Really enjoyed this book. Scary. Recommended.

This was not the book for me. I listened to it on audible and found it very difficult to pay attention to the story. Then I found that it didn't matter that I wasn't paying attention because very little was happening. The last hour of the book was definitely the best part, but basically I was happy it was short and now over.

I was right... Thought so.  That was creepy, disturbing and strange.  I read it as 80s Horror and could have used it for ghosts and haunted houses.  This is the story of a man working for a psychic research institute who mostly debunks psychics and haunted house stories finding himself in a house that the occupants claim is haunted.  There's a lot of strange stuff happening when he arrives and his usual crutch of alcohol may not work this time.  There's no phone and it's the 80s. Oh man, that was twisted. I'm not sure how some of the events in the plot worked but that was a twisted story that I'm not sure David Ash is going to recover any time soon from.  I did get one of the major twists fairly early on, but still I was creeped out by it all. It did feature 80s treatment of female characters and does linger a bit too much on value based on looks. A product of it's time.

can't think of a star rating I'm happy with right off the top of my head right now. Back when I initially read Haunted (which was probably in the 90s), for some reason I thought it was one of the best haunted house stories I'd ever read; now rereading it, I think that it had its moments, it was fun, but in the end, it's really only the ending that saved this story from being just another ho-hum haunted house story. Before anyone who is a huge James Herbert fan starts mentally pelting me with rotten tomatoes, consider the fact that eons and a growing taste for more sophisticated haunted house stories now stand between this reading and my first time with it. What I did notice most prominently about it this time around, and what I really enjoy about it in the long run is that it's really quite twisted in a hugely-ironic way, and what the author's done here turns his story into something wholly unexpected. plot (if you want it) without spoilers can be found here; if not, just keep reading. The sad thing is that up to the last few pages, and I'm really sorry major Herbert fans, what happens along the way may have been earth shattering in the 80s but well, kind of old hat by now. That's not saying I didn't like it, but it really is a book that depends on its final few pages for the major shock value. On the flip side, it was fun revisiting this novel even if I no longer think it's the greatest haunted house story ever told.

Interesting haunted house tale. First in a series starring paranormal investigator David Ash. The plot had some genuine chills and unexpected turns. Spooky fun!