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The Secret of Cold Hill

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It's not scary in the slightest. It's about as terrifying as Thomas the Tank Engine, and to be frank, he creates main protagonists so appallingly middle-class that you sort of wish the ghosts would hurry up and kill them. And suddenly, strange things start happening in Jason and Emily’s house, and it feels like they’re not alone. Then they discover that no one has ever lived beyond the age of 40 in Cold Hill I am a big fan of Peter James novels and especially enjoy the Roy Grace series but he does write exceptionally good ghost stories.

By my own admission I am not a prolific reader of this genre and feel far more at home with the psychological thriller but such is Peter James writing that I always entertained by his novels. This seems like a negative review, but it's not entirely. I did enjoy this book. Peter James is a great writer and this book is just as well written. It's easy to read and it is enjoyable. The ghosty bits are suitably chilling. I think I was just a little disappointed, and I expected it to be different. I don't really understand the author's motivation to write this. Cold Hill House has been razed to the ground by fire, replaced with a development of ultra-modern homes. Gone with the flames are the violent memories of the house’s history, and a new era has begun.I felt a tad cynical about her response – but at the same time, I was now feeling deeply uncomfortable in what should have been the sanctuary of my own home. But there was a vicar I knew who I thought would be able to help, and with whom I had become good friends. The characters that populate The Secret of Cold Hill are compelling. Readers will most probably find the lead couple, Jason and Emily, very agreeable and relatable. I genuinely wanted this couple to conquer the feat of Cold Hill Park! On the other hand, I had plenty of contempt for the other couple of the tale, the Penze-Weedell’s. However, I think we have all had cringe worthy neighbours in our lives at some point in time that we wish to avoid at all costs! James utilises a good dose of humour to this couple, which offsets the darkness of this spine tingling tale.

A few days later, a medium who had helped me a lot during my writing of Possession came to the house, and I took her into the atrium, and left her on her own, as she had requested.

But it’s not long before both couples begin to realize they are not alone in their new homes. For Cold Hill House may be gone, but none of the previous inhabitants have ever really left . . .

I got this as one of a pair for Christmas with The House on Cold Hill. I thought that was pretty dreadful, but I thought I'd give this one a go to see if it improved. I did like the fact that it seemed very similar at first, because I was expecting it to go off in a different direction, like these guys would do something to break the chain. Again, it was a bit different because there are different ghosts featured than were in the first book, but that really didn't change things much. Nothing amazing happens that didn't happen already in the first book. This is the 2nd book in the 'House on Cold Hill' series but can easily be read as a standalone but I would definitely recommend reading the other book as well. This is the second book in the series, but I didn't feel I was missing anything by not having read the first book before I read this one. I asked her if there was anything I could do about this, and she told me that the apparition was of a deeply disturbed former resident of the house, and that it needed a clergyman to deal with it.

About this book

Peter James, author of the Det. Roy Grace police procedural series, has turned his deft hand to a new genre with this series, with mixed results. The story is very readable, because James is so skilled at writing narrative and dialogue. But the plot felt repetitive, consisting of a series of odd things happening, Jason and Emily talking themselves into believing that nothing strange is happening, and then more odd things happening. I did enjoy how James resolved the storyline. Things start smoothly but both couples sense a feeling of others in their new homes. This only gets worse when one of the locals points out that nobody has ever survived beyond forty in Cold Hill House and no one has ever truly left.

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