The Vanishment

by Jonathan Aycliffe

Writer Peter Clare has bright hopes that a summer by the sea in Cornwall will renew his faltering marriage. But when his wife becomes the next victim of "the vanishments" of Petherick House, Peter is plunged into a battle with unspeakable evil. From the author of Whispers in the Dark.

Genres: Horror, Ghosts, Gothic, Fiction, Supernatural, Ghost Stories, Fantasy

227 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 11, 1994

About the author

aka Daniel Easterman

Jonathan Aycliffe (Denis M. MacEoin) was born in Belfast in 1949. He studied English, Persian, Arabic and Islamic studies at the universities of Dublin, Edinburgh and Cambridge, and lectured at the universities of Fez in Morocco and Newcastle upon Tyne. The author of several successful full-length ghost stories, he lives in the north of England with his wife, homeopath and health writer, Beth MacEoin. He also writes as Daniel Easterman, under which name he has penned nine bestselling novels.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aycliffe has a way with ghost stories and The Vanishment constitutes one of his better efforts, in line with his Naomi's Room. This starts with Peter and Sarah Clare heading out to Cornwall to spend a few months in an old mansion they rented-- the Petherick House. Peter wants to write short stories for an upcoming book and Sarah wants to paint. Seems ideal! Yet, shortly after their arrival, Sarah wants to go home, as she senses something wrong, if not evil, at the house. At the local pub, the locals avoid the couple, but they learn that the Petherick house has a bad rep...

While at first this seemed to be a haunted house tale, and yes, there is something of that here, Aycliffe goes much deeper, but I do not want to go too much into detail to avoid spoilers. Nonetheless, after a week or so at the house, Sarah one night just disappears in the middle of the night. Peter is frantic, calls their friends in London, but no dice. After a few days, he calls the cops and they investigate, but find nothing. It seems Peter and Sarah have had a rocky relationship and no one is really surprised if Sarah left him. Yet, they had been getting along fairly well. When Peter and the local cop in charge of the case start digging into the history of the house, things start to get really strange and mysterious!

All in all, a lovely little tale, just a bit longer than a novella, but one featuring numerous surprises as it unfolds, plus some really nasty foo associated with the house and its prior occupants. This went places I did not expect which I really enjoyed. If you like ghost stories, you should definitely check out Aycliffe, who is really a master of the 'modern' gothic. 4 spooky stars!!

[David Stephens · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a sense, there is really nothing amazing about Jonathan Aycliffe's The Vanishment. It begins as a fairly conventional ghost tale with a couple planning on staying in an old Victorian house near the sea simultaneously to get away from their ordinary lives and to get some work done. Not long after their arrival, they begin hearing whispers, footsteps, and doors opening and closing on their own. When they are away at the local pub, lowly residents drop hints about the terrible events associated with the house. Almost instantly, the protagonist's wife intuits the house harbors something evil. She tries to convince her husband they need to leave, but, of course, he thinks this is ridiculous. And then, she vanishes.

Even after this first portion of the story, Aycliffe follows the conventions of many other horror writers, especially those of Lovecraft. Photos and paintings of former residents of the cursed house bear striking resemblances to living characters. The protagonist catches glimpses of a figure dressed in black watching him. He also feels the house and its inhabitants drawing him back to it, no matter where he is or how much he wants to move on with his life.

And yet, Aycliffe does so many little things well that the book seems greater than the sum of all its parts. Mysterious packages, creepy children, horrible stories about past cruelties, and even the aforementioned ghostly trappings never come off as stale or derivative. The characters are believable and many of them garner great sympathy even after making foolish or outright wicked decisions. They periodically interject clever notions or questions about life, love, and work without sounding pretentious or hackneyed. New mysteries are introduced, extended, and resolved throughout the book, continually reengaging readers. Nothing is forced; the pacing is just so that these elements merely fall into place at just the right time.

Ultimately, Aycliffe has managed to piece together so many little elements of dread into a genuinely spellbinding and creepy tale.

[Sue Bridehead (A Pseudonym) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read this fast little book twice and enjoyed it tremendously both times. It's a classic-style gothic ghost story set near Cornwall, and it has everything a person could ever want in such a ghost story -- vengeful spirits, waves breaking on the cliffs, mist engulfing the old creepy house...

The first time around, I read it as a straight first-person narration by a survivor.

