I reviewed this book as part of Rosie’s Book Review Team.
The Ones Who Never Left is advertised as a Gothic thriller, and it definitely fulfills that description. It focusses on the just married couple who decide to be the guardians for an old and supposedly haunted house and characters populating the surrounding community and only gradually does the reader get into the ghosts.
Lucy and Hugh live in a small apartment and have jobs that are less than fulfilling. They decide to get married rather quickly, and equally quickly decide to move to the country to live in the old Rook House. There Hugh will be able to write his novel, while maintaining his part time job remotely, and Lucy will be able to indulge in painting full time.
As they learn about the ghosts that supposedly inhabit the house, they remain fairly unfazed. Initially it’s just doors left open, maybe a scream in the night, plus creaks in the house and a fierce painting of Rook House’s builder, that once turned to the wall, turns itself around. Hugh and Lucy are the perfect audience for the ghosts— Hugh unsure of himself, making snap decisions, and hiding things from Lucy, while Lucy is determined to find out more about the former inhabitants and becomes increasingly suspicious of her husband. As the house gradually becomes more sinister, Lucy and Hugh learn how much they don’t know about each other and their marriage faces some cracks and hurdles.
The people whom they meet are very well characterized: the elderly housekeeper Snowy Bird, who never stays long in the house; her son Pinky Bird who supposedly poaches in the woods near Rook House; Hugh’s overbearing and wealthy parents, who give him a substantial money that he fails to tell Lucy about; and Jude Hollenbeck, a rich neighbor who drives a red sports car and is always on the lookout for new men to seduce.
The tension is delivered in building punches, as the house and the neighbors reveal its and their secrets.
I did find a few problems that detracted from the read. The book was a slow starter and jumped around a bit. The second is minor – the tendency of the characters to use abbreviations such as “at the mo,” “soz” for sorry, “cos” for because. This didn’t help to distinguish the different characters by their speech. Some phrases initially perplexed such as “Mind if I take a shufti?” and “hand in the Shard.” It’s probably because I’m an American reading a book written by a British author. The third, more serious, was the ending. It left me with a mass of confusing thoughts and ghosts. I had to read it twice and I’m not sure I got it. But it sure was interesting.
In any event, the book is a page turner, and let me know if you figure out the ending.
About the author:
Gabrielle Mullarkey is an award-winning author with three previous novels and over 3,000 short stories and serials for magazines across the UK and beyond. As a journalist, she’s contributed features, travel writing and opinion pieces to a wide range of publications, and she has an MSc in Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes.
Her writing has been broadcast on radio, adapted for audio downloads, and has won or been shortlisted in writing competitions. She’s served as a writing judge, teaches creative writing for local authorities, and has led therapeutic writing workshops for hospices and mental health charities.
You can find her at
https://substack.com/@gabriellewriter
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielle-mullarkey-090a64b6/?originalSubdomain=uk
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