Product Description

An inveterate traveller, Sir James Monmouth has spent most of his life abroad. He arrives in England on a dark and rainy night with the intention of discovering more, not only about himself but his obsession with Conrad Vane, an explorer. Warned against following his trail, Sir James experiences some extraordinary happenings - who is the mysterious, sad little boy, and the old woman behind the curtain? And why is it that only he hears the chilling scream and the desperate sobbing?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9697 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-31
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

About the Author
Susan Hill was born in Scarborough and educated at King's College, London. Her novels include Gentlemen and Ladies, I'm the King of the Castle (Somerset Maugham Award), Strange Meeting, The Bird of Night (Whitbread Award), A Bit of Singing and Dancing, In the Springtime of the Year, Air and Angels, The Mist in the Mirror and Mrs de Winter. Her novel The Woman in Black has been adapted for the stage and has been running to great acclaim in the West End since 1988. Her children's books include Can It Be True? (Smarties Prize), The Glass Angels and King of Kings.

Customer Reviews

I wanted more!!!
As soon as I found out that Susan Hill had written another ghost story, I literally ran to my nearest Waterstones to grab a copy. Having been well and truly terrified to the core by the Woman In Black, I couldn't wait to experience the same thrills which I expected from the Mist in the Mirror. In some ways, I wasn't disappointed. Susan Hill has the uncanny knack of being able to describe in vivid (and some disturbing) the stuff of nightmares. I felt trapped in the claustrophobic, winding, pitch black halls of the old school in Alton, felt genuinely unnerved by the account of what happened to the protagonist, James Monmouth, when he visited the Old Library in the dead of night (NO WAY would I have gone there at that time, not for a million pounds) and felt completely uneasy at the descriptions of the malevolent presence and the feeling of being watched. Truly scary, unnerving stuff. Fans of gory horror beware, this book relies completely on the supernatural - there is no gore. Hill is the master ghost story-teller - she knows exactly how to prey on the all the senses and knows how to unravel a mystery slowly but surely - this is what makes books like the Mist in the Mirror and the Woman in Black completely addictive - you will keep reading even though the hairs on the back of your neck will be standing from page one.

The only reason this gets a 4 and not a 5 was because of the ending. There were too many unanswered questions - who WAS the old woman he saw at the Cross Keys Inn? What WAS IT behind the curtain adn the locked door that terrified Monmouth so much that he dare not look? What was the secret of the dreaded mirror and why did it appear in several of the places that Monmouth visited... I needed an extra 100 pages to tie up these loose ends - at the moment I feel like I'm still on teh edge of the mystery...

If you like supernatural/ghost stories that rely on building up a sense of creeping horror rather than over-the-top descriptions of ghostly apparitions, then this is the book for you.

If you would like a more complete, yet thoroughly frightening scarefest - read the Woman in Black (see my review).

The Mist in the Mirror and Gothic
The Mist in the Mirror is one of the most archetypally Gothic books of modern times, so much so that it is almost Gothic in excess. Set in the labyrinthine streets of London and the bleakly sublime moors of the north, it utilises both aspects of a gothic setting to great effect.
The effect of Conrad Vane and the spectral young boy are also deeply disturbing, which has prompted its label as a 'ghost story'. What is interesting though, is that The Mist in the Mirror brings together the ghost story and the gothic tradition (which are not the same) to create a chilling impact.
Overall, this is a very interesting yet disturbing read. It is a little weak in comparison with her other works, notably 'The Woman in Black', but compulsive reading nevertheless.

Highly atmospheric, but ultimately unsatisfying.
Comparison with The Woman in Black is inevitable, and unfortunately The Mist in the Mirror is not quite in the same class.

The reason? Well, to echo most other reviewers, I feel Susan Hill missed a great chance to turn out a fantastic ghost story by copping out on the ending.
For instance, there's Vane standing in the chapel, heralding (so I thought) a terrifying and spine tingling climax, and.......? He's not mentioned again. Too many loose ends generally.
It's almost as if SH got fed up after 180 - odd pages and decided to finish off the story there and then, any which way.

Having slated the ending, I must clarify that the rest of the book is very exciting. Lashings of Victorian atmosphere and some genuinely scary moments. I'm glad I read it and would recommend to others, but with a note of warning over the disappointing ending.