The second time, I paid more attention to the unreliable narrator. Lots of question marks are raised by Peter Clare's narration. As the book continues, we find out a little more about him: he committed an awful crime against his daughter, by mistake, years earlier. (In which case, why would his friends let him spend time alone with their child? And why wouldn't his wife leave him?) He served prison time. (Again: ??) He refers to his missing wife as someone he loved an awful lot, and says her absence distresses him terribly. (Would a loving husband really need to tell us this?)

The big question, of course, being: did anything in this story actually happen? Or did some of it, but was the rest an invention? If so -- what's invented, and what's real? How much of the story's supernatural aspects are just fancy rationales concocted by Peter Clare's guilty conscience? If he's done a bunch of bad things, isn't it nicer to blame it all on a vicious, evil ghost? Which raises another point: the narrator has some serious issues with girls and women. Maybe the ghost story is a psychological drama through which he purges his anger at his daughter and wife for leaving him... and landing him in prison.

So maybe that's the crux of the story. He gets out of prison after doing something horrible... tries to reunite with his wife... she's not having any of it... he does away with her... has a psychotic break... kidnaps his friends' child... gets caught and goes right back to prison.

At the end of a short little pulpy horror book like this, it's a fun and novel experience to be asking questions and speculating theories. This elevates the book above most disposable supernatural fluff. I'm not a big fan of having all the dots connected for me. (That's why I love the TV show "Lost".)

That being said, one fact bugs me. I've read the book twice, and I still don't know what it is that Peter Clare finds in the hidden broom closet and tosses into the ocean at the end. He tells us he wraps it in sheets, but we never do know what it is or why he knew to look there for it.

I've thought about every possible angle, and I'm not getting it. Is it something as banal as the little girl's cat (which would presuppose that the ghost story is "true"), or is it something that truly rocks the core of the story and proves that Clare made it all up?

Anyone out there have a clue? (Anyone out there actually read this book?)

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great creepy tale in the truly Gothic tradition, with such evocative locales and an intriguing protagonist. Recommended for a quick, spine-tingling read, especially if you like Susan Hill, Michelle Paver or F. G Cottam.

[Kelly B · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I found several similarities to Naomi's Room in The Vanishment, I personally liked the former quite a bit more.

In The Vanishment, author Peter Clare and his long-suffering wife rent a house in the Cornish countryside for a nice seaside holiday. What they find instead of "R & R" is a dismal old house full of a strange dark atmosphere, and a mystery.

While well written, I didn't find this book at all frightening. Towards the end it reminded me of a made-for-TV mild ghost movie. But, I was intrigued by the mystery, and interested enough that I had a hard time putting the book down.

The characters aren't all that fleshed out, and it was hard to comprehend some of their decisions and actions. In particular, Sarah's choice to stay with her husband even after he killed their child was incomprehensible to me. Why in the holy hell would you stay with a man like that??? . I would have liked a little more insight into the characters' thoughts and feelings.

In short, this is a quick read and a decent ghost/haunted house story.

[Tressa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, have to say this was a disappointment. A paint-by-the-numbers haunted house story that oddly links up family members in different centuries. I didn't like the protagonist at all. Very predictable with mildly spooky parts.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 2 out of 5]

A troubled couple stay in a remote house in an attempt to get away from everything and save their marriage.

‎This supernatural / horror story had some outstanding elements but the core plot was muddled (with far too many family co-incidences) and the main character was so flawed / unsympathetic I couldn’t believe anyone would trust/ help him. If the main character had met a gruesome end it would have been more satisfying.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peter and Sarah rent a cottage in Cornwall for a two month period. They've come to write and to paint and to forget about the traumas of their past. But Sarah has an uneasy feeling about the house and it unnerves her. Then Peter wakes to find she's disappeared in the middle of the night. More spookiness follows. This was a classic haunted house story with subtle horror that leads to an all-revealing ending. Very enjoyable and a quick easy read at just over 200 pages.

[Emily Hale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Did not expect this to be anywhere near as good as it was, or half as scary 😍!

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well well well...

What can be said about this book?
With less than 230 pages I hope something fast paced, and having read other books by the author like "The Matrix" or "the Lost" I hope something reminiscent but unfortunately it wasn't. I don't think the book is/was bad but I think it was not as good.

This novel is more akin to some old gothic novel in terms of pace and story. There isn't much fright evolved (probably the last 20 pages have some supernatural phenomenons).

