The Stranger House

"The Stranger House" reads as if it had been written by a masculine version of Victoria Holt--a gothic romance full of ghosts, eerie locales, otherworldly coincidences, and people who are so much not what they seem that it is clear at once this novel is, as one of the characters says, to be taken with a bushel of salt.

Reginald Hill has (perhaps deliberately?) overegged the pudding: Viking blacksmiths, Cambridge dons, Tudor spies, Australian orphans, math whizzes, failed priests, Spanish hidalgos, retired policemen, lords of the manor, purposeful ghosts, gloomy hills, thick fogs, punitive bogs, vindictive trees, and many subplots.

The main action concerns the nearly simultaneous arrival in the Cumbrian village of Ilthwaite of the young half-English scion of a Spanish sherry-producing family and the red-headed young daughter of Australian wine producers--she's a math prodigy. He (a former Catholic seminarian) is tracing the activities of an Elizabethan-era priest, and she is tracing the family of her grandmother. Needless to say, these activities turn out to be inextricably interwoven with each other.

Long spates of single-person narrative with abundant detail slow down the plot, and while the historical detail is interesting, and the writing, page to page, is good, this book is best enjoyed as a guilty pleasure--perhaps on a dark and stormy night.

Overall, I liked this book. It had a lot going for it in terms of plot, characters, and unexpected developments. There is a spooky isolated village in the hillside feel to the town, and a nice interplay between ancient, past, and present events. I did think the book would have gone from good to great if the writing had been better. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad, and I did like the book. There were just certain things that could have been touched up by an editor - the overuse of exlamation points and random jokes that were out of place in the narrative, for one thing. Also, some of the situations seemed almost forced - Sam snapping at Mig every second to create 'friction' between them, except that some of her angry remarks make no sense in the context of what is happening. Overall I recommend as light reading.

My decision to purchase and to read this book was based on my experience of reading Reginald Hill's The Woodcutter: an extremely erudite, psychological mystery of the first water, and whilst The Stranger House didn't quite measure up to The Woodcutter, it remains a very well-done and enthralling, page-turning read - especially for those with Gothic sensibilities

If you're reading this review, you probably know all about our two youthful protagonists: Sam, the female Aussie maths Wunderkind, and Miguel or "Mig", scion of a esteemed Spanish viticultural family and lapsed seminarian, so I shan't dwell on them. The other reviewers have done a bang-up job.

For me, the big pluses in reading a Reginald Hill opus are the erudition, the rich vocabulary (Quick! What does "euhemeristically" denote?), the historical depth and the seemingly effortlessly achieved plotting.

The only real minus in this book is that much of this plotting is not so smooth, and comes across as outright contrivance in many parts.

One other caveat for American readers: Though the spelling has been Americanised in this edition, the words themselves - save using "math" for "maths" - have not. In particular, if you do not know that "trick-cyclist" is Brit slang for "psychiatrist", then one particularly important passage in the book will have you scratching your pates.

That's it. A fun and engrossing read for those who fancy their Gothic tea rather strong.

Well, what can I add, except that Hill's colloquialisms, one liners and Australian/British mix of home grown vernacular make the book a joy to read aside from the entertaining plot. There's a gem on every page. A great romp of a plot with interesting places, historical background and wonderful characters.

As a novel, this is probably not one of Hill's best. But I'm astounded that none of the reviewers here talks about the British Child Migrants. I confess I was completely unaware of this sickening act by the British government, having apparently missed the 1999 CBS 60 Minutes broadcast that covered it here in the US.

Obviously this was Hill's primary reason for writing the book, and anyone who reads it should be Googling everything they can find to learn about this appallingly dark - and MODERN - crime against a country's most vulnerable citizens.

LOVE LOVE LOVE this book. With enough intricate twists and turns to make one dizzy, two fabulous main characters and many "interesting" secondary characters; I've read this book four times! The story line(s) are interesting and even educating. It's in my top ten - and I've ready many many books.

My favorite Reginald Hill. Very interesting and engaging young couple who are connected in many ways.