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The Quickening
A honeymoon couple on a tropical island goes horribly wrong. Acclaimed literary author Julie Myerson writes a tense and terrifying Hammer novella.
Rachel and Dan -- in love, expecting their first baby and also mourning the sudden death of a close friend -- want to go somewhere hot in January. When Dan produces a ring and tells her he's already booked a luxurious resort on Antigua, the holiday turns into a honeymoon. Everything should be perfect. And, at first, it is.
But Rachel's experience of the island soon turns from idyllic to disturbing. As furniture shifts and objects fly around, a waitress begs her to leave, and a fellow guest starts to frighten her, Rachel realises that something sinister is going on. When the waitress is found dead in the hotel grounds, Rachel realises her only hope is to persuade Dan they should leave. But Dan seems to have his own reasons for wanting to stay, and soon Rachel is unable to decide who -- or what -- she should be most afraid of.
Rachel and Dan -- in love, expecting their first baby and also mourning the sudden death of a close friend -- want to go somewhere hot in January. When Dan produces a ring and tells her he's already booked a luxurious resort on Antigua, the holiday turns into a honeymoon. Everything should be perfect. And, at first, it is.
But Rachel's experience of the island soon turns from idyllic to disturbing. As furniture shifts and objects fly around, a waitress begs her to leave, and a fellow guest starts to frighten her, Rachel realises that something sinister is going on. When the waitress is found dead in the hotel grounds, Rachel realises her only hope is to persuade Dan they should leave. But Dan seems to have his own reasons for wanting to stay, and soon Rachel is unable to decide who -- or what -- she should be most afraid of.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 28, 2013
2 people are currently reading
283 people want to read
About the author
Julie Myerson
25 books183 followersJulie Myerson is the author of nine novels, including the internationally bestselling Something Might Happen, and three works of nonfiction. As a critic and columnist, she has written for many newspapers including The Guardian, Financial Times, Harper’s Bazaar, and the New York Times.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
February 25, 2017
When I started reading The Quickening, it had only been rated by two other readers on Goodreads, and both of those had given it just one star. I don't know whether this had an effect on my reaction to it - perhaps, subconsciously, I enjoyed it more because my expectations were so low? - but in any case, I was pleasantly surprised to find it to be compelling, well-written and thoroughly entertaining: a good old-fashioned creepy ghost story with a modern horror twist.
It's a simple story which moves quickly and holds the reader's attention with a series of strange incidents, creating lots of tension and casting doubt on each of the characters. The protagonists are Rachel and Dan, a pair of newlyweds who, after a rushed wedding, embark on a three-week honeymoon in Antigua. Rachel is filled with inexplicable dread from the moment she looks at a picture of the resort, and when the couple arrive there, bad luck seems to follow them - from a smashed glass on their balcony to the mysterious death of a waitress who works at their hotel. However, Dan blames Rachel's paranoia on her pregnancy and insists they stay. But why does it seem as if Dan is already familiar with the island, when he claims to never have been there before? And who is the shadowy figure Rachel keeps spotting?
The narrative is atmospheric and keeps you guessing all the way through, from the fast-moving opening (maybe a bit too fast, but it does the job of hooking you from page one) to the dramatic denouement. I loved the mystery, suspense and supernatural touches, and in fact I was impressed by how effectively the 'ghost' and various dark secrets were worked into the story. It feels a bit gruesome to say this given how the book ends, but for something with a lot of scary/horrible things in it, this was really, really fun. Although: .
The Quickening is part of the Hammer imprint of horror novels and ghost stories, which also includes Helen Dunmore's The Greatcoat and Jeanette Winterson's The Daylight Gate. I actually enjoyed it a lot more than both of those. You could criticise it for being silly and full of clichés, I suppose, but I would argue that's what makes it entertaining. It's fun, schlocky and, eventually, genuinely scary - what more could you want from a Hammer Horror book? I'd recommend this to ghost story/mild horror fans wholeheartedly, and it would also make a great holiday read... Though perhaps not if you're going to Antigua.
It's a simple story which moves quickly and holds the reader's attention with a series of strange incidents, creating lots of tension and casting doubt on each of the characters. The protagonists are Rachel and Dan, a pair of newlyweds who, after a rushed wedding, embark on a three-week honeymoon in Antigua. Rachel is filled with inexplicable dread from the moment she looks at a picture of the resort, and when the couple arrive there, bad luck seems to follow them - from a smashed glass on their balcony to the mysterious death of a waitress who works at their hotel. However, Dan blames Rachel's paranoia on her pregnancy and insists they stay. But why does it seem as if Dan is already familiar with the island, when he claims to never have been there before? And who is the shadowy figure Rachel keeps spotting?
The narrative is atmospheric and keeps you guessing all the way through, from the fast-moving opening (maybe a bit too fast, but it does the job of hooking you from page one) to the dramatic denouement. I loved the mystery, suspense and supernatural touches, and in fact I was impressed by how effectively the 'ghost' and various dark secrets were worked into the story. It feels a bit gruesome to say this given how the book ends, but for something with a lot of scary/horrible things in it, this was really, really fun. Although: .
The Quickening is part of the Hammer imprint of horror novels and ghost stories, which also includes Helen Dunmore's The Greatcoat and Jeanette Winterson's The Daylight Gate. I actually enjoyed it a lot more than both of those. You could criticise it for being silly and full of clichés, I suppose, but I would argue that's what makes it entertaining. It's fun, schlocky and, eventually, genuinely scary - what more could you want from a Hammer Horror book? I'd recommend this to ghost story/mild horror fans wholeheartedly, and it would also make a great holiday read... Though perhaps not if you're going to Antigua.
