Review of 'The Haunting of Henry Twist'

The Haunting of Henry Twist by Rebecca F. John

haunting.jpg It is 1926 in London and Henry's Twist heavily pregnant wife dies though the child survives. Henry is devastated and takes the child home concerned she will be taken from him. He soon finds he is being watched by a mysterious man. Confronted he strikes up an immediate friendship with the man, Jack, which turns into something more serious as he sees so much of his wife in this mysterious stranger.

A rather slow-paced melodramatic novel where not a lot happens. Henry never seems to really stop moping about his condition and seems to be incapable of making any decisions. After the first 100 pages reading of his angst it gets a bit grating but it never really stops…The social rejection that would have been experienced by a gay couple in 1926 is largely glossed over which I think is unfortunate. The mysterious Jack remains pretty much completely mysterious throughout and is, by far, the most interesting character short of their wealthy though ageing friend Monty who throws parties for “pretty young things” yet seems to be unaware he is not one of them and is being taken advantage of.

All in all, quite unsatisfying though, at the end, fairly readable though not really an emotional and rich tour-de-force one might expect given the byline on the cover…Not so much a mystery, more like an anticlimax (no supernatural stuff going on here).

Rating: “A bit better than average”

Review Date: 2018-03-03


Genre: General Fiction

Publisher: Serpent's Tale

Publication Date: 2017

ISBN: 9781781257142