The Spider's House by
Sarah Diamond
hbk out July 04
Published by Orion
at £16.99
Fourth title from young writer Diamond who specialises in creepy psychological
thrillers which unpick intense and destructive personal relationships. Spider's House
treads the well-worn path of the country idyll gone sour, and plays into the urban/rural
divide so long established in the English psyche. Novice writer Anna, floundering
with writer's block, ups sticks and moves to a Dorset village with breadwinning
husband Carl. When Anna learns that the previous occupant of their house was the
notorious killer Rebecca Fisher, who in the 1960's at the age of ten, murdered her best
friend, she sees a potential idea for her next novel. However as Anna researches the
story she unearths new and unsettling information and becomes the target for
harassment and threats. The uneasy isolation and Anna's emotional insecurity along
with the unfurling account of the past are the strongest elements: spooky and
fascinating. Husband Carl is so colourless one wonders why Anna married him and
the complaints about the world of publishing have the whiff of author's soapbox. The
revelation of Fisher's identity is not really a surprise though there is satisfaction in the
steady process of deduction as Anna sifts through the contradictory accounts she has
from friends, family and professionals involved in the original tragedy. The edgy
journey towards the denouement is certainly compelling enough. Definitely not a
book to read if you've just down-sized to some far-flung hamlet.
Manchester Evening News 17.7.04
(
Cath Staincliffe
author of the popular Sal Kilkenny mysteries set on the mean streets of Manchester)
The Spider's House by
Sarah Diamond
