The crumbling summerhouse called Wild Fell, soaring above the desolate shores of Blackmore Island, has weathered the violence of the seasons for more than a century. Built for his family by a 19th-century politician of impeccable rectitude, the house has kept its terrible secrets and its darkness sealed within its walls. For a hundred years, the townspeople of Alvina have prayed that the darkness inside Wild Fell would stay there, locked away from the light. Jameson Browning, a man well acquainted with suffering, has purchased Wild Fell with the intention of beginning a new life, of letting in the light. But what waits for him at the house is devoted to its darkness and guards it jealously. It has been waiting for Jameson his whole life - or even longer. And now, at long last, it has found him!
It's a sign when it takes four days to finish a 180 page book.
The one thing I keep coming back to when I think about this book is how I wish it were longer than 180 pages.
I went into this book thinking that most of it would take place at the haunted house and it would be about an old haunted house, that the main character/narrator has to find the hidden meaning behind. It is ... for the last 50-ish pages (not counting the prologue). Most of the story is devoted to his upbringing, his strife-filled childhood and early adulthood, and his relationship with his father. That being said, I did really like the writing style that author Michael Rowe has in this novel. It had a real page-turning quality that I enjoyed. While I did take four days to finish this relatively short novel, whenever I was reading this book, I found I could not put it down. There are some really chilling moments during the "formative years" section which Michael Rowe does well.
I did enjoy reading about the main character Jameson "Jamie" Brown and his upbringing. He is no stranger to strife. I found him to be mainly sympathetic, but I found my sympathy for him waning by the end of the novel. I had so many unanswered questions about Jamie and about the other characters that are briefly featured in this novel. The main reason I wish this book was longer is to see more of the supporting characters and more of the creepy "mirror-friend" that shows up in his childhood, and then again at the very end. I wanted to see more of Jamie's relationship with his father, and I especially wanted to see what led him to look for the haunted house and eventually purchase it, despite the lunatic real estate agent.
The haunted house in question, however, doesn't show up in present time until near the very end, and then it is rushed and filled with cheap, cliche scares that can easily be found in a B-grade horror movie. I feel as though it was really rushed at the end. And it featured some of the most squirmy and squickish moments I've read - and not in a good way - about 30 pages before the ending. It would have been nice if the book were longer so that there was more set-up, explanation, and more of a cohesive conclusion that wraps things up more coherently.
Wild Fell is ultimately a mish-mash of great and OK at best. The writing is great for the majority of the book, but sort of falls apart in the latter section of the novel as it is reaching its close. While there are some chilling and creepy moments in the beginning and middle sections, and some in the concluding section, the conclusion was unfortunately kind of sloppy and rushed with some REALLY squicky and squirmish moments near the end. It would have been much better had Wild Fell been even 50 pages longer to have more of a set-up that would play into a better pay-off. I was looking forward to this book, but I was ultimately disappointed. I'm giving Wild Fell a 2.5/5 - it had some great writing and the "Jamie's Childhood" section was really well done, but it just fell apart and was super rushed at the end; I am positive that I would have enjoyed this a lot more if it had been slightly longer than 180 pages
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