Book Review: The Woman in Black

One of my favourite parts of being a fan of any genre is when things come together in unexpected ways. Take the book I'm looking at today; the 1983 horror novel The Woman in Black by Susan Hill.

I came to read this book for a number of reasons:

1) My kids love Harry Potter. Daniel Radcliffe stars in the film recent film adaptation.

2) I've spent the last year or so watching my way through the films of Hammer Horror, a prolific horror making company most famous for films in the '50s, '60s, and '70s

3) After nearly 30 years away from making new films, the company started again in 2008, and in 2010 did the remake of Let the Right One In, which I really liked - now they've done the adaption of The Woman in Black

4) In our house we have a standard rule for the kids - if you read the novel - I'll take you to the movie, and as my youngest wanted to see the movie so we got the book.

5) I get to read a book in my favourite Genre, that my kid is interested in, and that has a tie-in movie.

So - to the review; the book is a 160 pages story about an old man remembering an encounter he had with a ghost as a young man.

It freaked me out.

Honestly, that's about all I can say without spoilers - if you are a fan of ghost stories it's worth your time, it is an excellent example of just how effective atmosphere can be and after you finish it there are a number of images that probably won't leave your mind for a long time.

A great little story!