Title: This House is Haunted
Author: John Boyne
Genre: Horror, Supernatural Horror
Rating: 3 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
1867. Eliza Caine arrives in Norfolk to take up her position as governess at Gaudlin Hall on a dark and chilling night. As she makes her way across the station platform, a pair of invisible hands push her from behind into the path of an approaching train. She is only saved by the vigilance of a passing doctor.
When she finally arrives, shaken, at the hall she is greeted by the two children in her care, Isabella and Eustace. There are no parents, no adults at all, and no one to represent her mysterious employer. The children offer no explanation. Later that night in her room, a second terrifying experience further reinforces the sense that something is very wrong.
From the moment she rises the following morning, her every step seems dogged by a malign presence which lives within Gaudlin’s walls. Eliza realises that if she and the children are to survive its violent attentions, she must first uncover the hall’s long-buried secrets and confront the demons of its past.
What I liked most about This House is Haunted, is how it combines elements from a lot of classics from The Turn of The Screw to Rebecca, and mixes them in a new, original book that is reminiscent of old gothic horror reads but has an unique element added. The story is gothic horror, my favorite genre, but unfortunately it doesn’t stir away enough from the well-known elements to turn into something completely unique and original.
After her father’s dead, Eliza Caine moves to Norfolk to become a governess at Gaudlin Hall. She finds no parents, but just a young boy and girl in the large mansion, Isabella and Eustace. While she finds it strange, she suspects to meet the parents in the morning. At night, a strange occurence terrifies her, but she’s determined not to be scared off by it. However, when by morning there’s no sign of any parents, she decides to dig deeper into the mystery and find out what’s going on.
Her quest for the truth leads her to the revelation that several governesses have died before her in freak accident. When strange things happen all around her, and her life gets threatened, Eliza must make a choice: stay and get to the bottom of the mystery, even if it means she may end up dead, or flee back to London.
So we got a bunch of known tropes: the hidden presence in the house, the madwoman, the governess, the scary children, the large mansion, ghosts, a town refusing to speak about a town secret, dreary atmosphere.
The lack of original elements bothered me a bit, and brought the rating down for me. I wanted something original, not just a blatant rip-off of the old classics. Not to saying this is just a rip-off – it has a great premise, the writing is excellent, and the children were deliciously scary – but it felt too much like something I’d already read to be truly intriguing. In that context it reminded me of The Secrets of Crickley Hall by James Herbert, except that the latter had a lot more original elements woven in, which made it more entertaining for me.
A great read if you’re a fan of ghost stories, like I am.
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