The Haunting of Henderson Close

by Catherine Cavendish

[zooloo1983]

So it’s 3 minutes to midnight and I have just finished this book. Day before my review day (no judgement) and 3 things need to be stated. Now for family and people who are a bit sensitive, turn away now….I am about to drop the f-bomb!….. Fuck me!!! I am not going to be able to sleep tonight nor am I going to find any coherent words for this review.

Okay, so now everyone is back with me, normal service may resume. I am not even lying when I say this book gave me chills and no it wasn’t from the ice cream I was eating. Pretty much the entirety of the book cold shivers were running through me. For over 200 pages Ms Cavendish has written a story that did not relent at any ANY point! The entity flowing around Henderson Close was strong on every page, even from the beginning. I still have chills thinking about it.

Hannah’s dream job working as a tour guide around a haunted close does sound pretty awesome. I’ve been around London Dungeons countless times and would love to work there as an actor, but in all honesty, I think it would scare the beejeezus out of me. With memory losses, disappearances, sightings, malevolent spirits, sounds and random acts of cruelty and shocks this book seriously packs a punch and it delivers. A couple of threads in Mairead and Ailsa storylines didn’t completely add up, however, most of the multiple threads were tied up in a rather shocking and unexpected ending.

I loved that we got to go back in time to see the hustle and bustle of Henderson Close and Farquhar Road, and see the derelict and dark present-day versions too. Where the book was semi light at the start, don’t be fooled it was a false sense of security as the rest of the book was dark and creepy as bloody hell. Still got shivers, not sure I can turn the light off yet!

Ms Cavendish writing is absolutely epic, to keep the intensity of the haunting and mystery surrounding Miss Carmichael’s demise going for over 200 pages with no comfort breaks has astounded me. It has blown me away, as some books peter out halfway through and pick up at the end, but The Haunting of Henderson Close didn’t, it was constant. I was about 80 pages in just sitting there thinking how can she keep this up for another 140 pages, as we seemed to be getting answers and to a resolution but nope, it was tomfoolery and she swept me along further into the dark, whispering to me to keep turning the pages, to travel further in, to try and trap me so I could never escape.

Again, Flame Tree Press you have done it! Another amazing book to add to your catalogue and I am excited to read at the beginning of the book that Ms Cavendish is writing another book. This time sun, sea and sand will be the backdrop for my reading not a creepy old house on my own!!!!

If you are like me and enjoy a good scare, seriously this is the book for you, I mean I need a stiff drink but I thoroughly enjoyed being scared as much as I was. It even got to the stage where I had to play music when reading as my imagination started to play tricks on me. I mean I believe in ghosts, and I am adamant I have seen my dads spirit three days after his death, but the feeling of foreboding I had tonight I didn’t want to feel again. This, I have to say, is completely and utterly down to the writing in this book. However, the music did not calm my nerves as I still heard random noises and hairs on the back of my neck still rose. Kudos to you Ms Cavendish, I can safely say you have frightened me but I do look forward to our next outing.