Ive just finished reading Dark Matter by Michelle Pallor....

[juicychops]

and i have to say, i was a bit disappointed. i heard that it was really scary but it didn't really do anything for me. I kept thinking i must be getting to it but it never came and before i knew it id finished it.

anyone else disappointed, or was there others who did find it frightening?

I found it frightening. Very atmospheric.
And so did my mum.
But I was disappointed by the ending. (And so was my mum).

I hadn't heard much about it before I read it so didn't have high expections.
I think a big build up can lead to disappointment.

I enjoyed it, - but didn't find it very scary, more atmospheric.

I felt the same about Susan Hill, -The Woman in Black.

The Arctic one? I read it last week after a rec on here but was really disappointed with it. Not frightening, v contrived re the 'I love him' stuff and ultimately deeply underwhelming. I liked the pre-ghost prep for the trip stuff - but that doesn't say a lot for something that's a ghost story!

I was as unimpressed by The Woman In Black too - just dull.

i heard similar reviews with woman in black too so probably won't attempt that one

I found both Dark Matter and The Woman In Black to be big disappointments.

Can anyone recommend a really good ghost story? - I always seem to be trying things and never quite finding what I'm after - I want atmosphere, character and lots of scariness (but not gore).

I've just finished "The Dead of Winter" by Chris Priestley - it's an children's book but I still really enjoyed it. But then I enjoyed "The Woman in Black" and "Dark Matter" too - I think they are reminiscent of Victorian ghost stories - the short stories you find in collections - but then I really like those too.

If you are not averse to YA/children's fiction, I will also recommend The Dead of Winter by Chris Priestley.

Ooh, I liked dark matter because it was low key, the sense of isolation was brilliant, also i liked woman in black. Dh says try Sheridan Le Fanu for creepy ghost stories. Alos the Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm fairy stories (ie the grimm fairy tales) can be quite dark. In their original snow white, at the end of the story when snow white gets married she invites her step mum and at the end of the wedding has burning hit shoes brought out that her srtepmum is forced to wear and dance to death...

Thank you I will definitely try the Chris Priestly, and Sheridan Le Fanu. I've read the Grimm Fairy Tales Joyce - loved them, very dark in places.

The original Grimms are fab.

Stephen King's favourite novel is, 'The Haunting Of Hill House' by (I think) Shirley Jackson. I thought it was atrocious but it may be worth a try?

Also it might be worth trying, 'The Turn Of The Screw' by Henry James but (gues what!) I didn't like that much either!

Have you read the Northern Lights series by Philip Pullman? It's not a ghost story but there are a couple of lovely ghost scenes in it.

Poe? He's the best! Lovecraft? Too sci-fi for me tbh.

My dp likes M.R. James though I wasn't v taken with him.

Dickens? The Signalman is pretty good.

Tom's Midnight Garden
Charlotte Sometimes
both 'time slip' children's stories - not scary but v lovely.

Yes have read the Pullman and very much enjoyed it, have also read The Signalman - ditto.

Turn of The Screw - I haven't read it, but saw a TV adaptation which didn't impress me, - I find Henry James quite hard work, but might give that one a go.

Poe - good suggestion, will definitely try him.

Has anyone tried any of Susan Hill's other ghosts stories - I think she's written several, I do like her as an author and WIB was OK, just not as scary as I'd been led to believe.

Susan Hill stuff not great - there's one about a painting which is okay but I find her stories to feel v much like I have read them before, even if I haven't, if that makes sense! They don't seem to offer anything new and her writing isn't good enough to carry them without innovation of ideas imho.

Have you read, 'The Little Stranger?' It's another one that didn't do much at all for me (I think she's a boring writer and again seems strangely unoriginal in her thinking/style) but lots of people on here love it.

The Turning Of The Screw - I read it after that TV adaptation (which I didn't think much at all of, except for the governess' v lovely clothes!) - it's not v good but (unlike most James) it's a fairly easy read!

Have you read, 'The Shining' btw?

I suspected that might be the case with Susan Hill, because it's sort of what I felt about Woman in Black.

I have read The Little Stranger, and I did enjoy it - Sarah Waters is always a bit hit and miss with me - I loved Affinity, but couldn't get into the one about pickpockets which I've forgotten the name of!

Haven't read the Shining - DS is a big Stephen King fan and is always trying to get me to read him. I really enjoyed the Green Mile, and quite liked Carrie (but not blown away by it), so I'll try the Shining. (I've seen the film a couple of times - is the book very different?)

I like the sound of Charlotte Sometimes will definitely read that. I've read and enjoyed Tom's Midnight Garden.

I read Naomis Room which I thought was very good but then I really liked The Woman in Black.

I didn't really like The Little Stranger. It seemed to have so much potential but didn't really deliver.

Stephen King is an amazing writer. He's so descriptive that you get a complete sense of being there. Thats why his stuff is so terrifying.

'The Shining' is quite different to the film I beleive, although I've not actually seen the film. King himself didn't like the film much as (iirc) it presents the Jack N character as the baddie when, in fact, it's the hotel that's the baddie and working through the caretaker.

You might also enjoy King's 'The Breathing Method' which isn't a ghost story but does have lovely old Victorian-esque vibe of a group of old geezers sitting around the fire with a whisky and a story.

I thought that both DM and WIB were fantastic in evoking the feeling of spookiness, but in both books the final denouements were a bit flat and disappointing.

It's not really a ghost story although the plot is written like it in parts, but The Girl on the Landing by Paul Torday (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen guy) is one of the best spooky books I have read recently.

I was so terrified by about three-quarters in that I had to skip to the end when it was all alright again. I found it unbearably spooky.

I read The Little Hand by Susan Hill and thought that was disappointing, not scary and really very predictable.

FG Cottam knows how to write a good ghost story.

I didn't really take to the first book, House of Lost Souls, but Dark Echo and The Waiting Room were very, very good and I'm just starting Brodmaw Bay (seems to be a bit Wicker Man) and that's quite promising now.

Oh I loved it, partly I expect as when I read it we were snowed in! Very atmospheric!