Ebook the secret of crickley hall

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Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading. Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help. Greater Phoenix Digital Library. Search Search Search Browse menu. Sign in. See all. The Secret of Crickley Hall. They need time and space, while they await the news they dread. Gabe has brought his wife, Eve, and daughters, Loren and Cally, down to Devon, to the peaceful seaside village of Hollow Bay.

Perhaps here they can try, as a family, to come to terms with what's happened to them. Crickley Hall is an unusually large house on the outskirts of the village at the bottom of Devil's Cleave, a massive tree-lined gorge — the stuff of local legend.

It's perfect for them, if a bit gloomy. And Chester, their dog, seems really spooked at being away from home. And old houses do make sounds. And it's constantly cold. And even though they shut the cellar door every night, it's always open again in morning. Fiction Horror Suspense Thriller.

Publisher: Pan Macmillan. You ever get those times when you read a book halfway through, and you pretty much hate it? It angers you so much, in fact, that you start planning your hilarious rant as you force yourself on through the pages?

And then, towards the end, feeling like you have a valid criticism to make, the author pulls a fast one and the story you hated finally starts falling into place?

Something very much the same happened to me with Kathryn Stockett's The Help. I thought that was terrible for the first pages. But then towards the end I found myself grateful I was reading it in private. If I had recited the damned book in class I would have blubbered like a little girl. Exageration, there And Crickley Hall does the same bloody thing!! After pages of bullshit. Obvious paranormal activity, and there's Mr Fucking Cynic writing it off as reflections in the window frame.

Look at that ghost walking across the upstairs landing!! Sweet mercy of Christ , my heart is on the brink!! Fucking contradicting me.

There's a spectral demon about to wallop you with its punishment stick!! Gee, are you okay, man? Loren and Cally. Just as bored as Aileene and I were. But as I was saying, this book did come around in the end. But things finally got a little more intense. Things in the house started happening that were not just dismissed as being mice in the roof.

I have to say that I was mostly disappointed with the lack of gratuitous sex and violence in this book. There was no sex in this book, so shit, there goes that. Oh, I just remembered, there was some sex And yeah, the violence was surprisingly toned down as well.

Until the end, that is. Near the end, things get pretty fucked, and though I felt like a horrible person, I was so happily disturbed when Herbert starting adding his trademark sprinkle of sadism to the mix. Circumcisions … you gotta love 'em. This book was really pretty bad for the first half.

It gave me the shits, and I also had to take the blame for choosing this book for my first buddy read with Aileene. You made me pay for this shit, now we're gonna watch it.

I just want to look you in the eye, and tell you I was unhappy with your product. Customers are always saying shit like that to me at work. So in closing, I guess I wanted and could have said more.

I threw a 5kg weight into the damn on my property this afternoon. I made the affirmation that the demon in my brain was reconfigured into that object, and then I threw it into the dam. I closed my eyes and deeply inhaled. I entered the realm of normality again. Except writing this review is already bringing that demon back. Well, what can I say, I bought this book on the 20th, and have just finished it today, 3 days later, despite the books pages.

Where do I start? Just please, if you enjoy an amazing plot, twists that left me literally gasping, And I'm not one to over react biting my nails, and on the verge of tears at points, then pick up The Secret of Crickely Hall.

Other reviews deterred me from reading this, and I picked it up with half heartedness, and the intention of dropping it after the first 80 pages Well, what can I say, I bought this book on the 20th, and have just finished it today, 3 days later, despite the books pages.

Other reviews deterred me from reading this, and I picked it up with half heartedness, and the intention of dropping it after the first 80 pages. Another reviewer had said, i was bored rigid by the first 80 pages. Well after my first sitting, I had read the first odd pages, and the only reason I stopped was it was approaching 2 am! The characters are great and more to the point, believable. The twists, and ending especially, are nail biting and shocking. I was left aghast and couldn't turn the pages fast enough to find out what was happening next!

Contrary to other reviews on here, this book is definitely a well thought and planned piece, and it is reflected in the nerve shredding climatic ending, which Herbert portrays masterfully through his glorious use of language. But the plot is what makes this book. I have read many horror novels, all of which run out of things to say, and end up repeating themselves, notably Cell by S.

King , whereas this book doesn't. We find things out in perfect timing, and as the story unfolds the book just gets better and better and better.

The use of different monologues from the different characters, view spoiler [notably in chapter 71 : caught hide spoiler ] gives good perspectives of what happened in Crickely Hall all them years ago without it turning into a long wall of text being blurted from one character. It is a brilliant combination of imagery view spoiler [from Lili hide spoiler ] , and monologue view spoiler [from Maurice hide spoiler ] , which paints a detailed vivid picture in the readers mind.

Please, if you enjoy reading horror books, ignore the other reviews from people who have given up on it before it really picks up. Nov 01, Phil rated it liked it Shelves: horror. Pretty tame outing for Herbert to be sure.

Basically, this is something of a 'classic' haunted house story, albeit it reads almost like a mystery. The Caleigh family moves into Crickley Hall, an old manor house near a small harbor town.

Gabe the father has some local work to do he is an engineer and hopes the temporary move will help him and especially his wife, for it is almost a year since their son Cam has gone missing. Eve, the wife, fell asleep at a park in London, and when she awoke Ca Pretty tame outing for Herbert to be sure.

Eve, the wife, fell asleep at a park in London, and when she awoke Cam was gone without a trace. Still blaming herself, she has been in mourning ever since. Their two remaining children-- girls age 12 and move with them to Crickley Hall-- a stark, forbidding house to be sure.

It turns out no one stays in Crickley Hall long, as they are informed by the old gardener who kinda comes with the place.

