Susan Hill is the author of The Woman In Black and over 50 other spooky stories in the tradition of MR James and Shirley Jackson. Her latest tells the story of Adam Snow, a dealer in rare books who takes one of those pesky wrong turns without which so few of these stories would ever get told and ends up at a derelict house with an overgrown garden in the middle of anywhere. Something draws him to step out of his car and admire the view... and when he does, he feels a child's hand take his and begin to lead him away. He resists and leaves, but finds himself haunted by the memory of this small ghost over the weeks that follow... and drawn into investigating a dark mystery from his own childhood that may hold the answer.
As you might expect, this is a novel big on atmosphere, a masterclass in milking the utmost tension from a limited number of spooky scenes. Hill builds the mystery slowly while following Adam to a remote French monastery in search of a rare Shakespeare first folio, before he's lured back to the ramshackle garden where his adventure began for a cruel reveal. It's a short tale, expertly told. It's a few weeks since I put it down but vivid images linger.