June 18, 2015
Rachel gets knocked up by Dan who then proposes, they get married, and fly off to Antigua for their honeymoon. But a malevolent ghost from Dan’s past threatens their wedded bliss – it’s The Woman in Black: Haunted Holiday Edition!
It’s easy to see why, in a talk about the book, Julie Myerson mentioned her influences are Henry James and MR James because The Quickening is coma fuel. It’s not quite as bad as Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, a story that haunts me to this day for its pure tedium, but it does have a lot in common with MR James’ upper-middle-class Edwardian nonsense. Well-off Brits enjoy a holiday and are bothered by spooky things seen out the corner of the eye – that’s basically the premise of a lot of MR James’ sleepy stories.
The Quickening is boring and filled with ghost story clichés. Rachel and Dan are one-dimensional dummies that aren’t even worthy of contempt for being so flat and uninteresting (Rachel is whiny, Dan is indifferent, you are counting the pages until the end). They meet other dreary holidaymakers, drink drinks, sit in chairs, swim in the ocean, sleep in a bed. Ok – so just like every other tourist who goes to Antigua. And that’s also most of the novel!
The clichés appear here and there to break up their uneventful schedule. Did that glass move? No, Rach, you’re imagining it. Ok, Dan – wait, did those curtains rustle? Etc. Scared yet? Dan suddenly turns into a scary husband for no reason, Rachel turns into the jumpy wife; who’s paranoid and who’s not, one character goes slowly crazy – it’s all stuff that’s been done a hundred times before without any original reimagining. The pregnancy angle reeks of Rosemary’s Baby too.
Without getting into spoilers, once you get to the end, none of those cheap ghostly goings-on marry up with the story Myerson’s clumsily constructed. They were very obviously there to remind you that you were reading a (pitiful) ghost story instead of some dull holiday romance book for bored housewives, not because they made sense in the plot. If you read this, ask yourself how any of the things leading up to it fit in with regards the big “reveal”, and then ask yourself “why now – why did gsdjiojdsg choose this moment in time to do all of this?”. The twist ending, far from being shocking, comes off as a desperate and amateurish move to startle readers from the comfortable doze they’ve been in up to that point.
The story is a snoozefest but the writing is competent and, like a lot of modern novels, eschews quotation marks for dialogue. That might put some readers off but I liked the way thoughts, speech and narration all blended together naturally. It’s also relatively short (a “quickening” read, ho ho!) so it’s mercifully over quite soon. Those are the only real positives I can glean from this!
Julie Myerson’s The Quickening joins the other recent Hammer Horror books – Jeanette Winterson’s The Daylight Gate, Helen Dunmore’s The Greatcoat, Lynne Truss’ Cat Out of Hell – that have turned out to be incredibly poor horror offerings. Maybe if you’re a MR James/Henry James fan you’ll find something to enjoy in this book (though you’ll probably be tut-tutting that things aren’t going slow enough); otherwise, I’d skip this and try Shirley Jackson instead for quality, genuinely creepy horror storytelling.
It’s easy to see why, in a talk about the book, Julie Myerson mentioned her influences are Henry James and MR James because The Quickening is coma fuel. It’s not quite as bad as Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, a story that haunts me to this day for its pure tedium, but it does have a lot in common with MR James’ upper-middle-class Edwardian nonsense. Well-off Brits enjoy a holiday and are bothered by spooky things seen out the corner of the eye – that’s basically the premise of a lot of MR James’ sleepy stories.
The Quickening is boring and filled with ghost story clichés. Rachel and Dan are one-dimensional dummies that aren’t even worthy of contempt for being so flat and uninteresting (Rachel is whiny, Dan is indifferent, you are counting the pages until the end). They meet other dreary holidaymakers, drink drinks, sit in chairs, swim in the ocean, sleep in a bed. Ok – so just like every other tourist who goes to Antigua. And that’s also most of the novel!
The clichés appear here and there to break up their uneventful schedule. Did that glass move? No, Rach, you’re imagining it. Ok, Dan – wait, did those curtains rustle? Etc. Scared yet? Dan suddenly turns into a scary husband for no reason, Rachel turns into the jumpy wife; who’s paranoid and who’s not, one character goes slowly crazy – it’s all stuff that’s been done a hundred times before without any original reimagining. The pregnancy angle reeks of Rosemary’s Baby too.
Without getting into spoilers, once you get to the end, none of those cheap ghostly goings-on marry up with the story Myerson’s clumsily constructed. They were very obviously there to remind you that you were reading a (pitiful) ghost story instead of some dull holiday romance book for bored housewives, not because they made sense in the plot. If you read this, ask yourself how any of the things leading up to it fit in with regards the big “reveal”, and then ask yourself “why now – why did gsdjiojdsg choose this moment in time to do all of this?”. The twist ending, far from being shocking, comes off as a desperate and amateurish move to startle readers from the comfortable doze they’ve been in up to that point.
The story is a snoozefest but the writing is competent and, like a lot of modern novels, eschews quotation marks for dialogue. That might put some readers off but I liked the way thoughts, speech and narration all blended together naturally. It’s also relatively short (a “quickening” read, ho ho!) so it’s mercifully over quite soon. Those are the only real positives I can glean from this!
