The Lingering

by S.J.I. Holliday

[zooloo1983]

I remember when the tour for this book happened last year and I was gutted I did not get on it. I was still in my complete baby blogging stages and missed out, so I waited a few months and decided to get the audiobook version instead. I made the fatal error of listening to this at work, so I got so engrossed I forgot at times I needed to work – but shhh!!! I think also, by doing that and listening in the daytime I was desensitised to some of the scenes that other bloggers had mentioned – saving grace and all that larky. That is not to say that I was not caught out and even in the February sun (Yes it was that long ago since I listened to it!) I still got goosebumps. This is definitely a book review I want to share in #Orentober as part of Danielle (The Reading Closet) and Kelly (From Belgium with Book Love) epic idea!

Rosalind House sounded too good to be true and although it is depicted as a creepy “VERY” creepy old house, I still wanted to go and look around, I wanted to sense the ghosts, read the stories of the house and basically scare myself witless stalking the corridors. Listening to the audiobook, well that was the next best thing as we follow Jack and Ali, looking for a fresh start at the commune. At first, all things seem peaceful, especially with Angela, the friendly resident of Rosalind House, wanting to help Jack and Ali settle in and stay for the duration. However, as the days go by, you discover things are not what they seem between Jack and Ali, let alone the rest of the commune and the village! It is too late by that point as Susi has sucked you into her world, her head, Ali and Angela’s head before you have even realised it. It is a dark place to be at times but it is somewhere I am eager to go back to again.

This is such a gothic and twisty mystery and an enjoyable rollercoaster. You are kept on your toes as the suspense almost becomes palpable especially when you listen to Julia Barrie’s voice, the narration by her was spot on. She got the panic in her voice, she knew when to increase the tension and she knew when to let it all go. The only negative thing about listening to an audiobook (well not negative) but you can’t speed your way through the book, so I did find I was hopping around on one foot trying to speed things up because I needed to know what happened next and it was taking forever! I wanted answers now but I had to wait – increasing that tension!

Any books that are set in a historic house, especially one which is awash with history is a winner for me! I love the idea of haunted houses or converted houses like this one from asylums. It adds to the mystery and the foreboding of dark and spooky, it also adds to the isolation. Isolation because this is meant to be a safe space from the outside world, yet this isolation is not necessarily a safe haven because you never quite know what is lurking in within the walls. If only walls could talk and boy do they!

And we aren’t finished, add in some diary entries from Dr Henry Baldock and the trials that they did on the patients. Somethings that the walls and the house never forget, and as the reader, you are not allowed to forget what happened when this was an asylum. How these patients were treated doesn’t surprise me because it is noted down everywhere what happened back in the day, but when a house doesn’t let you forget…well maybe it’s time to move!

Even though all of this affects us the reader, you have to see how it affects the characters. Ali and Jack, Jack and Ali, a couple who have moved here for a peaceful life, the new start, but will this be the undoing of them both? Does somebody know their secrets? I also love how we get everything only from Ali’s point of view with their relationship, I mean can she truly be trusted, what brought them here? So much bitterness within the couple it does make you wonder if this fresh start will save them or not?

The Lingering is a chilling, unsettling, suspenseful, mysterious of a gothic book. It is one that can easily keep you up all night, maybe read with the lights on, on a sofa, somewhere safe, you know just to be careful.