The Whispering: A Haunted House Mystery: 4 (A Nell West and Michael Flint Haunted House Story)

I really enjoyed this book. Sarah rayne can make you feel her characters are real. All her books are good

Not bad but, not great either.

love Sarah Rayne`s books they are always great stories with interesting characters,would recommend any of her books to people who enjoy stories about things that go bump in the night

This novel continues as entry #4 in the Nell West series and we catch up with Nell and Michael a little after the events of “The Silence”. In this story, Michael takes the forefront of the strange circumstances with Nell becoming more of the second character and completing the secondary research investigation role. I really enjoyed this shift of perspective and think it brought some freshness to the Nell West stories.This story follows Michael visiting a reclusive old lady Luisa Gilmore at Fosse House in Norfolk. After viewing her collection of papers the ill-fated Palestrina choir, a storm hits and Michael is forced to take refuge and stay the night at Fosse House. Something Luisa is not overly keen on him doing. When he spots a young man lurking on the grounds of the house things begin to take an even stranger turn.The secondary historical storyline for me is more intriguing than the ghostly presence of the modern storyline. There are various historical threads but it mostly follows a young man’s story of the first world war and his discovery of the beautiful Palestrina choir in a Belgium Convent. His desire to free them from the impending forces heading their way. This young man’s story and all the connecting weaving threads that Rayne puts in are just phenomenal and actually quite beautiful.The setting of Fosse House and the remote isolation provides all the dark brooding atmosphere required for any ghost story. Yet, Rayne’s description of the war imprisonment camp for me provided the more intriguing settings and all the goings on there made me really root for the characters involved.This is just a great story. It’s not all dark and ghostly. It’s not all mysterious and menacing. It’s just a really great, enjoyable, intriguing storyline. With lots of odd-shaped puzzle pieces that fit together very well by the time you reach the end.For those that haven’t discovered the Nell West collection, I would suggest these novels are quite similarly written to Phil Rickman’s work; old story exposed, great characters and slightly eerie. Please leave a helpful vote if you think my review/feedback of the item was helpful to you. Alternatively, please contact me if you want me to clarify something in my review.

This is the fourth in the series by Sarah Rayne which feature Michael Flint, and the antiques dealer Nell West. (The author has also published several other ‘ghost’ books which do not feature this pair.) I have read quite a few of the author’s books, and enjoyed them. In this book Michael goes to Fosse House to investigate papers held by the elderly owner Luisa Gilmore about a choir in a remote Belgian convent. There he finds himself seemingly haunted by whispers – could they belong to a young man who was incarcerated in the infamous Holzminden camp during the First World War? And what link does Fosse House have to Holzminden?In this story we get to see more of the character of Michael, who in the previous books has been more of a second fiddle to Nell’s own ‘ghost’ experiences. This was a good opportunity for the author to build Michael’s character, and was good to see. The book is largely seen through the eyes of the writers of old papers and letters, and the haunting links back a century ago remind us how horrific the experience of war was.This is a good book; like all the Flint and West books it is perhaps a little formulaic, but it’s not a bad formula, and the results are enjoyable, readable and engrossing stories.

Academic, Dr Michael Flint, is researching the effect music had on the World War I poets for a forthcoming book. He has arranged to stay close to isolated Fosse House in the Fens to study some papers relating to the short lived Palestrina Choir. The weather and circumstances conspire to ensure that he stays at Fosse House itself with its elderly owner Luisa Gilmour who has a story to tell.Michael starts to wonder whether there is something odd about the house when he first arrives there and it seems someone is trying to get into the house out of the wind and the rain. But is the person real, a figment of his imagination or the ghost of Stephen Gilmour who died during World War I?This is a fascinating and spooky tale which will raise the hairs on the back of your neck. The book also includes a poignant love story which may bring tears to your eyes. I found the mixture of past and present fascinating and compelling reading. I wanted to know what the real story was behind the mysteries of Fosse House. I liked Michael Flint as a character and his partner, antique dealer, Nell West – not to speak of Wilberforce the cat who causes mayhem with his explorations.This is a well written book with believable supernatural elements and an interesting background of World War I and the misery it caused to ordinary people. This is the first book I have read by this author and I shall certainly be reading more of her work as I enjoy the mix of past and present which she handles skilfully.I received a free copy of this book for review purposes.