Twists and turns

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I really like F G Cottam's books. This is one of his earliest that I had not heard before. Like his others, there is plenty of suspense and a story line that twists and turns so much so that I did have to rewind a couple of times to fully understand what was going on. But I do love the way F G Cottam writes and the fact that although they are "horror" stories, there are no vampires or zombies! Bit of a flat ending to this one. And David Rintoul is a far better narrator than Peter Wickham I am afraid.

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2 people found this helpful

loved it like all the other books from this author

well worth listening to, a great story line and very well read. Thank you

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Disappointing

I'm a fan of F.G. Cottam and I've been going through his back catalogue. This is obviously an early work and the first of his novels that I have not liked. Since this novel's publication, Cottam has learned how to edit his work and simplify his stories. He seems to have wanted to throw everything he could imagine into this story. It suffers from too many stories within the overall narrative and far too much detail and the ending is confusing. Some large sections are flashbacks and others are taken from a decades old diary. In better hands, this could have worked but there is so much padding and detail that I had to keep reminding myself what was happening. Also, there is a very graphic description of debauchery, not surprising giving the subject, but I had expected more subtly from Cottam.

I have one more of Cottam's back catalogue to listen to and I'm looking forward to his future work so I suppose this hasn't put me off Cottam, but I'm going to write this off as a early attempt by an author who developed a more mature style.

Cottam's later novels are read by David Rintoul, who I like and now associate with Cottam's audiobooks. This one is read by Peter Whickham and it took me a while to get over this disappointment.

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3 people found this helpful

sorry but I've lost the will to live

I give up. Way too much on the waffle side of writing. I can't listen any longer. Maybe an abridged version would be better. Shame but I can't be bothered to finish this and I'm not far from the end.

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2 people found this helpful

Totally over rated

I really looked forward to listening this book. The idea sounded great and having read reviews about it I bought it. Unfortunately I was very disappointed.

The author spends far to much time on unnecessary and tedious details and flashbacks which could have been dealt with in paragraphs rather than chapters. He writes a total character assassination of Dennis Wheatley (who always denied any connection to black magic but in this book becomes a more than willing disciple - I'm not a Wheatley fan but he would have pitched a fit and probably sued the socks off this author!) and produced other characters that were 2 dimensional and who, not long into the book, I hoped were going to get killed off.

And the ending? It was pathetic! It was almost as if the author had run out of whatever little steam he had.

The idea for the book is a good one. In the hands of a better writer (or perhaps a more skilled editor) it could have a great book. But it's not. I love horror of all types, new and old, and by a variety of authors but this is one book that will not even make my top 200.

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20 people found this helpful

A few hours of my ligfe I won't get back

I enjoyed this author's later novel "The waiting room". It had flair, originality. This seems intriguing at first, but the pay-off is ghastly. The ending is rushed, it is absolutely ludicrous. After some chapters which were tediously long, to rush the conclusion of the book in such a way by the use of an unexplained and completely arbitrary "deus ex machina" ( I know I'm mixing my metaphors and pleonasms, but you get my drift) is unexcusable. This is not a haunted house book, this is not a good book. This is not a book, as it has no recognizable ending. Give it a wide berth

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2 people found this helpful