Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver

Wake's End, home of the Stearne family, sits in a remote part of the fens, cut off from the world by the water and reed beds; even in the '60s 'progress' in the shape of draining the fen has not reached here. The last of the family, Maud, lives there quietly, surrounded by her memories of an horrific crime, for which her father, Edmund, was imprisoned. For fifty years, the events at Wake's End have been forgotten but now some of Edmund Stearne's paintings have come to light - strange disturbing images he worked on while an inmate at Broadmoor - and the press have begun to snoop around, putting their own lurid interpretation on events, and wanting to know more. Maud at last is forced to talk about her long ago childhood, and the discovery of the Wakenhyrst Doom painting which sparked her father's monomania.

This is one of those books which start at the end - so you're always aware that something deeply disturbing happened many years ago - and then travels back to the lead up to that incident. Of course, this leads the reader to try to guess how all the pieces fit together, but there are unexpected twists there to surprise.


Although it has a lot of the trappings of a horror story, it's more the story of one man's descent into madness and obsession, helped on his way by his odd religious beliefs, fixation on the 'devil' painting uncovered at the local church, and guilt over on incident from his childhood.

Maybe it's not as terrifying as the publisher's blurb might lead you to believe but it's still a chills-up-the-spine read, filled with that sense of creeping horror that Paver did so well in Dark Matter  - this time with a gothic twist which no doubt helps the ominous atmosphere and build up of tension. Good creepy stuff!

Maryom's review - 4 stars 
Publisher - Head Of Zeus
Genre - gothic horror

Thin Air by Michelle Paver

review by Maryom

In 1935, a five-man British expedition sets off to the Himalayas to climb Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world and considered by many mountaineers to be more treacherous than even Everest. Previous attempts to reach the summit have been plagued by disaster and death, particularly a British expedition of nearly thirty years before during which five men died but the leader, Lyell returned home to glory for his efforts. 

Stephen Pearce has only been asked along at the last minute by his elder brother, Kits, to fill the place of team doctor, and he isn't as experienced a mountaineer as the other climbers. He's eager and willing though, especially in the hope of proving himself capable in Kits' eyes, and wanting to escape various personal complications back in London. A chance meeting with Charles Tennant, last surviving member of the ill-fated Lyell Expedition,, leads Stephen to believe that strange things occurred which were never revealed in the 'official' publications about the trip ...and the scene is set for a harrowing climb. He is almost immediately on edge, believing their party is being watched, and as they begin the real ascent, and altitude sickness starts to kick in, his fears grow ...

Thin Air is a combination of adventure and ghost story, full of period detail - from the attitude of the British team towards their 'inferior' sherpas to the unappetising pemmican suppers eaten on the mountain -  and after a slow start, setting up the background with dark hints of what occurred on previous expeditions, and the long-held rivalry between the two brothers, turns into something terrifying in so many ways;

 - the sheer height and mountaineering dangers for starters. The precipitous drops, crevasses in the glacier ice, the narrow camping places where I felt they could roll over in their sleep and fall hundreds if not thousands of feet, cornices where the snow builds up a 'shelf' ready to collapse under too much weight; the physical dangers are very real and well captured.

 -  Cedric the dog - why let a dog go along? Ok it turned out the dog was based on a real life canine companion who followed an expedition up to 24, 000 ft (!) but authors are so often happy to kill off an animal while saving humans that a lot of the time I was petrified for him.

 - Oh, and then there's a ghostly, malevolent presence on the mountain. Paver builds up to its appearance gradually, as first Stephen tries to dismiss it as his imagination running wild or altitude sickness disturbing his senses but gradually comes to believe that someone or something is stalking their group, and, even if the other men can't see it, Cedric the dog knows there's something out there - and he's terrified when it approaches.

If you've read Michelle Paver's previous ghost story Dark Matter, you'll know how well she can build a creepy, unsettling atmosphere - and she's done it again here, in a very different environment. I for one couldn't put the story down but needed to read on to the final resolution before trying to sleep!


Maryom's review - 4 stars 
Publisher - Orion Books
Genre - adult fiction ghosts mountaineering 

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver

A chilling, spine-tingling read.
review by Maryom

In the summer of 1937 a British expedition heads north to set up their base at Gruhuken, a remote, uninhabited bay on Spitsbergen where they intend to spend the winter gathering meteorological information. Jack Miller, the only non public school boy, joins them as wireless operator. The original team of 5 is swiftly reduced by fate and as winter sets in the expedition is down to 3.

Arriving at Gruhuken, they find not the pristine arctic wilderness they'd expected but a place scattered with the remains of trappers huts and mining operations. The captain of the ship transporting them there, warns them of the tricks that total darkness plays on the mind, of madness overtaking those that try overwintering in the Arctic and hints that Gruhuken is setting to even more disturbing happenings. All starts well, perfect weather, a rather 'boy's own' adventure but as days shorten to nothing, stranger things begin to happen....

The book is told through the medium of Jack's diary and the reader feels the mounting fear and tension with him. With his permanent chip on the shoulder about class, he doesn't make an attractive hero, though it's his determination to be seen as equal to the other members of the expedition that leaves Jack exposed to the worst of the endless night, alone..

This is wonderful, chilling, spine tingling read, especially for anyone like myself who has problems with total, beyond street-lighting, can't see the hand in front of your face, darkness. The author captures both the unsoiled beauty of the Arctic and the growing menace in Jack's mind. I do wonder, though, whether there would have been more surprise if the book's cover hadn't stated 'a ghost story' - I was rather expecting a ghost to appear sooner or later.

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Orion Books
Genre - Adult Fiction - Thriller


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