Basically a couple go to a house for some vacation and the woman dislike the house and warns the husband of it. After a couple of days, the woman disappears and there is a investigation. Nothing comes up. Afterwards the man goes back to London where he stay at a friends house. Their daughter (The friends's) start saying stuff he read on reports on the house they stay almost a century before. Months afterwards his wife turns out dead. He then learns that the previous owner wife also vanish in that same house.

Soon afterwards their friends have an accident and they are both killed. The man then takes the child to that house to try to get rid of the curse.

In the end we get some strange connections, a bit far-fetched some, but all works out... There is a final "fright" and we learn a bit more about the main character past.

I hope for a different ending but as I said I think the author try to make some ode to old Gothic tales... why do I say this? Well, only in the last 30 pages or so, we learn that the man had a child and due to his drinking problem he got violent and killed his child. Still his wife kept with him (he was arrest 5 years). I thought that the author, since he only in the end, release that information, was trying to say that everything was in his mind and the drinking problem... i say this because there are several instances he was drinking AND because when he was at the house he thought he wrote several short stories and sent to his editor. Later on the Editor says that indeed he received his work BUT it was only one short story that basically told the house horror tale.... BUT it seems the writer was not going that way...

Nevertheless, good story - I read it in 3 days that means something, no?
Unfortunately it felt old, out of pace and the ending disappointed me with the confrontation of the supernatural being. The good parts; well the rural feeling, the story of the house, the child and the dread from the last 20/30 pages.

[Dez Nemec · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up because I read Naomi's Room earlier this year and it blew me away.

Peter Clare and his wife, Sarah, rent a house in the country to relax and attempt to put their lives back together. Immediately upon entering the home, Sarah says it's horrible and she won't stay. Naturally, he's annoyed - wouldn't you be? Then some gossipy woman in the village tells Sarah that the reason why none of the villagers will speak to them at the bar is because they are staying at the horrible Petherick House. Apparently, there is a history in the village of referring to mysterious disappearances as vanishments, suggesting an evil spirit came for them in the night. Not too long later, Sarah simply disappears. Peter waits a few days, hoping she'll show up in London even though her purse is still in the house.

At this point, things veer off in directions I hadn't expected. I thought the whole book would be about Sarah, but apparently he wasn't the only person victim of a vanishment. Like Naomi's Room, there were several places where this book could've gone, and I did not anticipate it would go where it did. Not quite as good, but still an interesting Gothic tale.

[Donnelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a tough one to rate. On one hand, the plot is quite good. However, the author took a real risk with his characters, and that risk simply did not pay off (for me, at least).

The highlight of the book is its plot. The backstory of Petherick House is sufficiently disturbing, and the story is crafted in such a way that a sense of dread pervades the book, starting right from the very beginning. The description on the back of the book gives the reader fair warning that some significant, creepy events (including the wife's disappearance) will take place, and each event is bolstered by the fact that the atmosphere is always a bit unnerving, and there is always a sense of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Aycliffe is quite good at ensuring that the reader often feels at least a little off-balance, and when the aforementioned events occur, they are certainly suspenseful. I can't say that anything that happens falls into the truly terrifying category, but there are a few points that are genuinely creepy and verge on being scary, particularly near the end.

The pacing is a little problematic, as there are times in which things happen very quickly, and there are also times in which the story drags a bit. That's not an insurmountable issue, though, because I think that Aycliffe does a good enough job of making things just intriguing enough that even when the action slows, the reader still cares enough to continue reading in order to find out how things progress.

The real issue I had with 'The Vanishment' is the characters, particularly the protangist (Peter), but pretty much every character is not exactly sympathetic. As the character that we follow throughout the course of the book, we are shown Peter's thoughts as everything transpires, and he's just. . . horrible. He's so cold and disconnected from actual human emotions that I actually found myself re-reading some of his thoughts with disbelief that Aycliffe thought it was a good idea to make Peter so callous, on more than one occasion. His wife's disappearance isn't a spoiler (again, it's mentioned in the book's description), but I should preface the following with the warning that some of my thoughts about his reaction and some other character-related moments will be vaguely spoiler-y, so I'll enter better safe than sorry mode and leave some space. . .

