I think it also made me reconsider my rating of the first book, and makes me want to put that down from a 5* to a 3.5*. This book was far stronger. The characters were much better (the snobby, horrible neighbours were awful people but so funny, I kind of warmed to them!) and in terms of the haunting, it was less of a movie-cliche, and far more realistic of true hauntings. Even so, I was a little surprised when he cheerfully entered the atrium, stood still for a couple of minutes, and then loudly and very firmly enunciated, into thin air, ‘You may go now!’ The Secret of Cold Hill is perfect for readers who like spooky rather than creepy in their horror stories. Classic haunted house characteristics appear during the course of the novel, from ghostly apparitions that disappear as soon as they appear, to sudden temperature drops, stomping feet, cursed voices and unexplained potent aromas add to the issues faced by the new residents of Cold Hill Park. I appreciated the insertion of newspaper reports and even gravestone inscriptions included within the narrative. These extra flourishes add further conjecture to the unfolding tale. The looming presence of Cold Hill House is now a distant memory. In its place stands a new development of modern homes, built after the devastating fire that burnt the house to the ground.

Now to the story. Slowly odd things begin to happen. Footsteps heard where no one should be walking. Voices talking out of empty space. Disturbing. But not yet scary. Then there are shadows. What is in this house? Jason and Emily learn a little about the area from locals, enough to increase their curiosity. Meanwhile he is working on important art work due before Christmas. I give it two stars out of generosity as you can tell Peter James is very capable of writing good books. He just isn't capable of writing horror in the slightest. A few days later, a medium who had helped me a lot during my writing of Possession came to the house, and I took her into the atrium, and left her on her own, as she had requested. Cold Hill House has been razed to the ground by fire, replaced with a development of ultra-modern homes. Gone with the flames are the violent memories of the house’s history, and a new era has begun.You'll like this house, with what you write,’ the owner told me mischievously on our first viewing. 'We have three ghosts.’ It turned out he was fibbing – the house, we were to discover later, actually had four . . . The book is set around Christmas, so if you want lightweight festive fare, laced with James’ dark humour, that won’t give you indigestion, then The Secret of Cold Hill might be worth a punt. But if you’re only familiar with James’ main series, then you might find you’re disappointed with this offering. The Secret of Cold Hill isn’t drastically different from the first book in many ways, and it’s not James at his best by any means. I could never quite make my mind up about the ending of The House on Cold Hill. This time out, the resolution is rather a cop-out and not much of a surprise in the scheme of things. There are a handful of genuinely spooky moments where I was glad I had the lights on, but they’re a bit thin on the ground and rely on a fair bit of repetition. As we stepped aside to let the removals men leave the house to fetch another item, I suddenly saw a shadow, like the flit of a bird across a fanlight, in the interior of the house. And so what else is there to say? It was just a satisfying read, a decent little ghost story that hit the sweet spot and left me longing for more, although I don’t know if James can continue the series. It’s not that he didn’t leave himself any leeway, it’s just that it would stretch the suspension of disbelief to have more people moving into a place that’s quite clearly haunted.

