Lesa's Book Banter: The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

Synopsis from Amazon: Arthur Kipps is an up-and-coming London solicitor who is sent to Crythin Gifford--a faraway town in the windswept salt marshes beyond Nine Lives Causeway--to attend the funeral and settle the affairs of a client, Mrs. Alice Drablow of Eel Marsh House. Mrs. Drablow's house stands at the end of the causeway, wreathed in fog and mystery, but Kipps is unaware of the tragic secrets that lie hidden behind its sheltered windows. The routine business trip he anticipated quickly takes a horrifying turn when he finds himself haunted by a series of mysterious sounds and images...

 

ooOOOoooOO-- what a good old fashioned ghost story! The setting is post-Victorian but the style is reminiscent of old Victorian ghost stories by Dickens, Wilkie Collins, ect. So it is not 'in your face' scary like most contemporary horror novels/movies but rather has an eerie slow atmospheric build of suspense and uneasiness. And it has the obligatory tragically horrifying 'drive the hero mad' clencher of an ending. 

If you have an appreciation for old fashioned ghost stories, give this novella a try.

Oh yes, I absolutely loved the character of Spider, the brave little terrier. So clever of the author to add Spider to the story because there is nothing more unnerving than a dog growling and bristling at something that isn't there or at least at something we humans can't see. 

 I abandoned a trek to behind the house last night after dark (even with a flashlight) to turn off the water because my dogs wouldn't go with me. And they always go with me. Then one dog barked.  I thought of little Spider and scurried back into the house and locked the door.  Bigfoot might have been back there! (I live in the woods and there have been Bigfoot sightings around here.. and mountain lions and bears, oh my!)

One more thing, this book was recently made into a movie starring Daniel Radcliffe. Not sure if I plan to see it or not since the movie is probably way scarier than the book. I may not want to actually see the specter or hear the eerie sounds since I'm easily creeped out. 

Do you like ghost stories?  Will you watch the movie or read the book? If you already have, what did you think?

My Goodreads rating: four stars out of five which means I really liked it and had fun reading it. 

Source: Library