After his wife's disappearance, Peter is so self-centered and removed from actual feelings that I started to actively loathe him. He has a few token thoughts of quasi-concern, but those all-too-quickly go by the wayside, as he never seems particularly anxious or worried or scared about what has happened to his wife. Granted, it could be argued that he was in shock, but since that overall mindset and method of operation for him continues throughout the book, I think the explanation is that Peter is essentially a fairly awful person. In fact, not all that much time (I think it was something like 4-6 months) passes before he starts looking at other women and even having difficulty picturing his wife's face. Now, they had been married for over two decades, and had been through quite a horrific experience (about which I will not go into detail, but suffice it to say, it made Peter irredeemable, in my view), but in the matter of just a few months, he starts to forget what she looks like. I guess that's not all that surprising because most of their interaction prior to her disappearance is full of him disregarding her thoughts and feelings. And when the horror begins to affect the other people around him in truly catastrophic ways (partly because he never thought about the consequences of any of his actions), he seems so blase about all of it. He's just horrible; really, truly horrible, and I almost never feel that way about characters because they usually have at least one trait that, while not making them sympathetic necessarily, does at least make them even the tiniest bit more understandable. That did not happen in this case - Peter started off on a relatively sour note, and it just grew progressively worse, with every self-absorbed, cold thought he had.

The other characters, as I said, do not fare much better. Peter's wife isn't unsympathetic, but she does seem to be severely lacking in the backbone department. Their close friends are little more than proverbial cardboard cutouts, but one moment seemed to pretty much set the tone for at least one of them, too: (Note: this is a spoiler for one very brief scene, but that scene doesn't have any impact on anything else that happens): After his wife's disappearance, Peter goes to stay with their two friends Tim and Susan (and their young daughter), and one night, Susan actually offers to have sex with Peter, in order to "comfort" him. Peter considers this for a moment, and then says "better not" because Susan and Tim are happily married. The fact that he actually had to remind her that she was happily married and probably didn't want to hurt her husband (her offer included the requisite mention of how Tim didn't have to know) made me roll my eyes so hard that I almost hurt myself, as I had to wonder (for the umpteenth time) what was wrong with these people. That, in addition to the fact that Tim and Susan display a remarkably poor lack of judgment (others may not agree with this) in terms of their present situation with Peter and the aforementioned past horrific event that concerned Peter and his wife, was just a further indication that the characterization in this book, pretty much across the board, left something to be desired. And that's putting it mildly.

What it all boils down to is that I simply could not stand the characters, particularly Peter who rapidly became one of the worst characters about whom I have ever read. That said, the ghosts, possession, poltergeist activity, and the truly disturbing (even horrifying) past events that served as the purpose of, and impetus for, everything else, made the book a pretty good read. If one can get past the characters.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compelling and chilling read but I must confess to a real dislike of main character

[Emi Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect story telling and naturally the story makes you feel sick as always great job

[Iulia Ersilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unul dintre cele mai bune romane de suspans citite de mine.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peter is a writer and Sarah is an artist and they decide they want to escape to the country for a couple of months to work on their marriage and their separate projects. Peter and Sarah first arrive at the house late at night. They find it cold and damp, and in need of a good airing. Sarah gets a bad feeling about the place and is reluctant to spend the night there.

A few days later Sarah goes missing. At first, Peter doesn’t worry too much, thinking she has just gone off to spend some time away from the house but after a couple of days he contacts the police. They are suspicious of his delay in reporting her disappearance but he does his best to explain that he had nothing to do with it. However, as the story continues disquieting facts from Peter’s past begin to emerge.

In Peter’s hunt for the truth he discovers that the house has a history of disappearing women – but is it too late to save Sarah? I don’t want to give too much away about the ending but it was fairly gripping and well done. I wasn’t a massive fan of the narrative style but overall the actual story was quite good.

For my full review, please visit: https://aliceandthebooks.wordpress.co...

[Goddess Of Blah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could barely breath reading this book. Don't reading this on your own during the night. Ridiculously frightening.

But certain things were conveniently left out and brought in which made it a little meh.

Otherwise well worth reading.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going to have a hard time rating this one.  It lacked a completely satisfying conclusion-- but on the other hand, I found it really, really creepy.  Was most of it a hodge-podge of "creepy stuff" we've seen or read before?  Yes, but it was still creepy!  I'd rather an author use tried and true eerie elements than attempt to make something entirely original that simply falls flat.  (Or in other words, there's a reason these things seem familiar.  They work, so no wonder they're kept in constant rotation.)

I recommend this book for readers more interested in the journey than the destination-- anyone in the mood for shivers.  Prepare to think twice about walking through the house in the dark, and don't be surprised if you get the feeling that something's looking over your shoulder as you read...


