An Ineffective Usurpation

Thankfully, this is not the straight-up rip-off of Susan Hill's imaginative ghost story that I feared. Martyn Waites borrows the dank, creepy Eel Marsh setting (complete with sound-deadening mist, hidden causeways/quicksand, furniture creaking by itself, and fright-inducing rooms), and incorporates Hill's macabre dark-clad Spirit whose appearance is a harbinger of death. But rather than shamelessly seeking to capitalize, Waites puts together an homage (this is more an "inspired by" story than a "sequel").. The plot is fairly clever, the characters are interesting, and the foreshadowing is used admirably. Waites describes some genuinely spine-tingling ghostly occurences (and deaths) effectively. The writing in general isn't great, unfortunately - lacking believability and flow - and the plot descends pretty rapidly into the ludicrous.. but the short chapters yield staccato plot turns and drive a nice pace. For me, there's also something unsettling about creepy kids and old dolls - and Waites uses them to good effect.

Penelope Rawlins is by far the weakest aspect of this recording. Her diction is fine and she injects an appropriate amount of emotion and mood for the text, but her dialogue is painful (most character voices are legitimately cringeworthy) and her narration is plodding (I increased the playback speed to 1.25X to satisfactory effect).

Altogether, this "decent" novel is imaginative, has some fright elements, and uses the setting and antagonist well - but it descends into the silly pretty quickly. With a better reader and a less cheezy ending, I would award it 6.5/10 stars. Instead, this underwhelming recording of a well-conceived but semi-ludicrous ghost story warrants 3.5 stars out of 10.

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