Obviously, something terrible happened at Crickley Hall back in It seems the house, being vacant at the time, was hastily turned into a school for some orphans from London seeking to escape the blitz. In there was a terrible flood which killed dozens of people and the orphans as well, at least that is the story that is commonly told. As the story unfolds, however, we learn more about the orphans and their two guardians, one of which died the night of the flood and the other was found the next day at a train station, but she would not speak ever again and is now in a resting home.

So, what happened at Crickley Hall, what is the secret? Well, it takes Herbert about pages for that to come out This was definitely a slow burn type of novel, and while punctuated with some trills, is pretty slow going. A good editor probably could have lopped off a few hundred pages or so with good effect as Herbert repeats several things over and over.

He did a good job with character development perhaps too good and we really feel we know the Caleighs by the end. The entire story takes place in just one week. I know this was toward the end of his writing career, but it still lacks the punch of his earlier work.

How the hell is this book not more well known, especially over here in America?! However, as I started it on Audible, I began to remember past ghost stories I had read and how ghost stories have never really grabbed me, no matter how interesting the premise. Well, let me tell you This book is so damn good! From the main story arc, to character backstories and arcs, to the history of Crickley Hall, this story was so well told.

Everything just seemed to fall into place and come together the way it should to form a perfectly told ghost story. Everything was perfectly placed where it needed to be. One part that needs an emphasis of praise is the backstory of Crickley Hall.

I mentioned it briefly above, but I want to emphasize how brilliantly thought out and executed that imperative part of the story was. The history and events of a haunted house can make or break any ghost story, and this one hit a home run! I cannot sing enough praise of this book. So, please, I recommend that you do, sooner than later! May 22, Delisa rated it did not like it Shelves: fiction , mystery-suspense , painful-reading. I'll admit to skimming through parts of this book.

Mostly, the parts that repeated, and repeated First one person tells the story, then another, then we get a flashback memory of the story, then a summary and then yet another person tells the same story again.

No mystery here, no scares or creepy scenes though plenty were meant to be - the most disturbing parts aside from the poorly executed and, yes, repetitious, "Americanisms" were the d I'll admit to skimming through parts of this book. No mystery here, no scares or creepy scenes though plenty were meant to be - the most disturbing parts aside from the poorly executed and, yes, repetitious, "Americanisms" were the descriptions of child murder, which were a bit too graphic for the story.

I finished this because it was a quick read. If I had to spend more than one sitting reading it, I would never have finished. Oct 18, Bettie rated it it was amazing Shelves: published , boo-scary , autumn This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.

To view it, click here. View all 20 comments. Sep 28, Alexander Smith rated it did not like it. I think the best-kept secret of Crickley Hall is the fact that absolutely nothing exciting happens there… Which is a shame, because I am a huge James Herbert fan, and have just finished reading Others review to come , which was absolutely brilliant.

But this book felt like a shade of his other ghost stories, something that looks at first glance like it should be perfectly terrifying, but which soon grows stale and familiar and dull. This book is a dressing gown. And where better to forget all about death? And from Herbert too. There are elements of his other, and much better, novels here: Ghosts of Sleath and Haunted to name just two. I held out because I thought there would be an amazing twist at the end, something to make the journey worthwhile, but the climax well, the conclusion, it was anything but climactic is the same old tired fare.

You can see it coming from so far away that I actually felt angry when we got there. So much of the story is just that — a story — told by one of the characters. And not particularly well told at that. Reading this was a little bit like listening to an elderly relative drunk on sherry trying to recount a book he read half a century ago.

It was excruciatingly bad. Okay, I should add a disclaimer before finishing this review. I was reading this book on my phone, on a ten-hour train journey back from Scotland, so I was probably in a foul mood anyway. But I read countless books on my phone on long journeys, and none have infuriated me as much as this one. This, sadly, is not one of them. Read something else by him, because The Secret of Crickley Hall should be left a shameful secret that as few people as possible come to discover.

May 07, Philip Jackson rated it it was ok. This novel ticks all the traditional ghost story boxes - a creepy old house in the middle of nowhere, cut off from the mainland by a river, doors that won't stay closed, inexplicable pools of water in the the hall, mysterious bangs in the middle of the night, and a decades old mystery which is the cause of the hauntings. It should work, but I'm afraid I found this book dreadfully verbose. Herbert isn't content to tell you something once.

The same information is provided over and over again which This novel ticks all the traditional ghost story boxes - a creepy old house in the middle of nowhere, cut off from the mainland by a river, doors that won't stay closed, inexplicable pools of water in the the hall, mysterious bangs in the middle of the night, and a decades old mystery which is the cause of the hauntings.

The same information is provided over and over again which made me, the reader, feel very patronized. I don't need phonetic spellings of dialogue spoken in a Devonshire accent.

This book is in serious need of a good editor. If it was halved, it would be so much more effective. As others have pointed out, the reason for the hauntings at Crickley Hall is pretty hard to stomach, and I found some of the detail unnecessarily sadistic.

Hard to recommend I'm afraid. Oct 13, Kathryn Ford rated it it was amazing Shelves: horror. I absolutely loved this book. It is definitely the best haunted house book I've ever read.

The story is so tragic and twisted and sad all at the same time. The mystery and horror aspects were done so well. I loved the character development that took place, especially Eve, Gabe and Lili.

It is hard to believe that such evil people as the Cribbins and Morris Stafford existed--those poor orthans. I was quite upset to find that the author had died in , and this had been the last book he ever wro I absolutely loved this book. The library card you previously added can't be used to complete this action. Please add your card again, or add a different card.

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