but I was disappointed that it was so obvious. There are others out there that are as good, if not better – I think I would recommend Shirley Jackson, Richard Matheson and Stephen King before this one, as they leave more to remember afterwards.
The Secret of Crickley Hall passes the time, but disappoints at the end.
The book has been made into a BBC serial, due for transmission later this year.
Since then (and twenty odd books later) Herbert’s current reputation is, well... odd. There’s been a few books that readers haven’t been too favourable of, and it seems that Herbert’s reputation as ‘Britain’s answer to Stephen King’ has not turned out the way many predicted it would. He sells very well, and yet whereas many general readers may recognise Mr King’s name, I doubt they would know James’.
So this is an interesting one for me. Having not really read any Herbert myself for about twenty five years, this most recent book (though a new book, his first for six years, is due imminently) shows both the strengths and weaknesses that may have led to this frustration.
The Secret of Crickley Hall is basically a haunted house story, in the same manner as, say, Shirley Jackson’s The Legend of Hill House or Richard Matheson’s Hell House.
The Caleigh family decide to move away from London for a while, following the disappearance of Gabriel and Eve’s five-year-old son Cam, a year ago. American husband Gabe thinks that Eve could do with a rest after her near-breakdown and the two remaining children, Loren and Cally, agree.
The family move to Crickley Hall, left empty after a couple of years. Though a large house in a seemingly-charming rural area, people, even renters, don’t seem to want to stay long. Soon after moving in, the family notice odd things around the hall: glimpses of ‘something’ moving along corridors, the family dog’s reluctance to be inside the house, the child’s swing in the garden that seems to move without a breeze, little puddles of water as if made by children’s footprints on the stairs....
And the point that it is so obviously a haunted house tale may be the issue. The creepiness here is highlighted from almost the first page as ‘odd some-things happen’. This happens so immediately and so clearly that my inner voice soon began to question: if things are that bad, why don’t you just leave?, but Herbert’s characters listen to none of my advice and soldier on, for the good of the children, the spouse, the family.
Now I realise that a reader should realise just by picking up the book that it’s pretty obvious what’s going to happen. Some readers will have bought it just because it promises, no, it is expected that that will happen.
The book however fits too many clichés. Whilst a reader can feel slightly comforted in knowing what’s going to happen next, that all the pieces are falling into place, some may feel that it is just too much ‘something we’ve read before’.
This déjà-vu was re-emphasised when we have the arrival of Lili Peel, a local psychic, who, when brought in by Eve definitely feels presences. Reminiscent of Shirley Jackson’s Eleanor Vance, Lili picks up on the presence of children and a darker, more malignant adult who seems to be stopping them from moving on. There’s a lot of filling in of back history as we read: the children were war orphans, kept in the hall when evacuated there in 1943. They were kept under the harsh regime by a brother-and-sister pairing of Augustus and Magda Cribben, whose punishments usually involve liberal use of the cane. A flood from the underground river there seems to have drowned the children and Augustus, but as the story continues, we find out other reasons.
It is quite nice to read something so ‘English’, though it tends to pander to the clichés rather than the reality. I did get the impression that the lead male character was an American for no other reason that it is something some readers (or target audiences!) would want – it covers a certain dynamic. And that is unfair, perhaps, but it can’t be a good thing when the inner cynic makes itself known so quickly.
Some of this Herbert clearly recognises himself: there’s a point where the family go to the local village where the folk there fit every horror staple you can think of: ancient local handyman with knowledge, busty barmaid, colloquial barman, stoic residents... even Gabe notices it when the family visit to the Barnaby Inn, in that sort’ve “Hey, this is like a horror movie!” kind of way. (Reminder - First rule of my reading: never, NEVER self-reference – it destroys the reader’s sense of disbelief.) There’s touches of other horror here: the interior monologue of a major character is like Anthony Perkins at the end of the film Psycho, to the point where some of the dialogue is near-identical.
The book is, at over 600 pages, too long. A shorter, tauter narrative would have kept the sense of unease going longer than it did. However, in this version, events are drawn out and recapped, mused on and deliberated, to the point where the tale moves from exposition to padding.
To its credit, the build-up to the climax is unrelenting. Even though it’s pretty clear to the reader that what’s going to happen isn’t good, Herbert keeps piling things on, just to make sure, until the ending. And the last part of the book was a real page turner, even when you thought you know where it was going.
Some readers will draw comfort from the fact that you get here pretty much what the reader expects. It’s done well enough and with enough skill to keep those pages turning. However, there will be others that will feel disappointed that there’s nothing here they’ve not read previously.
A book of conflicting results ultimately, then. The book delivers what is expected: it’s a solidly entertaining novel, logically written through to a satisfactory conclusion. But, for me, that’s all it does. The ending was pretty much what was expected, and fairly easy to work out from the beginning. Many will enjoy this combination of all the elements that make a haunted house tale, but I was disappointed that it was so obvious. There are others out there that are as good, if not better – I think I would recommend Shirley Jackson, Richard Matheson and Stephen King before this one, as they leave more to remember afterwards.
The Secret of Crickley Hall passes the time, but disappoints at the end.
The book has been made into a BBC serial, due for transmission later this year.
This is the most pervasive book ever and I only finished it because I kept expecting it to get better after someone recommended it to me and rated it five stars.