Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #89312 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 338 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Set in present-day England, Pinborough's gripping tale of supernatural suspense focuses on four childhood friends, Gina, Rob, Jason and Carole-Anne, whose innocence vanished one tortuous summer after a series of bizarre and violent incidents at Syracousse, the beautiful estate house belonging to Gina's parents. Since the day Gina's mother murdered her father, Syracousse has stood empty. A quarter-century later, without warning, more strange violence afflicts the four. After Carole-Anne's mysterious suicide, Rob, Jason and Gina—reunited almost as strangers—link the recent tragedies to Syracousse, where they return for a gruesome finale. Particularly adept at writing from the male perspective (the scenes involving Rob and Jason tend to be more emotionally convincing than the ones with Gina and Carole-Ann), Pinborough (The Hidden) deftly handles the multiple subplots. While some readers may feel she overdoes the foreshadowing in the book's many flashbacks, fans of Bentley Little, Richard Laymon and Dean Koontz will be pleased.
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Customer Reviews

When your house loves you back...
This may well be the first female horror writer that I have ever read - I don't consider Anne Rice to be horror, more gothic romance, but none-the-less, I was curious to see how a fellow female would approach the genera.

First of all, she is a British writer, but seems to be very Americanized... if random words like "quid" didn't suddenly pop up I would have easily imagined this being an American tale. The lead character is a writer who has lived his life in excess and suddenly begins having terrible nightmares about his childhood. Realizing that he needs to come to terms with something terrible that has happened he leaves his exciting drug frenzied life in London to return to his small hometown in hopes of conquering his mental demons. Much of the story is told in flashback, to when Rob (the writer), Jason and Carrie-Anne were children. They met Gina, a well to do young lady that seemed to have "special" powers. Though her powers seemed benign at first, suddenly they take a much darker turn. When Rob returns to the small town he discovers that terrible things have been happening up at "Syracousse" - Gina's old house. The three friends had not spoken since their childhood, and suddenly they discover that they may have been wrong about Gina's powers and what they thought had happened in their childhood.

The plot in this book is familiar, most haunted house tales all share similar traits. What was so intriguing about this book was the understated writing style. Though I never found myself "scared" or "covered in goose-bumps" I was truly intrigued with what was going on. I had a hard time putting the book down because it was interesting... the characters were fairly 3D and you find yourself waiting on the flashbacks to come so that you can find out more about what happened to them when they were children. I also loved that her horror was so low key, more brooding and dark than "in your face" which seems to be a rare occurrence. I will be picking up more titles by this author in the near future. She makes a refreshing read after plowing through several of the more gory authors.

Captivating...
Do not, I repeat, not go home again. It isn't pretty and it never turns out the way you hope it will. Pinborough shows us yet another example of this in a swirl of clichés: an author protagonist, returning home, supernatural powers [that are just accepted and never really questioned], friends reuniting to fight their childhood demons, and [of course] a haunted house. At first glance this is overused material, but much like the history of any old house, there are layers, secrets and intrigue underneath that old wallpaper and the clichés simply hold the story, rather than become the story.

The characters are childhood friends torn apart by the addition and actions of a new friend, reuniting to deal with demons from the past that threaten the future. Wait, don't make that face quite yet. Again, formulaic, but it's the way they're painted that makes all the difference. Pinborough's style takes a big chunk of the credit here, as the characters are a beautifully orchestrated balance of past and present, faults and virtues. You genuinely care about them, even the arrogant.

The atmosphere and pace work hand in hand with the story. A small town setting is a very casual picture to paint for most readers, and the subtly with which she does so is flawless. Keeping the action going at just the right speed is partially style and partially storyline itself; giving you enough clues to move you forward, but not quite enough to figure it all out too soon. And the end was amazing! Using my own first page/last page rule* I can safely say I'll be reading her next book...

A captivating read that borders on beach book but requires you pay attention if you want to figure it out early. Rating is a 3½ [Amazon doesn't have 3 1/2 so we'll round to 4] - grab it or just join Leisure's book club and order it.

*First page/last page rule - the first page gets me to read this book, the last to read your next book.

A well-paced tale of the supernatural
I had never heard of Sarah Pinborough until her books started popping up as recommended reads for me. Well, I checked two of her books out, 'The Reckoning", and "The Taken", and I am now a fan. In "The Reckoning", the author takes a familiar premise of a haunted house and turns it into a unique tale, peopled by complex characters and hidden secrets in the past that slowly unfold to reveal the truth.

The story begins with a writer, Rob, who has been suffering from the excesses of his high-living lifestyle and who feels suddenly compelled to return to his old hometown. He has been having some horrific nightmares that have to do with a sinister incident that took place decades ago when he was 12. Well, Rob returns to Streatford and finds that the past has indeed returned to haunt him and his childhood friends - Carole Anne, Gina and Jason.

The four friends had spent a strange summer when they were about 12 - all focussed on Gina's childhood home, Syracousse. Gina has some strange powers that keep the other three friends captivated but these powers turn out to be very dark indeed. When an unspeakable tragedy befalls Gina's family, the friendship unravels and all four go their separate ways. Decades later, they 'reunite' - well, one friend has already fallen victim to the sinister forces swirling about Syracousse, and the other three need to figure out what exactly is happening before it claims them next.

The plot is well-woven - the characters have sufficient depth, and the suspense is gradually built-up, this is not a run-of-the mill, predictable horror story but a tale of insidious evil that slowly unfolds to reveal its secrets.

All in all, I was riveted from beginning to end and would highly recommend this author to fans of atmospheric horror stories.