Julie Myerson’s The Quickening joins the other recent Hammer Horror books – Jeanette Winterson’s The Daylight Gate, Helen Dunmore’s The Greatcoat, Lynne Truss’ Cat Out of Hell – that have turned out to be incredibly poor horror offerings. Maybe if you’re a MR James/Henry James fan you’ll find something to enjoy in this book (though you’ll probably be tut-tutting that things aren’t going slow enough); otherwise, I’d skip this and try Shirley Jackson instead for quality, genuinely creepy horror storytelling.
April 21, 2020
It took me the first few pages to work out if I had actually read this before.. I was sure I had read a Julie Myerson story before, but I found out quite early on that it was actually 'Sleepwalking' that I had read which features another pregnant woman who is having doubts about her marriage.
In this thriller, Rachel and Dan have just got married, and Dan has booked them an amazing honeymoon in a beautiful and idyllic resort in the Caribbean. From the very start, things go wrong. Rachel sees things that no one else sees, things fall off walls, she feels unwell and a waitress tells her she must leave the resort instantly. Soon, Rachel isn't sure who she can trust, and if she is going mad... or been driven mad... but why?
Very frightening actually, and I didn't see the twist coming; it kept me up late!
In this thriller, Rachel and Dan have just got married, and Dan has booked them an amazing honeymoon in a beautiful and idyllic resort in the Caribbean. From the very start, things go wrong. Rachel sees things that no one else sees, things fall off walls, she feels unwell and a waitress tells her she must leave the resort instantly. Soon, Rachel isn't sure who she can trust, and if she is going mad... or been driven mad... but why?
Very frightening actually, and I didn't see the twist coming; it kept me up late!
July 8, 2013
This is another ghost story from the people from Hammer and it was an entertaining read but there were a few things that I wasn't so keen on. A newly wedded couple go on their honeymoon to a tropical island but things start to go wrong when things go bump in the night.
This is well written, the sentences and dialogue have been well crafted. The lack of dialogue demarcation actually makes an interesting view on the flow of the story, and the first half of the novel is quite gripping. However, I did find at times I was getting increasingly irritated with the character of Rachel - she became whingy and to be honest, if I was Dan I would have left her to it. The ghost was good, but appeared too many times, I wasn't scared of him and I would like to have discovered more of his story.
I bought the hardback and it's a pretty object, I can appreciate the interesting writing style and really enjoyed the first half. Its worth a read, if you like ghost stories, but like me, you might find you want to leave Rachel behind on the island.
This is well written, the sentences and dialogue have been well crafted. The lack of dialogue demarcation actually makes an interesting view on the flow of the story, and the first half of the novel is quite gripping. However, I did find at times I was getting increasingly irritated with the character of Rachel - she became whingy and to be honest, if I was Dan I would have left her to it. The ghost was good, but appeared too many times, I wasn't scared of him and I would like to have discovered more of his story.
I bought the hardback and it's a pretty object, I can appreciate the interesting writing style and really enjoyed the first half. Its worth a read, if you like ghost stories, but like me, you might find you want to leave Rachel behind on the island.
July 9, 2020
This was an incredibly quick read, and I read it in a day, which is usually unheard of for me with an almost 300 page count. It was fast paced and jam packed and skipped all the usual set-up and jumped straight into the action.
It was effective too. I was constantly edge-of-seat and engrossed. Rachel and Dan, while both equally unlikable and strange, were also interesting characters. Dan, being so controlling and “off”, made you question whether or not rude and off putting Rachel was really crazy or not.
The end is ambiguous. Not in the sense that we don’t know if Rachel was haunted by Hamilton, our mostly unfriendly ghost: we do. But were Rachel’s suspicions of Dan throughout the book real also? Or was she just simply possessed? I’m not sure. And why harm the lovely innocent resort staff?
Ambiguous can be good, and I’m on the fence about whether or not this is a moral cautionary tale nailed perfectly (her suspicions were real) or a slightly rushed psychopath tale (she’s simply just possessed and/or mad).
May update score after more thinking; may give it an extra star if I find it sticks in my head for a while. 3.5 for now.
It was effective too. I was constantly edge-of-seat and engrossed. Rachel and Dan, while both equally unlikable and strange, were also interesting characters. Dan, being so controlling and “off”, made you question whether or not rude and off putting Rachel was really crazy or not.
The end is ambiguous. Not in the sense that we don’t know if Rachel was haunted by Hamilton, our mostly unfriendly ghost: we do. But were Rachel’s suspicions of Dan throughout the book real also? Or was she just simply possessed? I’m not sure. And why harm the lovely innocent resort staff?
Ambiguous can be good, and I’m on the fence about whether or not this is a moral cautionary tale nailed perfectly (her suspicions were real) or a slightly rushed psychopath tale (she’s simply just possessed and/or mad).
May update score after more thinking; may give it an extra star if I find it sticks in my head for a while. 3.5 for now.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 2, 2013
Rachel and Dan -- in love, expecting their first baby and also mourning the sudden death of a close friend -- want to go somewhere hot in January. When Dan produces a ring and tells her he's already booked a luxurious resort on Antigua, the holiday turns into a honeymoon. Everything should be perfect. And, at first, it is.
But Rachel's experience of the island soon turns from idyllic to disturbing. As furniture shifts and objects fly around, a waitress begs her to leave, and a fellow guest starts to frighten her, Rachel realises that something sinister is going on. When the waitress is found dead in the hotel grounds, Rachel realises her only hope is to persuade Dan they should leave. But Dan seems to have his own reasons for wanting to stay, and soon Rachel is unable to decide who -- or what -- she should be most afraid of.