In Greater Detail (with SPOILERS):
--  Some things (like the fact that the Clares were never meant to have been allowed to rent Petherick House) were immediately obvious.  Others should have been obvious, but for some reason I missed them.  (Witness the location of Catherine's body, hinted at early on by the clue in Sarah's painting.)

-- This is the second book I've read (in recent memory) with a coin-fed meter box for electricity in a rented building/room.  (The other was Stella Gibbons' Starlight, incidentally.)  I don't know if that was/is a "British thing"-- or just not an American thing... or if it's (been) done in the U.S., too, and I only happen never to have seen or heard about it.

I guess it makes sense for a rented place, but it strikes me as odd.  I can't imagine living somewhere where I'd have to put coins in a box to keep the lights on, as opposed to paying a monthly bill through the mail.  On the positive side(?), I guess it would serve to make you more immediately conscious of your electricity usage. 

(...Okay, looked it up.  It seems they were used in at least parts of the U.S. in the early fifties.  They were installed as a "penalty" if you had a history of not paying your bill!  The person I found discussing it called it a quarter meter.)

--  I was uncertain for a while of when the book took place.  I guess it was meant to be present-day (published in the mid-90s, with most of the action taking place about ten years prior to that).  Eventually, there is enough information given (Peter's age, year of conviction, etc.) that you could narrow it down to almost the exact time, if you were that interested.  (I'm not.)

--  I liked how quickly things started happening.  None of this "everything seemed fine for several days/weeks" business.  Sarah knows right away that something's wrong.

--  I've read several other reader reviews, already, and some of the points others have made echoed my own thoughts.  First, Peter is an unsympathetic character.  Early in the book, he admits to himself (and us) that his wife doesn't mean "everything" to him.  Then we have his casual reaction to her fears.  He emotionally blackmails her into staying at Petherick House, even though he knows there's something "off" about the place and that it's troubling her.  Why is he so determined that they stay?  Then when she goes missing, he doesn't seem especially bothered.  Even taking into consideration the fact that they've had problems in the past, it's not the behavior of a loving husband.  ("The devil of it was that I loved her very much.  We had been married thirteen years." ...Yes, I can really sense the great love you felt toward her.)  Later, when we learn more about Peter's history, it's even more difficult to sympathize with him.

--  Speaking of Peter's history, it's awfully suspicious that the reader doesn't learn the particulars of his past (his drunken accidental killing of his own daughter, his time in prison, and the subject of his early works) until so late in the book.  It lends credence to one reader/reviewer's suggestion that Peter is an unreliable narrator who may be even less innocent than he would have us believe.  How much of this narrative can we trust? 

--  It seems unlikely that Sarah would stay with Peter, given the way their daughter died.  Even if you can accept that she manages to forgive him, why would Susan and Tim leave their own young daughter in Peter's care while Susan's off at work?  Maybe he's stopped drinking, but I can't imagine entrusting my child to someone with that kind of history.  Not worth the risk.

-- The bleak insertions of the "present-day Peter" into the narrative removes all hope for a happy resolution and darkens an already dark tale.  From those "present-day" comments, I think we're meant to infer that Peter has concluded that his efforts to "lay the ghosts" haven't been entirely successful.  The mother and child are at peace, yes, but Agnes is as bitter and malevolent as ever.  In killing Susannah Adderstone, he saved Rachel, but Agnes is still there, haunting Petherick House.  When Peter gets out of prison and has nowhere to go but there, she will be waiting to torment him in his final days.

--  There were so many parallels that they got a little bit silly.  The death/disappearance dates all falling on July 16th.  Sarah's resemblance to Susannah Trevorrow.  Sarah (according to her sister) just happening to have bought a bracelet that looks exactly like the one belonging to Susannah Trevorrow.  Susannah Adderstone's resemblance to Agnes.  The inspectors both dying of TB within a few months of taking on the cases of "vanishment".  Both Peter's and S. Trevorrow's daughters being named "Catherine".  Some of it is explained away by the blood link-- but apparently several young women and children in the community have gone missing or been affected without any family connection.  Rachel, too, is profoundly affected, but there's no reason to suspect that she was related to the Trevorrows.

-- Speaking of Rachel... Are we meant to believe that she's being temporarily possessed by Catherine Trevorrow's spirit?  Or is she supposed to be remembering a past life?  I really hope it's the former, because the latter is just too much of a coincidence, don't you think?  The fact that it's even a question (for me, at least) is a testament to the fact that things are rather in a jumble in this book.  The author's method seems to have been to take a little of this, a little of that, and a touch of something else, then swirl it all together and hope that it makes sense in the end.  All (or most) of the individual elements are good (creepy) on their own, but somehow there's a little less coherent adhesion than one might have hoped.  The sum of the parts?  Not greater than the whole, I'm afraid.

