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zoefruitcake's review against another edition
5.0
Took me a while to get into this but then j was hooked. Love Phil Rickman's work and this does not disappoint
kcoleet's review against another edition
4.0
Takes a long time to set up (I kept thinking, "where are the ghosts?"), but it's an interesting exploration of reality, reality tv, group dynamics, the existence of god/other planes, and the power of place. Another good one by Rickman.
divapitbull's review against another edition
3.0
3 1/2 stars
Night After Night is the 3rd book set in Phil Rickman's Cold Calling world (which can get a little confusing since the first 2 books were originally written under the pen name of Will Kingdom). It could possibly be read as a stand alone - but I wouldn't recommend it. Like all of Rickman's books that I have read, Night After Night is an atmospheric and character driven slow build to a mystery that is both mundane and subtly supernatural. A large part of the enjoyment is steeped in an understanding and appreciation of the characters and their history. I am not giving Night After Night my usual Phil Rickman 5 stars because the book centers around 2 characters - Grayle Underhill and Cindy Mars-Lewis that never really captured my attention. Marcus Bacton plays a small supporting role and his adorable bull terrier with the psychotic eyes - Malcolm - gets honorable mention for sitting at Marcus's feet.
Night after Night seemed to start off even slower than expected. The first half of the story was an introduction to new characters and a lot of (dare I say somewhat tedious) background information to support the possible haunting at Knap Hall. None of the new characters really grabbed me, except for the 1 that I decided I really liked and then several pages later he was really dead. It wasn't until 50% in on the kindle that things started to heat up and get interesting; and we didn't hit the "un-put-down-able" point until the 80% mark.
The essence of the story is that Grayle gets "volunteered" to research for a reality TV show based on a presumably haunted house - so instead of Big Brother - it's Big Other. The producer Leo Defford has a preconceived idea (thanks in part to Grayle's research) as to the nature of the haunting; but that was just scraping the surface. The more information that comes out, the less Defford wants to know. And then naturally the actually live characters have their own drama going on which is superimposed over the supernatural elements.
In summary - a somewhat weak installment in the Cold Calling world - but if there is another I will certainly read it.
Night After Night is the 3rd book set in Phil Rickman's Cold Calling world (which can get a little confusing since the first 2 books were originally written under the pen name of Will Kingdom). It could possibly be read as a stand alone - but I wouldn't recommend it. Like all of Rickman's books that I have read, Night After Night is an atmospheric and character driven slow build to a mystery that is both mundane and subtly supernatural. A large part of the enjoyment is steeped in an understanding and appreciation of the characters and their history. I am not giving Night After Night my usual Phil Rickman 5 stars because the book centers around 2 characters - Grayle Underhill and Cindy Mars-Lewis that never really captured my attention. Marcus Bacton plays a small supporting role and his adorable bull terrier with the psychotic eyes - Malcolm - gets honorable mention for sitting at Marcus's feet.
Night after Night seemed to start off even slower than expected. The first half of the story was an introduction to new characters and a lot of (dare I say somewhat tedious) background information to support the possible haunting at Knap Hall. None of the new characters really grabbed me, except for the 1 that I decided I really liked and then several pages later he was really dead. It wasn't until 50% in on the kindle that things started to heat up and get interesting; and we didn't hit the "un-put-down-able" point until the 80% mark.
The essence of the story is that Grayle gets "volunteered" to research for a reality TV show based on a presumably haunted house - so instead of Big Brother - it's Big Other. The producer Leo Defford has a preconceived idea (thanks in part to Grayle's research) as to the nature of the haunting; but that was just scraping the surface. The more information that comes out, the less Defford wants to know. And then naturally the actually live characters have their own drama going on which is superimposed over the supernatural elements.
In summary - a somewhat weak installment in the Cold Calling world - but if there is another I will certainly read it.
leesapollo's review against another edition
5.0
Took a few chapters to get going and found it hard to understand the dialogue between characters at the start but the confusion got cleared up when you realised who the characters were and what they were about. After that I could not put it down. Some real moments where the hairs in the back of my neck stood up!
jodyladuemcgrath's review against another edition
2.0
Actually a 2 and 1/2 but I rounded down because it didn't deserve a 3. It had some good characters, but with all the POV jumps, it was hard to get to know any of the very well. The book covered a large passage of time, which I think chunks of it could have been removed for more action later. Tons of stuff happened, just none of it was very interesting and nothing was ever solved or fully explained.
I think the book had good potential but never came close to reaching it. It just kept adding more stuff, instead of dealing with the stuff it had going. It was a big let down.
I think the book had good potential but never came close to reaching it. It just kept adding more stuff, instead of dealing with the stuff it had going. It was a big let down.
angelica_jardinerica's review against another edition
1.0
I just don't get Phil Rickman. I don't get his writing style with its dodgy syntax, very often there are no subjects, half finished sentences and clauses which stop in the middle only to be finished in the following sentence. What's that all about? Is it deliberate? If so, what's its function? I don't get the constant exclamations of 'oh my God!' and inane repeated references to a particular item of clothing - in this case it was a woolly hat, in another of his novels (yes I confess, I've read another one of his) it was a duffel coat. But I really don't get which genre his novels are supposed to belong to - are they mystery? Comedy? Drama? In this case there was practically no mystery, I didn't laugh at all and I kept waiting for something to happen. I found the Merrily Watkins novel I read extremely irritating but thought I'd give him another chance. Lesson learnt.
blklagoon's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
300 pages of this book is just tv production foreplay. There’s maybe 20 pages of ghost activity. Lot of character stuff. But intriguing enough to finish.
opusfra's review against another edition
3.0
A worthy attempt that fails ultimately to impress. Phil Rickman excels at describing landscapes and conveying the shroud of mystery that permeates the story, however his dialogue is occasionally distressingly bad and he has an annoying tendency to contruct sentences and paragraphs so poorly that the reader is left wondering exactly what they are supposed to understand. Reading this was a chore at times.