Another imprint from Hammer Horror which aims “to bring compelling and intelligent horror to a whole new market with a modern and sophisticated twist” aka Smart Horror.
The Quickening is a good fast read; a creepy premonition, whispered cryptic warnings on arrival at the idyllic destination and there is something dark and menacing lurching along a sunlit beach with "...black dirt on its hands. It had come to the island looking for her."
Crisp writing, great pacing, tense (loved the rising levels of panic) and genuinely disturbing...maybe one to leave behind if you are heading off to sunnier climes
But Rachel's experience of the island soon turns from idyllic to disturbing. As furniture shifts and objects fly around, a waitress begs her to leave, and a fellow guest starts to frighten her, Rachel realises that something sinister is going on. When the waitress is found dead in the hotel grounds, Rachel realises her only hope is to persuade Dan they should leave. But Dan seems to have his own reasons for wanting to stay, and soon Rachel is unable to decide who -- or what -- she should be most afraid of.
Another imprint from Hammer Horror which aims “to bring compelling and intelligent horror to a whole new market with a modern and sophisticated twist” aka Smart Horror.
The Quickening is a good fast read; a creepy premonition, whispered cryptic warnings on arrival at the idyllic destination and there is something dark and menacing lurching along a sunlit beach with "...black dirt on its hands. It had come to the island looking for her."
Crisp writing, great pacing, tense (loved the rising levels of panic) and genuinely disturbing...maybe one to leave behind if you are heading off to sunnier climes
April 21, 2013
Newlyweds Rachel and Dan are expecting their first baby and have gone on honeymoon to Antigua. Strange things start happening straight away, drinking glasses shatter into tiny pieces, a chandelier becomes detached from the wall and flies through the air and Rachel is having terrifying dreams that seem real. She starts to doubt everything around her and becomes suspicious of Dan who acts like he's been to the island before although he says he hasn't.
The suspense gradually builds throughout this short ghost/horror story and I was never sure what was going to happen next. I also liked the fact it was set in the hot, sunny Caribbean instead of a more common ghost story setting and it was no less creepy for this.
The suspense gradually builds throughout this short ghost/horror story and I was never sure what was going to happen next. I also liked the fact it was set in the hot, sunny Caribbean instead of a more common ghost story setting and it was no less creepy for this.
June 7, 2013
I requested this book when I saw it on the list at the Reading Rooms in Ipswich. I have read several of her other novels and really enjoyed them. I didn't realise that this was a novella from The Hammer horror genre. It is a ghost story, or maybe a possession. Either way it is somewhat like drinking a frothy coffee when you thought you were getting an espresso. Not great, not bad, far fetched, lot's of unanswered and unexplained plotlines-did i like it? Not much.
June 28, 2013
Well, I'm sad to say this but this book was really bad. It was neither scary or surprising. Basically the first chapter pretty much summarizes the entire book and the rest is just an endless repetition of the couple fighting and the woman acting hysterical over nothing ending with a lukewarm (anti)climax you can see coming way off.
May 11, 2018
A boring cliche plot... When I reached the end it was a let down. It was really lame to be honest.
The lack of any speech marks made it difficult to relax into the story at any point throughout the book. No speech marks = confusing and frustrating.
The lack of any speech marks made it difficult to relax into the story at any point throughout the book. No speech marks = confusing and frustrating.
October 17, 2015
This was a really creepy tale and quite gripping but at the end I was just thinking 'well, what happened there then?!' Very strange but a good read - 8/10.
October 7, 2014
another ghost story from julie
October 11, 2017
I read this Hammer horror novella on holiday and found it a compelling page-turner. Picking it up again to review it, I read the entire book again and realised how very clever it is.
In this haunted honeymoon story, Myerson uses a magician’s masterly sleight of hand in order to distract us from what’s really going on.
Newly pregnant, Rachel has been rather bulldozed into a quick wedding and a honeymoon in Antigua. On the way from the airport, the driver bizarrely says that her husband is on the island. ‘Not now. Always. He cannot leave.’
This echo from The Shining (You’ve always been the caretaker. I should know. I’ve always been here) sets the tone, and when they arrive at the resort, even the words, ‘Rachel held the towel to her wrists, her throat,’ made me see her stemming blood, rather than enjoying scented towels.
Myerson’s staccato reporting style, without inverted commas, makes the writing feel tense and fast-moving. Rachel’s point of view is edgy from the start – the empty suitcases look ‘depressing’; she sees a figure on the beach and shivers. Every tiny observation is used to ramp up the tension.
The real horror of the piece is Rachel and Dan’s marriage. We’ve all known a Dan – he’s the partner of a friend of yours and none of your women friends can stand him. He’s a foul-mouthed, irritable loser, a liar and a bully. When Rachel is first upset by a horrible ghostly encounter, he is drunk and bad-tempered. ‘What now?’ he says, and then drags her into his lap. His lack of sensitivity and sudden, selfish advances make us see him as a sexual predator rather than an amorous newly-wed. When she wants him to feel the baby moving, he can’t drag his eyes off the cricket. Most food nauseates Rachel and Myserson brilliantly uses descriptions of Dan gobbling with gusto to make us feel revolted on her account.