--  That said, some of those parts are super creepy.  When we finally learn exactly what happened in the house... Agnes calmly making herself a meal after locking away her sister and niece... Then the terrible discovery she makes when she opens the door again... The image of Susannah standing, staring out that window... ~shudder~  And then Agnes covering the window and leaving Susannah to die in the dark.  Yeah, that's scary.

--  The legal system seems to let Peter off fairly lightly for his crimes.  For the conviction of manslaughter (the accidental, drunken killing of his daughter), he spent five years in prison.  Then the incident with Susannah Adderstone took place.  We're told that he was only acting to save Rachel's young life, but to the outside world, it looks like he's just taken an axe to the neck of an innocent young woman, with no provocation.  (She'd have no reason for wanting to harm Rachel.  No violent past and hardly any connection to Peter.  Also, this happened in a house her father owns, whereas Peter is hiding out after having "abducted" Rachel.)  For this offense, he's spent ten years in prison.  He tells us, "in a few years I shall be a free man again." Good grief!  He's literally an axe murderer, in the eyes of the law.  At what point do they decide to just keep you away from other people for the rest of your life?

--  Thinking over the book, there's one thing that happens toward the end that I just can't completely figure out.  I've tried reading reviews, but I've only found other readers equally as confused.  This is the problem:  After killing Susannah A. (possessed by Agnes), he's recounting the two things he had to do.  One was burying Catherine T.'s remains with her mother's in the graveyard.  (He discovered those remains hidden in one of the walls of the room where she died.)  The other task "was to go downstairs and break open the old cupboard that Agnes had boarded up, the one between the kitchen and the study.  What I found there I wrapped in sheets the next morning, after the mist had cleared.  I took the bundles down to the cliff and threw them into the sea.  It was better no one knew.  Tredannack and its inhabitants would not rest any easier for being told."

The question is, what was in the cupboard?  The best solution I can come up with is that it's the rest of the physical evidence of what Agnes did to her sister and niece.  She threw her sister into the ocean, and she hid what was left of her niece behind a wall, but there had also been a lot of other "stuff" in her sister's room.  Mr. Adderstone told Peter, "The room had been ripped to shreds.  Driven mad with thirst and hunger, Susannah had torn the bedclothes to pieces.  She had stripped the paper from the walls.  Her own clothes had been shredded. ... There was a lot of blood."  And after Susannah finally died, Agnes had to get rid of the evidence: "All I know is that somehow she cleared the room."  My guess is that the cupboard/closet was stuffed with all of the ripped fabric and wallpaper-- and whatever Agnes had to use to clean all traces of blood.  She put them in there, then sealed them in, never to be seen again.  Only Rachel-as-Catherine remembered that there used to be a door, and mentioned it to Peter, who apparently put two and two together.

Throwing the stained, befouled shreds of fabric and wallpaper into the sea would've been unwise, because someone might have found them and linked them to Petherick House.  Why she wouldn't have burned or buried them, I can't say.  I'm also not sure how long those kinds of things would last, hidden away in a closet-- but it's the only explanation I can come up with, so until something better comes along...

--  Certain aspects of this book remind me of The Uninvited (a.k.a. Uneasy Freehold)-- only this story is about 100 times darker.

--  Quibbles aside, it was an absorbing read, and I'd like to try another of the author's books, sometime. 

[Adam Dawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 / 5 for 'The Vanishment' by Jonathan Aycliffe

This is the 2nd of Aycliffe's horror novels that I've read, and I remain pretty impressed to be fair. My first experience of Aycliffe was 'Naomi's Room' which I enjoyed immensely.

My only real negative with NR was that it seemed to end very abruptly. Unfortunately, that is also a negative with this book too - the ending comes suddenly, and even though the author makes a good effort to tie everything off neatly, there remain a few question marks for me, and that's my second negative - I do like a little mystery in books, I like to figure things out for myself, but there was a couple of unanswered questions near the end which bothered me. For example; what was in the cupboard, that he disposed of? I have an idea, but I'm not 100% sure that I'm correct. Another example; I know what happens near the very end, I followed the sequence of events perfectly well, but what exact crime was he convicted of, because there are a couple of different ones near the end, with wildly different sentences. Stuff like that should be at least touched upon, so the reader can have the fullest picture of what has transpired.

