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writingsofpip 's review for:
The House at Phantom Park
by Graham Masterton
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Graham Masterton is brutally evocative in this wonderful book, which had me riveted, scared and intrigued from the outset. My overactive imagination meant I had to give up on reading The House at Phantom Park when alone in the house and/or at night, which is the only reason it took me so long to finish...
The story is set at an abandoned military hospital in the UK, which is due to become a new housing development. Lillian and David, responsible for converting the site, begin to notice strange goings on. Firstly, a surveyor is discovered screaming in agony on one of the floors, terrorised by some unspeakable pain. Secondly, the replacement surveyor also ends up mysteriously affected by the building, and is found catatonic, body stiff as rigor mortis itself, in another part of the building. Then there's the screams that randomly pierce through the silent hospital, the source of which can't be traced.
As the story unravels and pieces begin to slot together, Lillian and David find themselves having to confront the unfathomable.
I've read plenty of horror stories but this one had me gagged because the depiction of the supernatural entities was so vivid. Masterton is brilliant at describing these encounters in such detail that reading is akin to a full sensory assault.
I also loved the pacing - excellent balance between action and exposition, and the kind of book where you're thrown straight into the story rather than slowly eased in. I think that indicated the tone from the outset and made it so that I was struggling to put the book down, though simultaneously struggling to handle the fear, from chapter one.
I've read plenty of horror stories but this one had me gagged because the depiction of the supernatural entities was so vivid. Masterton is brilliant at describing these encounters in such detail that reading is akin to a full sensory assault.
I also loved the pacing - excellent balance between action and exposition, and the kind of book where you're thrown straight into the story rather than slowly eased in. I think that indicated the tone from the outset and made it so that I was struggling to put the book down, though simultaneously struggling to handle the fear, from chapter one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, War, Injury/Injury detail