The depiction of the haunting and the way it overwhelms Rachel is skilfully observed, but what is truly masterful is the way Myerson uses our suspicion of the odious Dan to distract us from other possibilities in the story. Reading the book a second time, I realised that I had taken in details that screamed of someone else’s guilt, but brushed past them when Myerson, with expert timing, threw in another despicable facet of Dan’s character. And I’m not giving away the ending here, because Dan is also a guilty man.
I write psychological suspense stories myself, and I can only admire Myserson’s clever ruse. Rachel is pregnant and has been rushed into marriage. She is partially in denial about the nature of her relationship and later reveals that she suffers from anxiety. This all makes her vulnerable and unstable in our eyes. The ghostly events and real murders on the island destabilise her further so that we accept gaps and inconsistencies in her point of view, which only serve to make us more fearful for her and her unborn child.
The only downside to this is revealed in other reviews – some readers are irritated by Rachel as a rather hapless victim, always spoiling the holiday fun with her fainting fits. It is true that this could detract from our identification with her, but it is part of the book’s masterplan, which certainly worked on me.
Read it twice – once to be taken in and a second time to admire how brilliantly Myerson achieved this.
In this haunted honeymoon story, Myerson uses a magician’s masterly sleight of hand in order to distract us from what’s really going on.
Newly pregnant, Rachel has been rather bulldozed into a quick wedding and a honeymoon in Antigua. On the way from the airport, the driver bizarrely says that her husband is on the island. ‘Not now. Always. He cannot leave.’
This echo from The Shining (You’ve always been the caretaker. I should know. I’ve always been here) sets the tone, and when they arrive at the resort, even the words, ‘Rachel held the towel to her wrists, her throat,’ made me see her stemming blood, rather than enjoying scented towels.
Myerson’s staccato reporting style, without inverted commas, makes the writing feel tense and fast-moving. Rachel’s point of view is edgy from the start – the empty suitcases look ‘depressing’; she sees a figure on the beach and shivers. Every tiny observation is used to ramp up the tension.
The real horror of the piece is Rachel and Dan’s marriage. We’ve all known a Dan – he’s the partner of a friend of yours and none of your women friends can stand him. He’s a foul-mouthed, irritable loser, a liar and a bully. When Rachel is first upset by a horrible ghostly encounter, he is drunk and bad-tempered. ‘What now?’ he says, and then drags her into his lap. His lack of sensitivity and sudden, selfish advances make us see him as a sexual predator rather than an amorous newly-wed. When she wants him to feel the baby moving, he can’t drag his eyes off the cricket. Most food nauseates Rachel and Myserson brilliantly uses descriptions of Dan gobbling with gusto to make us feel revolted on her account.
The depiction of the haunting and the way it overwhelms Rachel is skilfully observed, but what is truly masterful is the way Myerson uses our suspicion of the odious Dan to distract us from other possibilities in the story. Reading the book a second time, I realised that I had taken in details that screamed of someone else’s guilt, but brushed past them when Myerson, with expert timing, threw in another despicable facet of Dan’s character. And I’m not giving away the ending here, because Dan is also a guilty man.
I write psychological suspense stories myself, and I can only admire Myserson’s clever ruse. Rachel is pregnant and has been rushed into marriage. She is partially in denial about the nature of her relationship and later reveals that she suffers from anxiety. This all makes her vulnerable and unstable in our eyes. The ghostly events and real murders on the island destabilise her further so that we accept gaps and inconsistencies in her point of view, which only serve to make us more fearful for her and her unborn child.
The only downside to this is revealed in other reviews – some readers are irritated by Rachel as a rather hapless victim, always spoiling the holiday fun with her fainting fits. It is true that this could detract from our identification with her, but it is part of the book’s masterplan, which certainly worked on me.
Read it twice – once to be taken in and a second time to admire how brilliantly Myerson achieved this.
December 6, 2017
The Quickening is one of a series of shortish horror novels commissioned by Hammer from authors who aren't generally known for writing horror. Other writers who have written for Hammer include Jeanette Winterson, DBC Pierre, Helen Dunmore and Sophie Hannah, and this offering is from Julie Myerson.
Pregnant Rachel has just married Dan after a surprise proposal, and Dan has booked, also as a surprise, a honeymoon to Antigua. But as soon as they arrive, Rachel starts to feel uneasy. Objects move and disappear. Food suddenly tastes of blood. A strange man in a grey suit seems to have something he wants to tell her. And a few days into the holiday, a woman is murdered.
I did like the choice of setting, as it's unusual for ghost stories to be set in hot, bright, sunny environments, and I'm a firm believer that idyllic tropical locations can be just as oppressive and frightening as dark and gloomy ones. There's also some interesting things to be said about how the line between caring for someone and bullying them can be a very fine one.
The plot though is weak and largely predictable and the pace is very uneven with a rushed and slightly incoherent ending that comes after a plodding and repetitive build-up. All the direct speech is rendered without quotation marks, which works perfectly well in some novels but adds nothing to this one and simply irritates.
While I don't need characters to be likeable to enjoy a book, I do need them to be interesting, and nobody in this book fulfils that requirement. Rachel is a weak, insipid woman, the sort who picks at food and shows zero enthusiasm for pretty much anything, and despite everything she goes through I found it hard to sympathise with her. Dan is patronising and overbearing and it's hard to see what on earth Rachel could possibly have seen in him in the first place. It's obvious that something has to give, and what that something will probably be. The horror isn't particularly frightening, and the sense of claustrophobia comes more from being stuck with Rachel and her endless passivity than from any creeping unease.
