Ron K. (WhidbeyIslander) - , reviewed on 9/1/2015 + 704 more book reviews

Cold Harbour: This was an "okay" book, certainly not the spine-tingling ghost story it was purported to be. Nothing much happens for pages and pages as a husband and wife relate their brief time in Cold Harbour (less than three hours) and how the atmosphere and their host affected their psyches. I skimmed some at the end as the tale went over territory already explored, but kept at it because some of the author's turns of phrase were clever. One of those unbelievable coincidences near the end mars it, though.

Sinister House: A somewhat old fashioned haunted house tale (written in 1919) narrated by a husband who with his wife has recently moved into what sounds like the 1920's version of Levittown, and befriends a couple who instead have bought a gloomy old house nearby. It's a compact, short novel that doesn't cheat you out of the ghosts you were expecting and I thought it was okay, although not in the same league with classics like The Uninvited (by Dorothy Macardle), The Elementals (Michael McDowell) or Haunting of Hill House (Shirley Jackson.)

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