The House of a Hundred Whispers is a 2020 horror story written by British author Graham Masterton, perhaps best known for his Picture of Evil and Night Warrior series. Set in a sprawling old Tudor house known as Allhallows Hall on the edge of Dartmoor, the plot follows the estranged Russell children as they arrive at the house following the death of their father. From there, five-year-old Timmy goes missing and this atmospheric, fast-paced story kicks off. What starts out as The Haunting of Hill House soon descends into The Exorcist territory so why not join us for our The House of a Hundred Whispers book review?
Date Published: 2020
Author: Graham Masterton
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Pages: 390
GoodReads Rating: 3.5/5
A Fast Start
To be completely honest, the opening few pages of House of a Hundred Whispers sets this book up as a tale that leaves you no time to pause for breath. The swift gruesome demise of Herbert Russell is certainly captivating, but the jam-packed descriptions of the Dartmoor moors and Russell children that arrive at Allhallows Hall feel clunkily crowbarred in on a first read.
However, these descriptions are instrumental in establishing the book’s setting and do a sterling job of helping to immerse the reader as things quickly take a turn for the spooky.
Following the death of their father, Herbert Russell’s children: Rob, Martin and Grace, arrive at the house to learn what their inheritance is going to look like. Rob is our main protagonist of the story, however, it is through his collection of side characters that Masterton manages to create the more interesting developments. Rob is a character that often strays too close to the distant, overly-pragmatic sort of trait, happily moving from one event to another, despite the fact it is his son that has gone missing in this obviously haunted house.
On the flip side, a character like Martin prepped as the typical brash, money-obsessed boomer that hates his wife, goes through a much more purposeful development as the book goes on. The trick of House of a Hundred Whispers is how emotionally bound these characters become to one another, and to the house.
Only brought together by the grisly death of their father, the relationships that develop not only feel natural but also are incredibly interesting.
Sure, there are a few jammed-in lines of exposition that (literally) spelt out over some cups of tea, but otherwise, the way in which these characters are held together by invisible barriers across this gothic mansion is all sold exceptionally well by Masterton.
Not Your Typical Horror Novel
Where Masterton excels in his telling of The House of a Hundred Whispers is in the combination of local folklore being given centre stage, and the vivid descriptions of visuals that help sell this as a genuine and authentic-feeling horror.
The setting of the Dartmoor moors are made to feel like a foreboding foe surrounding the house at all times, and the decision to base local myths on the logic every character resorts to feels natural for people ingrained in this part of the world.
It is Masterton’s ability to take readers’ expectations and so adeptly prove them wrong with constant twists and turns that keep this an engrossing read.
This a book where a reader will always have a new part of the puzzle told to them, but never feel like they have the whole list of what’s going on until they reach the final page. More and more secrets surrounding the house and the forces conspiring inside of it are woven in throughout, with the supernatural aspects keeping readers engrossed throughout.
There will be times when a reader will believe they have the right ideas, but it is at those exact moments that Masterton’s brilliance at subverting and swerving expectations usually comes to the fore. Such is the beauty of having a deep, mysterious world to dip into.
There are some wonderful ideas at play here, some great executions with visuals and atmosphere, and a suspenseful dread that acts against the ever-upping stakes, which all culminate in this very much feeling like Masterton’s very own take on this classic horror subgenre.
Verdict
In all, The House of A Hundred Whispers is a superb piece of fiction that horror fans will absolutely have fun with. Delivered at a searingly fast pace, Masterton successfully drops the reader into an unlikely situation that ends up devolving into an ever-expanding web of new secrets and developments that will have them constantly on the edge of the page.
It takes real skill to adeptly describe not only fictional events, but also impossible ones, but Masterton does it with ease. Readers get a clear picture of what every inch of Allhallows Hall looks, feels and sounds like, and can even get a second-hand sensation from certain sequences that play out once the sun goes down on Dartmoor.
The book is obviously not perfect (what book is?), with a rushed final sequence, shoehorned twist ending and some hard-to-ignore characterisations of certain females in the story at times, but it certainly doesn’t subtract away from the suspense and atmospheric terror Masterton cultivates in the book.
Our Rating: 3/5
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