I've no idea how long Rachel and Dan''s honeymoon was actually supposed to be, but no fictional holiday has ever felt more implausibly lengthy and eventful or more peppered with stereotypical characters, and I include in that the one enjoyed by Keith Barron and Gwen Taylor in Duty Free. At the point four-fifths of the way through The Quickening when Dan mentions they've 'only' got 10 days left to go, I actually laughed out loud, and not in a good way.
Pregnant Rachel has just married Dan after a surprise proposal, and Dan has booked, also as a surprise, a honeymoon to Antigua. But as soon as they arrive, Rachel starts to feel uneasy. Objects move and disappear. Food suddenly tastes of blood. A strange man in a grey suit seems to have something he wants to tell her. And a few days into the holiday, a woman is murdered.
I did like the choice of setting, as it's unusual for ghost stories to be set in hot, bright, sunny environments, and I'm a firm believer that idyllic tropical locations can be just as oppressive and frightening as dark and gloomy ones. There's also some interesting things to be said about how the line between caring for someone and bullying them can be a very fine one.
The plot though is weak and largely predictable and the pace is very uneven with a rushed and slightly incoherent ending that comes after a plodding and repetitive build-up. All the direct speech is rendered without quotation marks, which works perfectly well in some novels but adds nothing to this one and simply irritates.
While I don't need characters to be likeable to enjoy a book, I do need them to be interesting, and nobody in this book fulfils that requirement. Rachel is a weak, insipid woman, the sort who picks at food and shows zero enthusiasm for pretty much anything, and despite everything she goes through I found it hard to sympathise with her. Dan is patronising and overbearing and it's hard to see what on earth Rachel could possibly have seen in him in the first place. It's obvious that something has to give, and what that something will probably be. The horror isn't particularly frightening, and the sense of claustrophobia comes more from being stuck with Rachel and her endless passivity than from any creeping unease.
I've no idea how long Rachel and Dan''s honeymoon was actually supposed to be, but no fictional holiday has ever felt more implausibly lengthy and eventful or more peppered with stereotypical characters, and I include in that the one enjoyed by Keith Barron and Gwen Taylor in Duty Free. At the point four-fifths of the way through The Quickening when Dan mentions they've 'only' got 10 days left to go, I actually laughed out loud, and not in a good way.
June 27, 2024
Ugh. Just ugh. The story doesn’t flow together at all in the sense that things move by “themselves” then Rachel starts seeing the ghost that she’s terrified of then she starts to go insane and jumpy but it’s just poorly written. In the end nothing ties together that you didn’t already know or figure out in a bad way, of course it’s fun when you figure out what way an author is going to go with the story IF it’s well done and this just wasn’t, it wasn’t fun to figure out because it was less foreshadowed and more blatantly telling you what was going to happen like with Rachel and the cross necklace and pearl earring from the women she killed. I mean yes she obviously killed them and you know that when the author tells you coming back from being massaged Rachel has the masseuse’s earring in her pocket for no reason.
Regarding Dan, he was so one dimensional with very little substance- all the characters were- that you know he is barely a main character as main characters should have substance and back story and should feel like fully fleshed out people however he was not.
I just hated the ending because again it was predictable in a really bad way and still made no sense, what’s Rachel’s connection to Hamilton? Why is she only seeing him now on holiday? Why does she end up so obsessed with him? It would’ve been better i think if maybe she had known Hamilton before Dan and that’s why she’s now losing her mind and picturing him everywhere. He just wasn’t a good ghost, the things moving weren’t scary or unnerving they were just there. Maybe the scary part was meant to be that seeing it from Rachel’s perspective everything around us is trying to hurt us and nobody believes me so i’m all alone with this ghost. But again. Not scary. Because there’s no connection to Hamilton.
There was also no reason to kill the waitress and masseuse besides the fact they thought something wrong was going on in their relationship, I genuinely think that’s the only reason they died, they were unnecessary deaths and didn’t add anything to the plot so why write them in?
I was just largely disappointed with the book and the writing and the plot. Wouldn’t recommend to anyone at all.
Regarding Dan, he was so one dimensional with very little substance- all the characters were- that you know he is barely a main character as main characters should have substance and back story and should feel like fully fleshed out people however he was not.
I just hated the ending because again it was predictable in a really bad way and still made no sense, what’s Rachel’s connection to Hamilton? Why is she only seeing him now on holiday? Why does she end up so obsessed with him? It would’ve been better i think if maybe she had known Hamilton before Dan and that’s why she’s now losing her mind and picturing him everywhere. He just wasn’t a good ghost, the things moving weren’t scary or unnerving they were just there. Maybe the scary part was meant to be that seeing it from Rachel’s perspective everything around us is trying to hurt us and nobody believes me so i’m all alone with this ghost. But again. Not scary. Because there’s no connection to Hamilton.
There was also no reason to kill the waitress and masseuse besides the fact they thought something wrong was going on in their relationship, I genuinely think that’s the only reason they died, they were unnecessary deaths and didn’t add anything to the plot so why write them in?
I was just largely disappointed with the book and the writing and the plot. Wouldn’t recommend to anyone at all.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 21, 2019
Pregnant Rachel is surprised by her boyfriend, Dan, with a quickie marriage and honeymoon to Antigua. One they arrive, strange things start to happen, whilst Rachel is haunted by the presence of a ghost from the past.
