The House at Devil's Neck - Tom Mead

THE HOUSE AT DEVIL'S NECK

TOM MEAD

****

This gripping locked-room mystery sees Joseph Spector investigate murderous machinations at a haunted manor house in his most sinister case yet.

A former First World War field hospital, the spooky old mansion at Devil's Neck attracts spirit-seekers from far and wide.

Illusionist-turned-sleuth Joseph Spector knows the house of old. When stories spread of a phantom soldier making mischief, he joins a party of visitors in search of the truth.

But the house, located on a lonely causeway, is soon cut off by floods. Before long, the stranded visitors are being killed off one by one. The only possible culprit? The ghostly soldier...

With old ally Inspector Flint working on a complex case that has links to Spector's investigation, the two men must connect the dots before Devil's Neck claims another victim... Spector himself.

MY REVIEW

****

I love locked room mystery thrillers and I enjoy horror as well, so The House at Devil’s Neck looked like the perfect mix of genres for me!

On a rainy night, a bus carrying paranormal investigators makes its way to Devil’s Neck – a former First World War field hospital. What ghosts and secrets might they unearth in the dark?

This book is the fourth instalment of the Joseph Specter series, but I haven’t read the previous books and think it works quite well as a standalone. There are a few events from the other books mentioned but these are just to add flavour and are not relevant to the plot. The reoccurring characters of Inspector Flint and illusionist Joseph Specter are interesting and well-rounded, and I would be interested in reading more books featuring them in future.

The setting of Devil’s Neck, the old field hospital is a great one, as our characters find themselves stranded inside as the storm cuts off their only escape route. I enjoyed the character of the medium Madame and the way that Specter debunks her tricks felt well researched. The addition of the creepy doll also added a little bit of a horror twist to the story which I enjoyed.

The book itself feels quite old-fashioned, and not just in it’s setting. It’s a classic murder-mystery involving locked rooms, scandals and plenty of red herrings. Although I really enjoyed the first half of the book and was invested in the mystery, it did lose me a little towards the end as the plot is very complex and involves a lot of moving parts. The epilogue in particular where the entire solution is turned on its head is quite confusing and I’m not entirely sure I fully understood what happened by the end.

There’s an odd narrative technique employed where if a clue is referenced in the denouement, there’s a footnote denoting the page number of where this clue was first presented. This felt a little like the author trying to show off – by that point as a reader I will either have remembered that clue from earlier or am happy to just take the authors word for it that it was included. There are also drawings of various rooms which were an interesting touch, I’m not sure if it’s just because I was reading the ARC but these are very simplistic hand-drawn pictures which I think will look a little odd in the final print version.

Overall The House of Devil’s Neck is a fun and twisty locked room mystery – just be warned that it’s quite a complex case to be solved! Thank you to NetGalley & Head of Zeus – Aries Fiction for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

LINKS TO BUY

Amazon UK Waterstones