While No One Was Watching by Debz Hobbs-Wyatt

The concept of this book intrigued me – while the whole world is watching a tragedy unfold, another takes place unnoticed in the wings. Edith Boone has taken her daughter Eleanor to watch the parade – but when the shots ring out, everyone is focused on the death of the President, even Edith, and in the midst of the shock and horror Eleanor disappears, never to be seen again. A smaller scale tragedy in some respects, but in many, far more disturbing. But why did Edith never report her daughter missing?

Fifty years’ later Gary Blanchet, small-time journalist, is covering the case of a missing local girl, and by chance meets the now senile Edith, who begs him to find her daughter. But Gary has his own problems – a divorce and a teenage son on his plate – and has no idea that his carelessly given promise to help will involve him in a tale of corruption and conspiracy. Alongside him is Lydia Collins, disgraced psychic, who is determined to tell the truth. Throw in a school shooting, a tragic tale of infanticide, and the seedy underbelly of the ruling elite, and you have a complex and rewarding thriller that successfully melds the personal with the political.

The story is told alternately by Gary and Lydia, whose antagonistic relationship is depicted with warmth and understanding. The link between them is Gary’s son Tyler, who has a secret of his own; and his determination to find understanding is the catalyst that brings Gary and Lydia into their uneasy alliance.  I found Lydia’s narration in particular very gripping and intriguing; she is a sympathetic character, whose gift has brought her personal tragedy. Gary is a realistic single dad, sometimes failing to juggle work and parenting effectively; his voice was very compelling.

But what worked most for me was that not everything – in terms of the mystery – was resolved; this lent a feel of poignancy to the story, and increased the impact of the “smaller” victories – the repair of relationships, the growth of a deeper compassion. The impact of big events on individuals also came across very strongly, and I was swept up in the characters’ journeys, which has left me with a slightly different perspective on the famous historical events depicted. Every person in that crowd has their own story, as important as those key players; was there a lost little girl in that crowd?

While No One Was Watching is a satisfying, well-crafted thriller, but it is also a rewarding tale of family bonds, and the complexity of human emotions. For each tiny decision taken, there are ripples outward, and no one can know where they will end. ***

Parthian Books, 2013,  ISBN 9781908946324

Ghost Stories for Christmas

Here’s a treat – a boxset of chilling tales, perfect for dark and stormy nights….

I’m cheekily regarding this as research for the ghost story I’m currently attempting to write, rather than an indulgent curl up on the sofa with a glass of wine luxury… But it has been both a delight and a lesson in how to terrify, so both will do. This is the 6-disc set of the classic tales which were a bit of a Christmas tradition, and as Mark Gatiss is resurrecting that tradition on Christmas Day this year with an adaptation of The Tractate Middoth, I’m doubly thrilled.

This collection contains both the 1969 and 2010 versions of Whistle and I’ll Come To You, one of the most unsettling of M. R. James’s supernatural tales. This is a study in the uncanny, and the sense of isolation and unease that permeates this simple story is unparalleled. Both Michael Hordern and John Hurt in the role of the haunted man give magnificently understated performances and this is rightly a classic. There are five further tales from M.R. James adapted in the 1970s – The Stalls of Barchester, A Warning to the Curious, Lost Hearts, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas and The Ash Tree. My favourite is Lost Hearts, a vampiric tale which is properly disturbing, although the baby-faced spiders from The Ash Tree give it a run for its money. There’s also an adaption of Dickens’s The Signalman, which is far more of a conventional tale but the figure haunting poor Denholm Elliott is very, very creepy.

Two more 1970s stories, Stigma and The Ice House, have modern settings so strike a different note. Stigma is possibly the story that has stayed with me the most – a family are moving some standing stones in order to create a new garden, but the wife suddenly starts bleeding with no apparent wound. This was a wonderfully atmospheric and dark story, all the more so for being in the light of normal modern-day life. The slightly ambiguous ending with the daughter freaked me out! The Ice House is the weirdest tale in the collection; an intriguing story, but the dialogue and delivery was very stylised, which struck a wrong note with me – I’m undecided about this one.

The stories of M.R. James were resurrected in 2005 and 2006 with A View from a Hill and Number 13 respectively. The former is a brilliant idea and the ending is chilling; Number 13 is a traditional tale but very effective.

If you like ghost stories, this is a must-have collection. There are also lots of extras to enjoy with Christopher Lee and Robert Powell re-telling the tales. Now if only I could write like M.R. James….