This could have been a great story. The ending, if a little predictable, worked - if only the MC, Rachel, hadn't been such a whiner. Honestly I was half praying for Dan to bump her off. Also I didn't like the tense in which the story was told and the complete absence of speech marks made it difficult to understand who was talking at some points. Very much a missed opportunity.
This could have been a great story. The ending, if a little predictable, worked - if only the MC, Rachel, hadn't been such a whiner. Honestly I was half praying for Dan to bump her off. Also I didn't like the tense in which the story was told and the complete absence of speech marks made it difficult to understand who was talking at some points. Very much a missed opportunity.
January 9, 2022
I can't think of this as a horror novel - it's more like a psychological thriller. There are attempts at paranormal occurrences, but they seem to flit away and are soon forgotten. There's not really anything in this novel that touches on the horror genre.
The characters fit a mold, and I can see why they are written as they are. They don't make for pleasant characters, but they do make sense, and they did fit in well with they psychological thriller angle I thought better suited this story.
The thing I didn't enjoy about this book as the lack of punctuation for dialogue. It did not make the novel easier to read, and I actually don't see the need to remove them.
The characters fit a mold, and I can see why they are written as they are. They don't make for pleasant characters, but they do make sense, and they did fit in well with they psychological thriller angle I thought better suited this story.
The thing I didn't enjoy about this book as the lack of punctuation for dialogue. It did not make the novel easier to read, and I actually don't see the need to remove them.
May 7, 2017
Its an easy read but I found it quite bland and not particularly gripping. I didn't feel especially bothered/interested in the characters and the chapters were all really long, which I also found off putting. I was glad when I'd finished it.
October 27, 2021
Rachel and Dan are in love and expecting a baby. They decide to get married and spend the honeymoon in Antigua. Once on the island, spooky things start happening.
My 1st ever Myerson /Hammer read. Fun and quick. Perfect to get in the mood for Halloween.
My 1st ever Myerson /Hammer read. Fun and quick. Perfect to get in the mood for Halloween.
February 15, 2018
Really enjoyed this. I loved the setting. Made me crave a holiday. It reminds me a lot of another book - The Honeymoon by Tina Seskis
October 28, 2023
Pretty standard airport/train station book. A pacy thriller that served me well for 4 hours of trains. Pretty forgettable but enjoyable while it lasted.
July 24, 2025
Nothing groundbreaking here unfortunately.
December 1, 2017
I love Julie Myerson but this isn't her best book. It's about a couple who go on a holiday to a Caribbean island after the woman falls pregnant, and are haunted by a strange presence. Myerson always has at least one really annoying character in her books but in this one every single one was deeply irritating. Callow, feckless, unlikeable. The ghost story wasn't bad, but it didn't really break the mold (unlike her amazing The Stopped Heart). The usual Myerson power-plot, where you just can't stop reading, didn't happen here.
July 15, 2024
Yep, hated this book too, even things I’d enjoyed other books by this author.
I think there was a lack of suspense because spookiness kicks off at the very beginning. And the husband always seemed terrible to me, so there was no interesting development in terms of a nice guy turning out to be a monster.
So yeah. Another boring read.
I think there was a lack of suspense because spookiness kicks off at the very beginning. And the husband always seemed terrible to me, so there was no interesting development in terms of a nice guy turning out to be a monster.
So yeah. Another boring read.
February 26, 2017
An unreliable narrator in manner of The Girl on the Train, but that's where the similarities end. While TGotT was elegantly written and structured for the most part, The Quickening's protagonist was annoying from the beginning and the story almost maddeningly predictable. I guess the best thing that can be said about it is that it's a quick read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 12, 2016
Julia Myerson is a technically adept author. In The Quickening the reader is transported to the Carribean island of Antigua in the company of newly weds Rachel and Dan. In yhis idyllic setting all is not what it seems. Death enters this island paradise and haunts the lives of the honeymoon couple. The story is skillfully opaquevand told from the viewpoint of an extremely unreliable possibly psychotic narrator. The tale has elements of Christie"s Endless Night and Perkins The Yellow Wallpaper and has the reek of corruption about it like the stinking seaweed polluting the perfect beach or the peach with the rotten core. The atmosphere of the novel is taut and full of anxiety and the use of dialogue as always with Myerson is extremy effective
Julia Myerson is a technically adept author. In The Quickening the reader isvtransported tovthe seemingly idyllic Carribean island of Antigua in the company of newly weds Rachel and Dan. All however is not what it seems and the reader,s idea of island paradise is suverted as death, violence and fear begin to haunt the holiday community.
The narrative is skillfully opaque woven by an unreliable, perhaps psychotic narrator and includes elements of both ghost story and psychological thriller. Elements of the tale are reminiscent of Christie"s Endless Night, and Then there were None and I also experienced an echo of The Yellow Wallpaper,
An atmosphere of corruption pervades the island, the seaweed on the perfect beach stinks, the plump peach is rotten at the core, and as the tale progresses this evilvgrows toward a terrible birthing. As always Myerson utilises dialogue brilliantly
Julia Myerson is a technically adept author. In The Quickening the reader isvtransported tovthe seemingly idyllic Carribean island of Antigua in the company of newly weds Rachel and Dan. All however is not what it seems and the reader,s idea of island paradise is suverted as death, violence and fear begin to haunt the holiday community.
