The Woman in Black

While it’s less grisly and more succinct than the movie, the last page is a gut punch I had to read twice to make sure it really ended that way. If you’ve seen the movie you may have an inkling but it’s horrific in its own right.

The story begins on Christmas Eve as the family gathers around the Christmas tree to tell ghost stories as it is their tradition. The family tell their scariest until it come time for the Father of this family (Arthur Kipps) to tell one. This he cannot do. He races to his study and decides he will write his story on paper for someone to read after he leaves this world. The narrative begins. This is a great Victorian gothic that has just about everything needed to make it a real chiller. As this is a short novel the pages keep turning. Perhaps this "Woman in Black" is turning them for me! Yikes!

Story idea was good. Told/written badly. I read 200-300 pages aday. It took me a week to read this.

Prefect Fall/Halloween read. A wonderful gothic tale.

Excellent characters, poor writing quality. Not once did I feel a sense of dread, nor did I care for this author's voice. It was a good idea, but it was executed very poorly. With more build and with longer, more drawn out scenes to create a sense of impending doom, this could have been a great story. I have since seen the movie and strongly prefer it to the book, which is very rare for me.

There's something irresistable about a really well-written ghost story - the mysteries of the supernatural that we'd all like to believe while perhaps never wanting to experience in full. And "The Woman in Black" is the classic English ghost story: a creepy, damply atmospheric tale set in the traditional moors complete with the obligatory haunted house. This told in the style of Jane Austen, this is a period piece set in a slightly more contemporary early 20th Century. Arthur Kipps, a London solicitor, is now retired and living is final days in peace and tranquility surrounded by a second family in his country estate. He recounts the harrowing events he experienced as a young man that irrevocably changed his life - a tale so unsettling that only now, near his life's end, is he able to tell it. Decades prior, he is assigned by his employer to visit Crythen Gifford, a remote village in eastern village, to settle the estate of Mrs. Alice Drablow in her even more remote Eel Marsh House - an apparently benign and uninteresting task. But as in all good ghost stories, the terror is meted out gradually, building from veiled warnings to a final climax of bone jarring terror. But setting this apart of the average supernatural tale is an unexpected final twist that will keep this story in your subconscious long after other books have faded. So successful was this book that it was the basis for an extraordinary play running in London for a streak that has broken all record, as well as a movie of the same name. For all fans of traditional gothic horror, a must read.

Simply one of the most elegant ghost stories ever written, subtle, genteel, and remarkably frightening. Reminds us that the things we can't see, like the proverbial something under the bed, can be far more terrifying than those we can. A must read for ghost story enthusiasts; but not to be read when you are alone in the house in the dark unless you are very brave - or very foolish.

This short novel is a skillful modern imitation of an early 20th century English ghost story. The setting and language are convincing; the atmosphere of the isolated mansion is made suitably creepy without resorting to Hollywood-style exaggeration. On the other hand, the early parts of the story move slowly, and the young male narrator seems very naive. The illustrations, while competently done, lack the dark, threatening quality that one would expect. The cover art, though intriguing, does not seem connected to the story.

In the tradition of M.R. James, Hill's modern classic ghost story of a clueless Victorian lawyer who unwittingly crosses paths with a malevolent spirit suggests much, builds to a suspenseful intensity and then explodes abruptly and terribly. It will haunt you; it has me for years. Highly, highly recommended.

Like The Woman herself, this mysterious short novel will pull you in, unable to look away or forget. Part ghost story, part mystery, Susan Hill is able to catch the ambience of creepiness that will certainly chill you to the bone. And, heaven forbid you have children! You will never let them out of your grasp again! Two thumbs up for a wonderful, unforgetful scare