The Stranger House

By: Reginald Hill

Narrated by: Gordon Griffin

Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

For years, the Stranger House has stood in the village of Illthwaite, offering refuge to travellers. People like Sam, a brilliant young mathematician, who believes that anything that can't be explained by maths isn't worth explaining. And Miguel, a historian running from a priests' seminary, who sees ghosts. Sam is an experienced young woman, Miguel a 26-year-old virgin. But both want to dig up bits of the past that some people would rather keep buried. As they uncover intertwining tales of murder, betrayal, and love, they must put aside their differences to find the dark mysteries at the heart of this ancient place.

©2006 Reginald Hill (P)2006 W F Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

"A mystery novel, but far more than that. It's gripping...Hill is wonderful." (The Times)

Scrappy heroine, pleasingly complex mystery

Well written and crafted thriller, which uses the classic chestnut of the remote village, with residents who distrust nosy outsiders, to great effect. You think this is going to be an old-fashioned horror, with restless ghosts and forbidden, pagan rites still practiced by the weird locals. In fact, it's a modern, psychological drama, its twists attributable to very human fears and desires. Some of the crimes may be too modern for certain listeners: If you are bothered by stories that involve hurting children or torture, be aware that this narrative takes a few dark turns. Nothing overly graphic, but it does go there, if not all the way there.
There are two mysteries here, one historical, one contemporary, each with its related protagonist, a compassionate Spanish ex-priest and a scrappy, Australian mathematician named Samantha Flood. Sam Flood is almost worth the price of admission alone -- she's that appealing.
Great reading by Gordon Griffin, who differentiates the many characters with vocal distinctions and quirks. I had no trouble keeping the large cast straight.
My only complaint is that the epilogue, while intriguing, ties up the threads too neatly. Still, the rest of the story is so good that I'm willing to forgive Reginald Hill for this over-zealous bit of plot writing.

Bored

Put me to sleep at every attempt to persevere with it.
Could not engage with it.

This story gets more intriguing as it progresses

I'm a big fan of Reginald Hill and this is one of his best. I had just seen the film "Oranges and Sunshine" so very pertinent to the storyline

Hang on…

I have read some of Mr Hills writings and was mesmerized by one. This one is a wild ride. Don’t “blink” or you will be lost. The premise is good and there is some fluidity, but pat yourself on the back for making it to the end……

A good listen

If you could sum up The Stranger House in three words, what would they be?

Surprises to the end

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Stranger House?

I enjoyed the last part, where they named that little baby! I waited for Reginald Hill to come up with a surprise.

What does Gordon Griffin bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Gordon Griffen gave each character its own personality with the use of his voice

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I listen to the books in my car on my way to work and home, 2 hours a day

Any additional comments?

A good story, not however The Woodcutter was probably his best.

an OK read

This wasn't a bad book, but overall I was underwhelmed. The narration was good, which gives it points as an audiobook, but the story fell a little flat. The background stories of the central characters and even the second-tier characters were actually pretty interesting. The problem was that they were infinitely more interesting than the two main characters, themselves. They were quite two dimentional, and I found myself not really caring what happened with them. And the constant relating of everything in Sam's narrative to a math problem....gack.

A good story - BUT

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

A good story

Who was your favorite character and why?

Thor. A great but kind manipulator.

Did Gordon Griffin do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

The narration was irritatingly slow, but reasonably good at giving the characters recognizable voices when they spoke.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, because it was too long to listen to all at once.

Any additional comments?

A good story but the narrator detracted from my enjoyment.

Ok, but it dragged on a bit.

I bought this because I just finished The Woodcutter which I finished in one day as it was so wel written and narrated. This was ho hum. A little disappointing.

Way too long and hard to follow.

Too many story lines going on. Really liked “The Woodcutter” from same author so thought I’d try another. Didn’t love it.

Not one of his best

Absolutely loved The Woodcutter and many of the Dalziel books, but I had to force myself to stick with this one all the way through. I'm not sure how much of the problem is attributable to the Writer and how much to the Narrator but the story doesn't gell. I guess it would be best described as a local history book, but it is fairly slow moving. I also had to go and check when it was written as it felt rather like a 1930s book that had been jarringly updated by mentioning laptops, sex and mobile phones at random moments. As it turns out, it is indeed written and set in current times but is an odd blend that feels very out of date. The central characters are meant to be in their 20s but as depicted they are implausible and the characterisation is wooden and does not get beyond caricature.