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A House of Ghosts
- Narrated by: Jot Davies
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
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Summary
A gripping mystery with a classic feel: And Then There Were None meets The Silent Companions.
Winter 1917. As the First World War enters its most brutal phase, back home in England, everyone is seeking answers to the darkness that has seeped into their lives.
At Blackwater Abbey, on an island off the Devon coast, Lord Highmount has arranged a spiritualist gathering to contact his two sons who were lost in the conflict. But as his guests begin to arrive, it gradually becomes clear that each has something they would rather keep hidden. Then, when a storm descends on the island, the guests will find themselves trapped. Soon one of their number will die.
For Blackwater Abbey is haunted in more ways than one....
An unrelentingly gripping mystery packed with twists and turns, A House of Ghosts is the perfect chilling listen this winter.
Critic reviews
"Almost unbearably creepy and beautifully written." (Liz Nugent, best-selling author of Lying in Wait)
"A splendid tale of wartime skullduggery, featuring both kinds of spooks - perfect fireside reading." (Mick Herron, CWA Gold Dagger Award-winning author of Dead Lions)
"Hugely enjoyable, A House of Ghosts has the bones of a taut thriller wrapped up in the gorgeous romance of its ghostly island setting." (Jane Casey)
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What listeners say about A House of Ghosts
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Shelagh Barrington
- 05-12-21
excellent story
brilliant story with a strong female character !! The narrator was very good ,able to bring the different characters alive with his changes if voice .
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- Marple
- 23-11-18
A Winter Cracker
A great book and listen. I don't usually enjoy books with war as a subject matter but this was so much more and I'm glad I gave it a go. There's wonderful characters, intrigue, suspense, mystery, romance and a bit of supernatural. All this plus it takes place in a house with secret passages that's been cut off from the world by storms, what's not to love. Very atmospheric, well written and narrated. I'm hoping for a second book with Kate and Donovan but it will be tough to follow up this one.
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15 people found this helpful
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- SamantaSienna
- 04-08-19
Agatha Christy-esq murder mystery
Absolutely loved this story.
It’s part ghost story,part murder mystery,part World War One thriller.
The two main characters are quite endearing as are the rest of the characters, a wicked old German woman, some soldiers and some officers, some frivolity and some ptsd all in the best possible British humour and guns ho spirit. I wanted it to go on forever.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys WW1 history, spy novels, Agatha Christy fans or anyone who has never read a spy novel or a murder mystery or a good old ghost story but wants to try them out.
I really enjoyed both listening to this and reading it. I like the narrator doing all the different voices. Some of which made me giggle!
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4 people found this helpful
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- A Gothic Writer's reading nook
- 18-01-21
Good story, a little deceiving...
I listened to the audiobook edition.
Although set in a house very much full of ghosts, this is not the ghosts story I was hoping for. Set in 1917 it's more a story of spies and espionage.
But the story is a good one, and well-deserving on a 4-star rating...probably made all the better with a great narrator, adept at accents.
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- Prester Jim
- 17-03-21
The Echo Of Your Last Goodbye
Predicated on the simple but inspired idea of blending a WW1 espionage thriller with a Golden Age murder mystery and a classic English Ghost Story, W. C. Ryan's novel adds a bunch of likely characters to a suitably gothic mansion, slaps a squirming bag of motives on the table and lets it all kick off. With a blizzard howling around the walls and a seance underway, the bodies soon ... fail to start piling up.
Here the novel appears to lose confidence in itself, fudging its way through much of the remaining word-count. It seems that having readied all the pieces for play Ryan didn't really know what to do with them next; characters wander about hidden passages, back stories flash past, red herrings flop about and ghosts pop up here and there. It's a shame because the two central characters have chemistry which puts them in good stead for further adventures. Indeed, many of the individual parts are interesting but they just don't come together, the supernatural elements fail to spark against the other intrigues. Much of the problem is that the stylish premise warrants a smart structure to play with the forms of the three genres involved, and that just doesn't happen here; it's all a bit ordinary, decent enough and enjoyable in itself, but ultimately underwhelming. It's also not spooky. The phantom presences are just that; the Blackwater Abbey setting, a locus of paranormal activity, merely another detail.
Narrator Jot Davies does a fabulous job but it's to the book's detriment that he was also the narrator for 'The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle', which took a similarly clever conceit and setting but did something more ambitious with them; 'A House Of Ghosts' suffers by comparison.
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- Lee
- 31-05-23
Loved this
A mystery alongside the supernatural is not my usual listen so I went into this book not really expecting to like it …how wrong I was. Set during the First World War the action takes place on an island within a haunted house. A seance is to be held and the people involved are hoping to reach their lost sons, brothers….there’s espionage, bad weather, charlatans and a wee touch of romance. Bought as a BOGOF and I’m so glad I took a chance.
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- CM
- 14-06-19
Better than I thought
I chose this book in a 2 for 1 sale and wasn’t sure if I would enjoy it .The story was pretty good it certainly held my attention I didn’t even mind the “ghostly”side of the narrative. The narrator was excellent which always helps. It was a bit of a romp really a bit Agatha Christie and a bit spy thriller with some ghosts thrown in. I will probably try the next one in the series if there is one .
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1 person found this helpful
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- Somebodyelse
- 16-06-19
Enjoyable tale
Good narrator, and reasonable story. Not super exciting but a good enough tale which has just enough suspense to keep one listening till the end.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jill Desborough
- 20-05-19
wasn't enthralled
Rather clunky writing at times . The premis seemed good but i Im afraid I lost interest as the book went on. I wanted to enjoy it more but ended up giving up before the end.
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- Mrs L.
- 03-12-21
just that bit too drawn out
Firstly, excellently read by Jot Davies. He did a grand job, not only with the various accents, but with the female characters too. NO waily limpness.
I did enjoy the audiobook as well, but the latter half of the story could, and should, have been tightened up at the editing stage. It went on ... so I've marked it down a star. I got through it rather quickly, though, waiting for the next plot development - so that's a recommendation.
And, there are actual gjosts in it!
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