The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins

The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I liked this story. It was multifaceted in that it was not just a haunted house story, but also a murder mystery.  Collins builds the suspense and the feeling of curiosity that keeps the reader engaged.  I found the writing to be far from dated. The language was not antiquated, but felt almost modern in some ways. The print for my copy is rather small, and that's the only reason I didn't read it faster.  Yesterday, I kept saying, I'll read to this point, and to that point, before I knew it, it was quite late and I had to put the book down to go to bed. 

I didn't find the prose melodramatic. Instead, I found that Collins is matter of fact in describing horrors. It's merely in reading of such things that the horror is evoked.  I was quite suprised at the horrible things that had occurred, and it wasn't do to that Campy Gothic or Victorian Penny Dreadful tendency to use outlandish language to evoke a dark, sinister tone.  I liked his subtle but hilarious humor, particularly in the part in which Francis Westwick goes to the room in question.  I was laughing out loud on that part.

The Haunted Hotel starts out in an curious manner, with a false narrator. Which is quite brilliant.  This beginning narrator never makes another appearance, and I was left to wonder how this plot thread would end up in the titular place.  Further reading shows Collins' tendency to continuously introduce new point of views, leaving it up to the reader to see how it ties together.  As I consider this novella, I wonder if this was not his way of revealing the intriguing character of the Countess through different eyes.  So one cannot easily make of their mind about her. (view spoiler)[ I have to admit that I felt sympathetic to her up to almost the end of the story. While what she does is completely heinous and terrible, I felt that her allegiance to her awful brother was no small factor in her moral failing.  In the end, she seemed to merely live down to everyone's expectations of her, instead of reaching higher.  Instead of staying true to what I felt was an inner cord of strength, she followed that fatal path to destruction. So I admit that in the end, I still pitied her despite her actions.  I was in no small way surprised that she actually was guilty. I thought perhaps she was just a victim of a bad reputation.  My feelings towards the Countess make me admire this story more for the clever way in which it was written.   (hide spoiler)]

Now an impatient reader will wish for Collins to get to the point, but I rather enjoyed the journey.  I found the characters interesting, all of which evoking sympathy to some extent (except the Baron, who I found totally repugnant).  Collins has a way of writing characters that is quite appealing to me. Even the lesser important characters come to life and earn their screen time when they come into the scenes.   I enjoyed the roundabout way of presenting a story that was actually quite chilling in parts.  I appreciated how intricately the mystery builds to a satisfying climax for this reader. 

In the end, I was impressed with this novella by Mr. Collins. I will read more of his work because I think he has a way of writing mystery and suspense that is timeless, drawing me into his writing and not easily letting me go. His characters have impact and come to life for this reader, not sacrificed to a greater goal of evoking horror or terror, as can sometimes happen in this genre. I for one recommend this story to fans of classic/gothic horror and suspense.

Read out of The Haunted Hotel & Other Stories.



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