Those really are my only 2 negatives though - everything else was great. The story builds quickly, and whilst it is only 230 pages long, the book still zooms along at an exciting pace. I like how we are drip-fed bits of info about Peter's past, and this was handled brilliantly. To know too much too soon may have spoilt the story somewhat.

Peter is a decidedly unlikeable protagonist and I think this works really well - it lends the story a certain coldness, which compliments the grim feeling of building dread quite nicely.

There is a small but well fleshed out supporting cast, and I especially liked Inspector Raleigh. The characterisation isn't massive as it's a short novel, but there is more than enough to get a good feel for the characters. The dialogue all feels very natural and the 1st person narration of the book is executed very well.

In terms of horror, this is an excellent book. Aycliffe has a real and genuine talent for ghost stories - he builds dread wonderfully and creates a true feeling of tension that pervades the whole book. The horrific sections are truly horrific (considering I'm an atheist, so I don't believe in ghosts etc, for a ghost story to actually scare me, the writer must be doing a great job), and there is a wonderful unpleasant creepiness that ebbs and flows through the whole book.

Overall, this is an excellent ghost story and an excellent horror novel. Aycliffe has a wonderful talent for writing genuinely scary stories. I just wish the ending had been expanded slightly, so certain questions could have been answered properly.

Nevertheless - a great horror novel, and a great ghost story.

4 / 5

[KL Caley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been on my to-read pile for a long time and I don’t know what kept making me select others over it but boy do I regret that decision now. This book is brilliant. Such an enjoyable proper ghost story. Without all the gory bells and whistles that often fills this genre.

I had previously been advised to read “The Matrix” by Jonathan Aycliffe which was very good (dark, brooding, creepy) but “The Vanishment”, I think, is better.

The Vanishment tells the secret tales of two families. The story centres around the disturbing past of Petherick House and it’s the owners (past and present). Peter Clare, is the main character of the book who recounts his experience, he is a writer by profession which makes the book all the more intriguing as you question whether the events are the truth or a bit of writers flare. Peter Clare and his wife, Sarah, rent Petherick House for a couple of months to work on their writing and art, and to rebuild their strained marriage following a personal tragedy. After his wife Sarah disappears, and the police believe Peter is the culprit, Peter becomes consumed with trying to unravel the secrets of the house.

I always think it is useful to see an extract of an author’s writing and in this book there are loads of great bits to choose from but I thought this one is quite interesting as it captures a bit of the creepy brooding that appears throughout the book:

“That night I dreamed a very strange dream. I dreamed I was in the hallway, looking up the stairs. For some reason, I was afraid. There was something at the top of the stairs, something I did not want to see or meet. And the upper half of the staircase was in darkness. In spite of my fear, I felt myself being drawn, step by reluctant step, along the hall to the foot of the stairs.” …”

One of the things I loved about this book was the multi-timeline element. Parts of this story could be a dark historical fiction novel, Aycliffe does such a brilliant job of bringing that Victorian era through the pages.

I have been trying to think of a modern writer whose writing is similar to this, and the only one that really springs to mind is Sarah Rayne. Traditional mystery and macabre type of writing with a historic undertone. It also has a touch of Susan Hill about it.

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[Stephen Bacon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jonathan Aycliffe’s The Vanishment begins with such a traditional opening that it drew me in instantly. I did not intend to read the entire novel, but I found the style of writing to be so compelling that I couldn’t help but read on.

Author Peter Clare rents an old manor house in Cornwall for the summer, in an effort to repair his struggling marriage. It's peaceful and spacious, and there's enough room for him to write and his wife Sarah to concentrate on her painting. But the house has a sinister history and there's a reason why the old place has stood uninhabited for so long. Then Sarah goes missing - the locals describe it as a 'vanishment' and Peter is pitched against a supernatural force intent on wreaking revenge from beyond the grave.

Jonathan Aycliffe was the pen-name of Northern Irish author Denis MacEoin - who also wrote thrillers under the name Daniel Easterman. Sadly he died in 2022 but he left a decent array of work.
The Vanishment is an absolute masterclass in atmosphere and dread. Aycliffe writes such straightforward prose, yet manages to achieve so much in such few words. There is little that's original about this novel, but it genuinely is a frightening story, and the passages describing the haunting are among the most effective I've read in the genre. For those looking for something traditionally spooky but with a skillful punch of terror, this comes recommended.

