A haunted house unlike any other

If you could sum up Ashes in three words, what would they be?

Exciting, tense, gripping

What other book might you compare Ashes to, and why?

Stephen King's The Shining has some elements in common -- an updated haunted house story, but with a Lovecraftian udnercurrent

What does Diana Croft bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

A brilliant performance which really brought the characters alive -- amazingly versatile covering everything from an wealthy Amercan to a 16th century Yorkshirewoman.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I think you need some breaks in to digest what is going on and try and guess what happens next.

Any additional comments?

The haunted house story has a long pedigree, and the tropes are well-established – half-heard voices, poltergeist effects, an escalating series of events leading to The Awful Discovery – challenging any writer to inject freshness and originality. What makes Ashes such a pleasure to read is how Hemplow re-imagines the genre, and ambushes the reader with their own expectations. Shock and horror are here in spades.

Patricia is managing the rebuilding of a ruined medieval house on the Yorkshire Moors for an American client. Patricia’s son is in a Russian prison, and she desperately needs money to fund his appeal. As Patricia’s personal situation declines and her mental health spirals alarmingly, we also follow the parallel story of Elizabeth, the house’s last occupant, via her discovered diary – Hemplow gives us a note-perfect rendition of Tudor style, with a fine command of Shakespearean invective and attention to historic detail.

As the stories converge, the final horror turns out to be something much nastier than your average ghost, and Ashes builds to a suitably shattering finale.

Devotees of HP Lovecraft will enjoy the numerous references. Hemplow’s verbal panache and talent for winding up the tension make this a very superior slice of modern Mythos.

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Wow!! Exciting stuff!

I loved the storyline of Ashes, excitement, great characters, well written fun and scary! But what made it come to life was the narration. Every character had such a distinct voice and accent that you could clearly picture them all and knew exactly who was speaking. Then to make it even better, the spooky voices had effects on them that really made me jump! It was better than watching a good scary movie! Highly recommend to anyone wanting a good story that is extremely well performed. There is salty language and some violence though so be warned. Not for the faint hearted! Loved it!!!

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Not for me

I do love a murder mystery, but this story somewhat confounded me. It felt to me, at times, that Mr Hemplow had swallowed a thesaurus such was his use of English. I read a great many books and like to think I have an extensive vocabulary. Mr Hemplow's lexicon is obviously far superior to mine, but just because you can replace an everyday word with one of of unusual or infrequent use, doesn't mean you necessarily should. I believe the term is sesquipedalian loquaciousness and very rarely does it enhance a story. Not only that, I found Patricia profoundly unlikable; arrogant, high handed and cold. So much so, that I really didn't care much what happened to her, Henry or Noah. The enjoyment in this book is derived purely from the narration. Diana Croft is charged with playing a London snob, a Russian lawyer, a York detective and an American celebrity wife to name but a few. I wonder if authors think of the enormous challenge they're setting these underappreciated and undervalued voice actors? As we have come to expect from Ms Croft, she pulls off all the accents with aplomb, turning in an Oscar winning performance. Bravo Ms Croft, you had your work cut out for you with this book!

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