Customer Reviews

Nazareth Hill

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Ramsey Campbell, one of THE greatest horror writers of all time (at that is not just hyberbole folks), has penned one of the most disturbing "haunted" house thrillers I have ever read, and I have read a lot. This story builds to its shocking ending with such slow methodicalness that it almost does not take you by surprise, it seems so inevitable. Be advised that fingernails should be allowed to grow long, the reader will need something to gnaw on.

Walking home from church, six year old Amy Priestly grips her parents' hands tightly as they approach Nazareth Hill, an ancient, burnt out structure that looms over the city of Partington. Despite her parent's presence, Amy is uneasy, certain the house is interested in her. Wanting her to confront her fear, her father swings her onto his shoulders and forces her to look through a shattered window. Inside, Amy sees a ghastly creature reaching for her--shocked, she nearly topples from her perch. Knowing they won't understand, she never tells her parents about what she witnessed.

Ten years later, that incident long forgotten, Amy and her widowed father move into Nazareth Hill, now a luxury apartment building. Accustomed to being at odds with her dad because of her bizarre appearance and attitudes, she at first dismisses his increasingly erratic behavior. When he becomes more dictatorial, and adopts the speech patterns of a bygone era, she wonders if their new home is causing the problem. Curious, Amy looks into the building's past , discovering its disquieting history. Built on a site sacred to witches, the building formerly housed an insane asylum, where inmates were brutalized.

Amy comes to realize that past events have imprinted themselves on the house, and that its current occupants are replaying the obscene dramas that took place within its walls. By the time her father's discipline becomes persecution, it's too late. Overcome by madness, Mr. Priestly imprisons Amy in her room. Cut off from the rest of the world, Amy fights to stay sane and alive.

This novel, squarely in the tradition of The Haunting of Hill House and The Shining, reworks traditional subject matter while addressing timeless issues. Campbell focuses on the persecution of the outsider, demonstrating that those who are different will always be subject to scorn, derision and abuse. In the 1700s it was witches; in the 1800s it was the mentally ill. In our century, it is people like Amy, who has chosen to adopt a punk/goth lifestyle. Her attitudes and strange appearance make her an easy target for the citizens of Partington, and gives the evil in Nazareth Hill something to exploit.

The book is especially noteworthy due to Campbell's talents as a stylist. In a time where many authors choose to write down to their audience, Campbell's prose is a breath of fresh air. Campbell's writing demands (and earns) a reader's attention--each word is carefully chosen for maximum impact. He creates an atmosphere of fear word by word, building towards the novel's tragic conclusion.

Of course, there's plenty of gruesome stuff going on too--cats are hung, tongues are amputated, and specters stalk the living--but Campbell doesn't rely solely on shock to create fear. A craftsman, he builds to these shocks, wringing the maximum emotional impact from each scene. By the time readers turn the last page, they'll be worn out, but may have gained some insight into the nature of prejudice. Nazareth Hill represents Ramsey Campbell at the very top of his form, and as such is not to be missed.

I'll keep this short...if you like atmospheric, truly disturbing horror, read this novel. As always, Campbell's use of language is both beautiful and frightening, and he succeeds in making the reader look over his shoulder. The horror works on two levels; a believable father/daughter conflict which gradually escalates into true terror, and a fascinating--and scary--haunted house story. The style is vintage Campbell, off-kilter but somehow more descriptive for being so. Stephen King once wrote that Campbell's style is so unique that it may as well be copyrighted, and I couldn't agree more. It's a good place to go to be frightened. I also strongly recommend Campbell's other work, especially Midnight Sun, The Parasite, Alone with the Horrors, Waking Nightmares, and Ancient Images. His entire catalog is truly worth exploring.

This is my first novel by Ramsey Campbell, but most assuredly it will not be my last. Amy Priestly and her widowed father Oswald are headed toward a collision course with unnamed horrors, all of which reside in their home of Nazarill. I admit that it took me awhile to get into this novel, the style of writing is often difficult, especially the cadence of Oswald which only grows more archaic as the story progresses. The final few chapters are superb, with the level of tension building to an almost unbearable climax. If you are looking for a well written horror story that delivers, this one does the genre proud.

...and things that go bump in the mind...

Fifteen year old Amy had a scare at the old building called Nazareth Hill, ten years ago. So did her devoutly religious insurance salesman dad, who was with her at the time. He is intensely arachnophobic, and thought he saw some kind of big spider. She saw something worse - something so bad, she blocked it from her memory until now.

Having remembered, Amy goes on a radio show to relate her ghost story about Nazareth Hill, now an apartment complex where she and her widowed dad live, and ticks-off a lot of people who are afraid of her scaring-down the rent. Some of them believe her, though. Because they've seen things, too. And those people are just up and leaving all of a sudden, turning Nazareth Hill into something of a ghost town.

Amy's dad is staying, though. So is Amy, because she's got no choice. She's doing research into the Nazareth Hill area, and finding its history as an insane asylum - and some sort of witches' coven spot. Her father doesn't like it. He's going quietly insane. All he wants is to shut her up - and he's getting less picky about how. Especially with all those spiders creeping around in the dark, making it harder for him to relax...

