House of Small Shadows
Published on 10. October 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
384 pages
978-0-330-54424-5 (ISBN)
Description
House of Small Shadows is the disturbing novel about a modern phobia - the fear of dolls and puppets - from award-winning horror author Adam Nevill.
The Red House: home to the damaged genius of the late M. H. Mason, master taxidermist and puppeteer, where he lived and created some of his most disturbing works. The building and its treasure trove of antiques is long forgotten, but the time has come for his creations to rise from the darkness.
Catherine Howard can't believe her luck when she's invited to value the contents of the house. When she first sees the elaborate displays of posed, costumed and preserved animals and macabre puppets, she's both thrilled and terrified. It's an opportunity to die for.
But the Red House has secrets, secrets as dreadful and dark as those from Catherine's own past. At night the building comes alive with noises and movements: footsteps, and the fleeting glimpses of small shadows on the stairs. And soon the barriers between reality, sanity and nightmare begin to collapse . . .
'Adam Nevill is a fantastic storyteller, a master of slow-building tension, and he's written a fever dream of a book. House of Small Shadows is chilling, disorienting, and deeply creepy.' - Scott Smith, author of The Ruins
The Red House: home to the damaged genius of the late M. H. Mason, master taxidermist and puppeteer, where he lived and created some of his most disturbing works. The building and its treasure trove of antiques is long forgotten, but the time has come for his creations to rise from the darkness.
Catherine Howard can't believe her luck when she's invited to value the contents of the house. When she first sees the elaborate displays of posed, costumed and preserved animals and macabre puppets, she's both thrilled and terrified. It's an opportunity to die for.
But the Red House has secrets, secrets as dreadful and dark as those from Catherine's own past. At night the building comes alive with noises and movements: footsteps, and the fleeting glimpses of small shadows on the stairs. And soon the barriers between reality, sanity and nightmare begin to collapse . . .
'Adam Nevill is a fantastic storyteller, a master of slow-building tension, and he's written a fever dream of a book. House of Small Shadows is chilling, disorienting, and deeply creepy.' - Scott Smith, author of The Ruins
Reviews / Votes
As a ritual exercise in entrapment, both in the past and the present, a kind of hymn to how all our histories - vast and petty - constrain us, House of Small Shadows is often nothing short of mesmerising. -- Jeff VanderMeer * The Guardian * In House of Small Shadows, Adam Nevill explores a primal modern phobia - the fear of dolls and puppets - and spirals off into an exploration of a long-forgotten English folk tradition that is eminently believable at the same time as it is horrifying. A wonderfully creepy and disturbing novel. * The Independent * Adam Nevill is a fantastic storyteller, a master of slow-building tension, and he's written a fever dream of a book. House of Small Shadows is chilling, disorienting, and deeply creepy. It has the feel of a cult classic, something horror fans will still be reading with immense delight fifty years from now. -- Scott Smith, <i>New York Times</i> Bestselling author of <i>The Ruins</i> Modern storytelling...and old school terror. Very scary, highly recommended. -- Jonathan Maberry, <i>NYT</i> bestselling author One of the most subtle and powerful writers of dark fiction - a unique voice. -- Michael Marshall Smith, <i>New York Times</i> Bestselling author Adam Nevill is a spine-chiller in the classic tradition, a writer who draws you in from the world of the familiar, eases you into the world of terror, and then locks the door behind you. The House of Small Shadows grows darker and takes on more menacing life with each step forward. -- Michael Koryta, <i>New York Times</i> Bestselling author of<i> The Prophet</i> Nevill's latest horror is a compelling read where indistinguishable childhood dreams and fantasies merge with a surreal, nightmarish present. * SciFI NOW * House of Small Shadows is highly likely to induce nightmares set to the sound of the pattering of tiny wooden feet * SFX * Haunted-house maestros Shirley Jackson, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and Peter Straub would approve-this sets the bar for the best horror novel of the decade. -- Daniel Krauss * Booklist (starred review) * Nevill's talent for horror resonates ominously in every scene, almost as if the theme