[Johan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very relaxed and easy read. And I mean that in all the good ways!

The story in itself is your average "victorian house by the sea with a terrible secret".
It's very predictable in that sense, you can almost skip the first half of the book.
Peter and Sarah arrive at the house, he is a struggling writer and she is a painter. But she gets a bad feeling around the house, especially in one of the rooms, which he of course does not believe in. And eventually she vanishes, gasp!

He tries to contact the cops, relatives, ask around the village and so on, but no one has seen her.... Actually, this part really annoyed me because it takes up a large portion of the book, and yet I felt we really didn't need this part! I hope no one honestly believed she would be gone and then Peter would find Sarah had just gone down to the pub?

However, I did enjoy the book for what it was: A ghost story in the vein of Susan Hill. Perfect reading for halloween! I recommend it if you want just a simple and fun ghost story.

[J. Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd seen a rave review about Aycliffe and found a few books, not the one that was raved about. At first The Vanishment hit all the right gothic notes: location, feeling of gloomy and sordid history and then a disappearance. Then somewhere along the way, I realized that the narrator was unreliable. This distanced me a bit from the goings on. His reactions seemed off. Then towards the end, it was a bit too Christie with the tumbling last-minute, oh, by the way, here's some more info you didn't get yet. I got a bit tangled in the plot, too. Disappointed. First half was great. The rest...it works, I guess, but seems contrived and hurried. As I've got two others, I'm game to give at least one a try and see. I was sure sucked in at the beginning. Maybe with a different one, I'll stay through to the end.

[Monty · Rating 5 out of 5]

~ The Vanishment by Jonathan Aycliffe ~

Christmas time means ghost story time, and, given the wet, windy, and dark winter solstice, I was pretty happy to sit by the fire and read this classic!

Aycliffe is easy to read, and while the story is simple, it's really enjoyable. The hours just drifted away!

He has you wondering what really happened all those years ago? But how many years back are we talking about? Is all as it seems?

Love it 📚📚

The book was written and set in the 90s, and it was nice to read details of the time, like borrowing a mobile phone for a day and going to Safeway!

#horror #ghoststory #thevanishment #jonathanaycliffe

[Juan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love stories about haunted houses and this one seemed to be the traditional kind I like. I enjoyed some parts of it, especially the writing, but it didn't give me chills (and I'm easily scared). Besides, some 'reactions' from the protagonist were a bit awkward and overall, the story wasn't very convincing.

It's not bad as a summer reading and it is reasonably short, but I wouldn't reccomend it as a book you must read.

[Alex Lange · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exactly what I've come to expect from Aycliffe (MacEoin). Excellent ghost story that keeps you turning the pages. I will continue to consume these books one after another.

Only negative was that I wished there was more depth to the protagonist. It felt like a lot more was teased about his past and character than ended up being revealed. That subplot felt a bit anticlimactic, but the book is steadied by a solid main plot.

[PrettyFlamingo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read, and disliked very much, Naomi’s Room by Jonathan Aycliffe. This was because of the subject matter, not the writer’s skill, so I decided to try some of his other books around Halloween and in fact went on something of a binge.

I enjoyed this one, because of the setting in Cornwall and the creepiness of a possibly haunted, and very creepy, rundown old house. Then there was the unreliability of our narrator Peter Clare. We started off being concerned for him and his wife Sarah and the tragic situation that they appeared to be in. As the story progressed it became unmistakeable that he was lying to us and to himself. And it was difficult to work out whether what was going on was truly a haunting, or whether urban myth and legend had been used for an excuse for heinous and unforgiveable crimes.

I’ve just put it back on my “to read again” pile.

[Emma-Kate McDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like this story may have read better as a shorter horror piece, like a novella. I wasn't fond of the pacing but I enjoyed the book; the lead up to the ending was spooky. Unfortunately, it felt rather rushed and addled in places.

[Gabriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

MARATÓN HALLOWEENESCO 2021

Parte 7

THE VANISHMENT
Jonathan Aycliffe

** 3.3 **

Una trama decente con buena dosis de suspenso y uno que otro pasaje ñañaresco. Se lee en una sentada.

🎃🎃🎃
👍

[Chris Cangiano · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second Aycliffe book I’ve read and it’s a tight, fast, and creepy story of vengeful ghosts and a very haunted house in Cornwall. I liked this one a lot and it made for a perfect October read. Recommended.