The Watchers by Neil Spring

[lorelei9]

about 1/3 of the way through this
I will keep going but I am incredibly disappointed
perhaps it's the risk when someone writes an amazing debut novel - The Ghost Hunters was one of the best books I have read.

so far, this is really badly written and actually reads like a first draft. It doesn't seem as though he was rushed to put it out - I know it was being planned when his first book came out - but the exposition is poor and there is so much extraneous pedestrian stuff.

I am going to continue reading it but I just wondered if any MNers had any thoughts. Some Amazon reviewers have said it gets better but at the moment, I doubt it will...

[OllyBJolly]

Not as good as the Ghost Hunters (which was a storming good book!) but I did enjoy The Watchers. Reminded me a bit of a black and white B movie. The final third is particularly fast moving and gripping. Took me quite a while to warm to it - bit slow to start.

[lorelei9]

Thanks olly
Haven't read any more since posting....he seems to have taken something fascinating and made it dull. Maybe finish at Xmas as I'll be on trains a lot.

[lorelei9]

PS old b movies not my thing.

[wavingfuriously]

hi, am also reading this book and 8% through according to my kindle. I really am not much of a reader but really wanted a scary story to while away the dark evenings BUT like you I am finding it a bit pedestrian. Going to persevere however & looking forward to it warming up as Olly said !

Ghost hunters good was it ? ok... there's a film of that aswell, just wondered if either of you had seen it ?

lol

[OllyBJolly]

Ghost Hunters has just been commissioned so will still be in production. www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/itv-commissions-harry-price-ghost-hunter

Waving I was working on a remote Scottish island staying alone in a large rambling creaky house belonging to a friend. I had to put the book aside until I got back to the mainland! Ghost stories are really not my genre and despite a DH and DD who love horror I really can't watch scary movies. Might watch Ghost Hunters just to see how it works out on screen.

[lorelei9]

Waving, Ghost Hunters is brilliant, not so much for being scary as brilliantly written, if that makes sense.
Really can't find any inclination to carry on with The Watchers.

[lorelei9]

PS I think the ITV film is in the can and on over Christmas

[OllyBJolly]

Gosh, Lorelei you're right - it's on 27th December 8.30pm. Thanks for the heads up

[OllyBJolly]

and just seen on Neil's twitter feed that there's a TV deal for the Watchers as well.

[wavingfuriously]

ooo good its on telly, of course can't watch it until have read the book ! shucks.. Olly what do you do for a living ? working alone on a remote island sounds brilliant ..!

[wavingfuriously]

i always read a book till the end because paid good money for it !
made too many mistakes on amazon and now buy wisely ..

[lorelei9]

waving, can't recommend it highly enough, you will likely steam through it really fast and then want to read it again.

Waving - I had the Watchers on Kindle, returned it for refund. Rare that I do that but honestly thought it was terrible.

[OllyBJolly]

Strange how these coincidences come together..

I read the book a while ago and forgot about it. Then noticed this thread, a wee conversation here, and listening to the Archers tonight the continuity mentioned that Ghost Hunters was being reviewed on Front Row.

It was a very good review - really looking forward to the drama now.

[wavingfuriously]

lorelei oo you gave up with the book didn't know you could get Kindle refunds.. someone recently recommended 'dark matter' by michelle paver to me for a good old scare !

[TheHiphopopotamus]

I thought The Watchers was terrible. I gave up half way through.

Mind you, I thought The Ghost Hunters was distinctly average too. I only read that because it was about Harry Price and featured Borley Rectory.

[lorelei9]

hiphop, interesting I'd not heard of either Harry or house when I read it. If you have a y other suggestions I'd be interested to read more about them.

Friend of mine was wondering if The Watchers was written by Spring earlier but there was a decent time gap so it doesn't seem like the publisher rushed it out. That said, I think he still does his day job. I'm huge,y impressed by people who work that hard so I feel bad saying it, but The Watchers really did seem like it was a first draft.

[LassWiTheDelicateAir]

Like the OP I loved The Ghost Hunters but The Watchers just went on and on and on. It had far too many plot devices thrown into it. Terrifically scary things appeared / happened with no particular connection to earlier terrifically scary appearances or events.

[lorelei9]

I didn't get as far as anything scary!

[LassWiTheDelicateAir]

They stopped being scary - there were too many and too random.

[lorelei9]

okay - SPOILER ALERT so if you've not read it, you've been warned...

I thought the very start, with him as a little boy, first time he opened the door to the odd looking men, was quite good. I got as far as just after he went to talk to the schoolmaster, so in a sense, a couple of things happened. His friend (was it Tess?) had drawn the picture of the odd looking man, the school children had reported what they had seen... but it was so poorly written and the exposition was bizarre.

I also felt there was a lot of time spent on unnecessary descriptive detail, e.g the car journey out of London. If it was relevant in some way, fair enough. But I couldn't see any indication that it would be relevant.

Sorry to be on about it still - it's just I had been looking forward to reading it for ages!