Michael Butterworth (1924–1986)

A successful Gothic suspense novel, but one which I still have a few quibbles with.
Yes, the last 20 percent did surprise me somewhat, and yes, if you’re in the mood for something eerie and a bit shivery, you’ve come to the right place. So far, so good. But I was never fully on board with Charity, the heroine. She’s a bit too sure of herself for a Gothic novel (in spite of the fact that she occasionally does stupid things). I didn’t feel like she was very accessible to the reader. Her way of describing things was, yes, sometimes deliciously scary, but also weirdly clinical. Like, she doesn’t actually seem to have much emotion. Or if she does, it’s the told-not-shown variety.
And I found Uncle Gervase’s letters really bizarre. He sends her letter after letter telling her about “the Beast of Malmaynes” as if knowing all the gritty details is going to help, but instead of sounding like a concerned family member, it just comes across as ghoulish and gossipy.
In spite of this, it wasn’t a bad book, and it did get the atmosphere right.… (altro)