The Secret of Cold Hill is actually the follow-up to James’ earlier book, The House On Cold Hill, which I was sent an ARC copy of by the publishers. James is a bestselling author who’s pretty approachable on social media. He’s shared a photo of my cat with some of his books, he’s replied to a few of my comments on his YouTube channel, and he even let me send him a copy of my first cosy mystery novel, Driven. It's not scary in the slightest. It's about as terrifying as Thomas the Tank Engine, and to be frank, he creates main protagonists so appallingly middle-class that you sort of wish the ghosts would hurry up and kill them. At the time he was officially the Vicar of Brighton – but with another hat, he was also officially, the Chief Exorcist of the Church Of England. That wasn’t his actual title, which was the less flaky-sounding ‘Minister Of Deliverance.’ A former monk, the son of two medics, a university double first in psychology, he was as far from Max Von Sydow’s Father Merrin in The Exorcist as you could get. He is a delightful human being, with whom I had become good friends, and still am to this day. He is a modern thinker, a clergyman who has a problem with the biblical concepts of God, yet still retains an infectious faith. His views, for instance, on the Ouija board are, that far from putting its participants in touch with the spiritual world, it actually opens up a Pandora’s Box of their own inner demons. Cold Hill House has been razed to the ground by fire, replaced with a development of ultra-modern homes. Gone with the flames are the violent memories of the house's history, and a new era has begun.In fact, as I sit here writing this, I am now positing another possible explanation for some of the confusion. Hmmm...well I’m not going to share it with anyone; they might think I’m a bit crazy to even come up with the idea. I am a big fan of Peter James novels and especially enjoy the Roy Grace series but he does write exceptionally good ghost stories. By my own admission I am not a prolific reader of this genre and feel far more at home with the psychological thriller but such is Peter James writing that I always entertained by his novels. As the novel progresses, many things begin to become confusing. We see events through Jason’s perspective throughout and when he or Emily is confused or disagree, what are we to think? Does it matter? At one point late in the book, Jason thinks to himself How much, since they had moved here, was real? I think this is an important question as the confusion of the last third of the book actually decreased my feelings of dread. I had been feeling a build up but then I lost where the plot was going along with Jason. But I did enjoy the setting, the varied characters (except Claudette), and the build up . I’ve been a fan of Peter James for years but it’s hard to believe that the Cold Hill books are written by the same author that brings us the excellent Roy Grace series. The plot itself - a boilerplate ghost story - is fine if you don’t think too hard, but the writing really grated with me and it took a while to figure out why: the dialogue is dreadful. Every spoken interaction sounds like it was written by a chatbot that has never heard an actual human conversation. Random slang in all the wrong places, stilted and repetitive phrasing, and sentence structures that I’ve never heard a real person use when speaking. It’s honestly the weirdest thing, especially when you compare it to James’s other books - and once you spot it, it becomes hugely irritating.

I got this as one of a pair for Christmas with The House on Cold Hill. I thought that was pretty dreadful, but I thought I'd give this one a go to see if it improved.I did like the fact that it seemed very similar at first, because I was expecting it to go off in a different direction, like these guys would do something to break the chain. Again, it was a bit different because there are different ghosts featured than were in the first book, but that really didn't change things much. Nothing amazing happens that didn't happen already in the first book. This is the 2nd book in the 'House on Cold Hill' series but can easily be read as a standalone but I would definitely recommend reading the other book as well. Jason and Emily Danes move into their new home on Cold Hill, and right away strange things begin to happen. Shadowy figures roam the hallways of the house, thumping noises can be heard from the attic studio, lights turn on and off for no reason. Scariest of all, Jason, an artist, and Emily, a caterer, can hear people talking in their house -- sometimes right in the same room that they're in. Adding to their unease is a sense of isolation resulting from the fact that they are only the second family to have moved into their new housing development. The terrifying sequel to the bestselling The House on Cold Hill, from a master of spine-chilling horror.

As do some of the characters, unfortunately. The neighbours are a ridiculously cliched caricature of a middle class elderly couple (despite being described as in their early 50s) and the main protagonists are frankly so unlikeable, I was secretly cheering for the ghosts to drop some masonry on their heads and have done with it. The Secret of Cold Hill is now the third book I have read recently that fuses old world gothic history with the contemporary. There is also a strong slant towards technology in this book, as the houses populated by the families of this novel all contain highly modernised home systems that are automated and work on voice recognition. Of course we know that technology is not immune to malfunctions, which occurs in The Secret of Cold Hill, but we do question if something more malevolent is at work. This is a great read with strong characters and an addictive story. There are even touches of humour within the haunting chills. But it’s not fair to compare James to Herbert, because while there are passing similarities, they both hold up on their own. It’s pretty exciting to see James taking on more traditional horror like this because he’s mostly thought of as a crime author because of his Roy Grace books. The Secret of Cold Hill shows that he’s far more versatile than that.Despite the warmth of the sunlight, I felt a sudden chill. I knew at that moment she had seen something uncanny. But I did not want to spook my wife on our very first day in this house. We were both townies, and this was our first move into the countryside. She was already apprehensive about the isolation of the property. The last thing I needed was for her to be unnecessarily scared by a ghost. So I shook my head and told her I had not seen anything. But in truth, I was feeling a little spooked. From the number one bestselling author, Peter James, comes T he Secret of Cold Hill. T he spine-chilling follow-up to The House on Cold Hill . Now a smash-hit stage play. I felt a tad cynical about her response – but at the same time, I was now feeling deeply uncomfortable in what should have been the sanctuary of my own home. But there was a vicar I knew who I thought would be able to help, and with whom I had become good friends. How are you getting on with your grey lady?’ he said, with a strange, quizzical look that immediately unsettled me.