from Jaws echoes when a page is turned. * KIRKUS * This emotionally intense, intellectually challenging supernatural novel explores secret geographies of conscience while raising hackles, and is addictively readable. * Publishers Weekly (starred review) * Original, unsettling and genuinely scary, this is a book to be read only in daylight hours... * Lancaster Guardian * As a seasoned reader of horror, I'm very pleased to say that House of Small Shadows is the most genuinely frightening book I have read in a very long time! In fact, I can honestly admit that I couldn't bring myself to read it alone, even though I thought I was long past being scared by a book. * Fantasy Book Review * It is a mature modern horror novel and despite its supernatural trappings it never forgets there is an emotionally pain wracked individual at its core ... Adam Nevill is driving the Ghost Train this year and I for one want to see where he takes us. * Forbidden Planet * Nevill's foray into folk horror is a nail-biting success. * Rue Morgue * It will not be a surprise if plenty of new light bulbs are installed in readers' houses just so they never have to go to sleep in the dark again. * Suspense Magazine * Take it from me: reading House of Small Shadows late in the evening is likely to lead to some serious nightmares. -- Niall Alexander * Tor * Let's just say fans of the weird will find plenty of old dolls, grotesque puppets, twisted taxidermy and even worse things. Yet it is the expanding cloak of inescapable dread that Nevill conjures, like a coffin lid slowly closing over the reader, that is most impressive, leaving one breathless and more than a little disturbed. Horror novels don't get much better than this. * Hellnotes * House of Small Shadows - Adam Nevill: The best new horror novel I read all year. * Amazing Stories * Adam Nevill is a continually compelling writer, in a genre that always needs a brave new voice in what might be called 'mainstream' - breaking through with a technician's skill and a gift for setting, storytelling and characterisation that says strongly and with a fan's own intent, this may be the horror genre but it has emotional purpose and intelligence. In this sense, Adam Nevill is our answer at the moment. * Shade Point * Another solid entry from Nevill who is becoming one of Britain's top horror writers and one that classic genre fans will enjoy. * Sci Fi Crowsnest * Part of you doesn't want to put it down because it's so good and the other part doesn't want to put it down because it's so scary. * Bookwormbase * Reading about stuffed kittens all dressed up and taking tea is really creepy, believe me. * wrongspelling.com * I absolutely loved the experience of reading this book. Although, I've never been in a position before where I wanted to put a book down and walk away from it because of how creeped out I was. I got that this time. Totally new experience for me. * Elitist Book Review * Nevill exposes the reality of a natural human horror: falling deep into the bowels of insanity, never to find a way out. * Library Point * Dark fiction fans beware- reality and horror have never collided so seamlessly before. You may have to turn on a light. * Nightowl Reviews * This is storytelling with substance, reinforced with a cast of well-drawn characters and a twisty good plot. * Press Republican * I highly recommend The House of Small Shadows and, frankly, all of Nevill's work, to fans of horror fiction. He's an author whose work you will read once and become an instant, enduring fan. Highly, highly recommended * Jenn's Bookshelves * Adding his latest book to my reading blitz was a creepy delight. The book is twisted (to say the least) and to make this a simple blog post I will keep it to a one word description. "Creepy * Reading4Adventure *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Pan Macmillan
Target group
Interest Age: From 16 years
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 203 mm
Width: 127 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
463 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-330-54424-5 (9780330544245)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
10/2013
Tor
€10.99
Available for download
Person
Adam Nevill was born in Birmingham, England, in 1969 and grew up in England and New Zealand. He is the author of the supernatural horror novels including Banquet for the Damned, Apartment 16, House of Small Shadows, No One Gets Out Alive and Lost Girl as well as The Ritual and Last Days which both won The August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel, and the RUSA for Best in Category: Horror. Adam lives in Birmingham, England.