What a fantastic book! The story telling skills of W.C. Ryan are first rate. This novel is exquisitely crafted and winds you up to a fabulously spine chilling crescendo. The reader can visualise the ghosts in the story along with the characters who have this ability and it is all so naturally presented it is far more frightening than a hyped up horror film. This is not the first book by this author that I have had the pleasure to read. He never disappoints me.
Set at the time of WWI, Donovan is summoned by his boss, C, and sent to Blackwater Abbey for the weekend to attend a seance. We are drip fed the “whys and wherefores” extremely slowly and don’t find out the exact reason for his posting until much later. Indeed, apart from being told there is more to Donovan than meets the eye, and that he is a soldier on secondment to the War Office, we don’t know much about him at all. This adds to his appeal. He seems to be an attractive character and maybe something of a spy. Sent with him on this mission is Kate, an intelligent young woman who also works for C. Her parents are attending the seance, to try and make contact with their son who is missing in action, presumed dead. Kate knows the hosts for the weekend, Lord and Lady Highmount, as she used to be engaged to their son, who is also dead. She is reluctant to go and worried about the outcome, as she is gifted with the ability to see supernatural beings, and knows from previous visits that the house is full of ghosts - who are aware of the fact that she can see them.
To add to the tension, the house is located on an island off the Devon coast and the visitors are taken across to it in a small boat. There is a storm brewing and over the course of the first night it worsens in its intensity; with blizzards and gales lashing the house in a fury. Very appropriate for the claustrophobic setting of the novel and our first introduction to the ghostly visitors who have some very revealing things to say. Lord Highmount is involved in weapons development for the war effort and the secrets being kept in the house are not only supernatural ones. Plans for some of his weapons have reached the wrong hands and Donovan’s task is to track down the guilty party. This is not as easy as it seems and he and Kate soon see bodies begin to pile up around them. The climax to the story will leave you breathless and, with no sign of the storm abating, you can only hope that the rescue party will arrive before it is too late.
If you like crime fiction that stays with you long after you have finished the book, then you will most definitely love W.C. Ryan’s latest offering. It is full of sinister action and suspicious characters, while Donovan and Kate are fantastically likeable and work well together, with just the right amount of attraction between them to keep things interesting.
With grateful thanks to the publisher, Zaffre, for sending me a review copy of this book.
Extremely highly recommended.
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