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A review by lk222
The Whispering House by Elizabeth Brooks
3.0
My first book of the new year was...just decent. The Whispering House by Elizabeth Brooks is a gothic “mystery” that takes place in a mildly unsettling estate known as Byrne Hall. After discovering a portrait of her dead sister inside the estate, Freya Lyell returns to Byrne Hall to gather any clues she can about her sister’s suicide five years ago. She meets Cory and Diana Byrne, the handsome son and ill mother isolated inside their massive and barren home. They accept Freya’s arrival without any of the standard questions one might ask when someone, let alone a stranger, arrives at/in one’s home, and suddenly Freya’s abandoned her life, such as it is, for a world inside Byrne Hall’s creaky walls. The manse does whisper, but nothing more than ambience comes of it. Before long, Freya’s found herself in an obsessive relationship with Cory, a mediocre painter who casts Freya as his muse. As the story progresses, pieces of the Byrnes’ history and Freya’s sister’s disappearance are revealed, which, I admit, keep the pages turning until the grisly end.
The nostalgia of a once-grand manse fallen into disrepair in the hands of an odd mother-son duo is appealing, and strung me along well, turning this nearly 400 page book into a quick read. However, the “mystery” reveals itself rather early on and without any real surprises or exciting spins on the genre. Cory felt a bit cliche, always asking to draw Freya like some parody of Jack and Rose aboard the Titanic. However, what really bugged me was Freya’s decision-making. I won’t spoil the plot, but dear lord, she makes some horrible choices, especially toward the end. Decisions that aren’t just questionable, they’re plain dumb. However, if you’re looking for a spooky tale in an ambiguously haunted British estate that’s beautiful on the outside and rotten on the inside, that has the je-ne-sais-quoi of a Gothic read but no actual scary bits, this might be the book for you. It’s well-written, just not my perfect cup of tea.
The nostalgia of a once-grand manse fallen into disrepair in the hands of an odd mother-son duo is appealing, and strung me along well, turning this nearly 400 page book into a quick read. However, the “mystery” reveals itself rather early on and without any real surprises or exciting spins on the genre. Cory felt a bit cliche, always asking to draw Freya like some parody of Jack and Rose aboard the Titanic. However, what really bugged me was Freya’s decision-making. I won’t spoil the plot, but dear lord, she makes some horrible choices, especially toward the end. Decisions that aren’t just questionable, they’re plain dumb. However, if you’re looking for a spooky tale in an ambiguously haunted British estate that’s beautiful on the outside and rotten on the inside, that has the je-ne-sais-quoi of a Gothic read but no actual scary bits, this might be the book for you. It’s well-written, just not my perfect cup of tea.