This is a really great haunted house/ghost story, more akin to Stephen King's The Shining than anything else, only generally much, much more subtle. Nazareth Hill is a place festering with evil spirits, scampering about all but unseen, glimpsed just sufficiently out of the corner of one's eye to drive people mad. It's a psychological horror story as well as a supernatural one, and succeeds on both levels. It has a pervasive feel of menace and doom about it, and many genuinely creepy moments.

Campbell has written several good horror novels, but this is his best to date. Not for the squeamish.

Nazareth Hill is without a doubt one of Campbell's finest works. The story is very well written and keeps the reader interested despite some moments that drag. The overall story makes you ignore the slow moments simply because the reader want's to find out what happens next.

Now i should warn most of the horror fan's like myself out there that this really is not a typical haunted house story. When some of the events that take place in the book happen they will downright bother you, i sure know they bothered me a great deal. This is not for the faint of heart and the way this book ends will not please a great many people.

I recommend this book to any horror fan out there simply because you probably won't read anything similar out there with the exception of King's The Shining, but even saying that King's novel doesn't hold a candle to the outright brutality that takes place here. Enjoy....

This is the first book I've read by Ramsey Campbell and I have to say I was rather impressed. The writing showed talent and focus, though as an American it took me a little time to get used to the very British cadence, especially in the dialog. This book is the kind of horror I like best. It's scary because we can identify with the characters who find themselves in this impossible situation. I never felt like the "idiot plot" was in effect -- you know, the feeling that everyone's just too stupid to save themselves? Not a problem here. More than anything this book reminded me of early Steven King (especially The Shining). After trying to get through Bag of Bones and giving up after the first quarter of it, I'm happy to have Mr. Campbell to go to now for a good scare.

This is only the second Campbell book I've read and already he's one of my favorite authors. I find him fabulously able at writing suspenseful scenes that make me cringe (in a good way!). "Nazareth Hill" caught me unawares -- a rare, "slow-boil" horror novel in this time of easy, in-your-face, bombastic scares. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Have you ever felt as if you was being watched,and your mind conjures up nightmares and unease In Campbell's gripping and deliberate narrative, tiny incidents become magnified. The novel envelops the reader with increasing low-key, sinister weirdness, as with all of Cambell's novels The climax is a stunningly written. Bizarre, but this book will have your attention from start to finish. And Ramsey Campbell's refusal to let it end simply and predictably makes "Nazareth Hill" a superb example of successful disturbing fiction. It is one of the best books I have ever read. I trully believed in all the characters and was unable to put the book down. Parts were quite horrific and frightening, but it was a brilliant book. From the time you turn the first page, you will be hooked

The man who is rightly respected as one of the greatest ever writers in the field of supernatural fiction has delivered here a masterpiece, one that I think nudges even the brilliant MIDNIGHT SUN into second on my list of Ramsey's best. Perhaps I am not the man to review this book, being so rabidly biased, but hey, I got my hand up first when they wanted something for the Progress Report, alright?

Amy Priestley is returning from church with her parents when they pass the burnt out shell of the "Spider House" on Nazareth Hill. Amy has always been afraid of this building and in an attempt to overcome her fears Oswald, her father, lifts her to a window to see inside. Something unspeakable looms from the dark and she nearly topples in fright from her father's grip. Amy vows never to return.

Ten years later, 16 year old Amy and her now widowed father move into Nazarill, the luxury flats that have been created from the ruins of the "Spider House". Amy has, she thinks, outgrown her fears and is happy to have a place that many in Partington might envy.

Soon though, things start to go wrong. A photographer dies whilst developing a shot of the residents, and the negative contains an image of a ghostly figure supplementary to the original group. One night Oswald stumbles into what he thinks is a huge spider hanging from an oak tree off the driveway. It is actually a mutilated cat. The oak is chopped down and discovered in the roots of the tree is an old Bible with some curious scribblings in the margins. "Must survive until they take me from this place" reads one ominous line. Amy begins to suspect some awful past buried in Nazarill's history. A past, as the book jacket says, that won't stay buried.

And this is the heart of the novel. Ramsey has created a haunted house story that towers above most of the other work in this sub-genre. It has been favourably compared to THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE. A fair statement, but Ramsey adds layers that Jackson could never have achieved. There is a dream sequence in this book that rivals any by other such masters of the surreal as Aickman, Ligotti and Etchison. There is a growing sense of literary excellence in Ramsey's work and this book is no exception. There is a real desire to not only scare the hell out of the reader, but to do it in a way that satisfies our craving for intelligent work. Schlock writing is OK if that is where you get your kicks, but you can't tell me that there is any substitute for literary craftsmanship. Let me tell you, Ramsey has craftsmanship in spades.

In the afterword to the recent memoir of Frank Belknap Long, Ramsey says "I often wonder if I am as wrong as Frank to feel that my work is improving". Let me say now that not only is Ramsey improving with each book, but for me he has no near rivals in the field of contemporary supernatural horror. Truly, the man is an awesome writer, and one we should be proud to have among us.

`nough said.

Robert Parkinson