My Five Word TL:DR Review: A Haunting With A Difference

Sleepers in the Snow is a story that seems to blend psychological and gothic horror and in terms of being creepy this is certainly a combination that works.

A man, buys an isolated house on the moor. He’s been through a divorce and longs for some peace and solitude and buying this cosy cottage seems to be the perfect fit. Surrounded by nature and within a five mile walk to the nearest village where cake and tea can be acquired at the local tea room, it really does feel like the ideal place for our divorcee to spend a little quiet time. And yet, as the autumn gives way to winter, the fog, the dark and the snowy depths begin to draw in and what started as a perfectly cosy home begins to feel like a dark and lonely place.

As usual with this author the writing is amazing. It was so easy to picture the house and the setting. The descriptions are perfect and some of the events that take place are perfectly unsettling.

That being said, this isn’t my favourite book by the author. Simply because it really is quite dark in tone. It’s definitely a thought provoking book and also a story that is really difficult to review without giving away spoilers.

What I really enjoyed. As I already mentioned above, JH is an excellent wordsmith. I’ve loved so many of her books that I will never fail to be excited when I realise a new release is on the horizon. She absolutely nails the terrible sense of isolation. The need to hear another voice, the feeling that you’re losing the plot.

Our central characters who remains nameless, initially seems to have fallen on his feet in some respects. He’s been able to buy this cosy cottage which comes fully furnished, even with clothes and kitchen ware – simply as though the previous inhabitants got up and left. In this respect its really quite clever because you’re never quite sure the age of the main character, where does he get his money, exactly what happened to push him to such lengths.

Then he finds diaries or journals from the previous inhabitants of the cottage and this immediately serves to crank up the tension. The local village refuse to talk of them and in fact everything begins to take on a very ominous tone. Where did the previous owners go and why did they leave everything behind.

Then there’s the haunting presence of the pylon itself, which sometimes feels like it’s watching him or whispering in the wind. Then there are the strange actions of the local wildlife not to mention these strange ‘offerings’ for want of a better word. Then we have an old phone that still seems to ring in the dead of night and the recurring appearance of a certain object that I’ll leave you to discover for yourself but is certainly a little bit creepy.

Now, bring on the stark winter months. The intense snow that cuts our MC off from any outside contact. It’s so lonely, cold and dark.

In terms of our MC, this is another element to the story that worked really well here. I would call him an unreliable narrator. He’s also a bit prickly, I found him difficult to get on with at times as he’s very quick to anger or to take affront.

And then of course we have the appearance of other characters who sometimes seem to manifest through the fog – which is totally fitting now I come to think of it.

In conclusion, this is a dark read, ominous and unsettling with a twist in the tale. It is, without doubt, a haunting with a difference and incredibly well executed. Would I say I loved it. No, to be fair. although I really do think it’s very clever. I think it’s maybe darker than I was expecting, or perhaps wanting, not to mention rather sad and packed with meaning that really only becomes relevant when you draw back with the benefit of the full picture. The kind of book that you could easily read again and find so many things that you perhaps didn’t realise were so significant on the first pass.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

My rating 3.5 of 5 stars rounded to 4