The narrative is skillfully opaque woven by an unreliable, perhaps psychotic narrator and includes elements of both ghost story and psychological thriller. Elements of the tale are reminiscent of Christie"s Endless Night, and Then there were None and I also experienced an echo of The Yellow Wallpaper,
An atmosphere of corruption pervades the island, the seaweed on the perfect beach stinks, the plump peach is rotten at the core, and as the tale progresses this evilvgrows toward a terrible birthing. As always Myerson utilises dialogue brilliantly
October 30, 2013
Although there are some fine moments of suspense in 'The Quickening' in the first third or so of the novel, unfortunately I was expecting something a little more horrific for a novel commissioned by Hammer.
However, Myerson is particularly good at capturing the uncanny and the incongruous that does create an unsettling eeriness. Her admission that she is a fan of the classic ghost stories by M R James and Henry James makes sense in this respect. There is a careful creation of an everyday creepiness in Antigua that is very well done. For example the visions of the sinister pale man dressed in a dark business suit who haunts Julie are very well done in their evocation of suffocating psychological panic. At times, I was reminded strongly of 'Rosemary's Baby' by Ira Levin, and perhaps my expectations were for there to be more of a supernatural dimension with the unravelling of the plot. That said, I felt that the novel's twist did work well, and I didn't anticipate it.
I think the problem I had with the novel is that I couldn't care very much about the main characters who seemed rather flat and prosaic. Although perhaps this was part of the Myerson's intention. As you will see if you read the novel, don't always mistrust the charming and interesting characters. I look forward to reading some of Myerson's other work, particularly 'Sleepwalking', which sounds like a very good read.
However, Myerson is particularly good at capturing the uncanny and the incongruous that does create an unsettling eeriness. Her admission that she is a fan of the classic ghost stories by M R James and Henry James makes sense in this respect. There is a careful creation of an everyday creepiness in Antigua that is very well done. For example the visions of the sinister pale man dressed in a dark business suit who haunts Julie are very well done in their evocation of suffocating psychological panic. At times, I was reminded strongly of 'Rosemary's Baby' by Ira Levin, and perhaps my expectations were for there to be more of a supernatural dimension with the unravelling of the plot. That said, I felt that the novel's twist did work well, and I didn't anticipate it.
I think the problem I had with the novel is that I couldn't care very much about the main characters who seemed rather flat and prosaic. Although perhaps this was part of the Myerson's intention. As you will see if you read the novel, don't always mistrust the charming and interesting characters. I look forward to reading some of Myerson's other work, particularly 'Sleepwalking', which sounds like a very good read.
May 10, 2014
A very creepy, somewhat surreal read. Dan and Rachel decide to go on a holiday/honeymoon to Antigua for what should be a few weeks in paradise. As soon as they arrive though, Rachel begins to sense something is very, very wrong. Strange things begin to happen around her - objects moving by themselves, lights smashing for no reason, and a strange, dark figure she keeps seeing who makes her feel cold and seems to be giving her horrific memories that are not her own. And husband Dan is acting odd, too, and may not be who she thought he was.
'The Quickening' was a good old fashioned horror story in a modern setting. There's a touch of M.R. James in the not-quite-seen horror that follows Rachel, and in the increasing atmosphere of dread. That these increasingly frightening occurences take place against sun-drenched beaches make them all the creepier.
Rachel is the typical unreliable narrator as well, we're never sure just whether what she experiences is real or imagined or a bit of both. She's definitely the one you root for (even before he starts acting odd, Dan's kind of a dickhead) but you don't know how much you can trust her. I did guess at one of the final twists, but not the ending.
Good book, but not as good as some of Hammer's other new releases - the Woman in Black sequel for example scared me sh*tless, whereas 'The Quickening' was tense and creepy and unsettling and weird but only out and out frightening a few times.
'The Quickening' was a good old fashioned horror story in a modern setting. There's a touch of M.R. James in the not-quite-seen horror that follows Rachel, and in the increasing atmosphere of dread. That these increasingly frightening occurences take place against sun-drenched beaches make them all the creepier.
Rachel is the typical unreliable narrator as well, we're never sure just whether what she experiences is real or imagined or a bit of both. She's definitely the one you root for (even before he starts acting odd, Dan's kind of a dickhead) but you don't know how much you can trust her. I did guess at one of the final twists, but not the ending.
Good book, but not as good as some of Hammer's other new releases - the Woman in Black sequel for example scared me sh*tless, whereas 'The Quickening' was tense and creepy and unsettling and weird but only out and out frightening a few times.
June 7, 2015
I was very intrigued by the sound of this book, so I picked it out with apprehension. It wasn't the type of book I usually read, but I was so interested in the description that I knew I had to give it a go.
Honestly, I'm not too sure how I feel about this book. I freaking loved it in some parts, and in others I was completely bored. All I know is that the more I think about it, the more I appreciate this book.
It had aspects of everyday horror; with the main character appearing to go slowly mad, without the reader knowing if she really is insane, or if everyone else around her is in on a giant conspiracy. I won't be spoiling the ending here, but I thought it was more than powerful and will leave me thinking for a long time.
The plot of this story is fantastic, and I think any avid reader could appreciate it and enjoy it like I could. I think the issue I have with this book is the type of writing. The fact that there were no quotation marks did slow my reading down (although I still got through it in a couple of hours), as I had to keep going back and figuring out when someone was speaking and when they were thinking.
Generally, however, I really appreciate this book and I can see myself re-reading it again in the future.
Honestly, I'm not too sure how I feel about this book. I freaking loved it in some parts, and in others I was completely bored. All I know is that the more I think about it, the more I appreciate this book.
It had aspects of everyday horror; with the main character appearing to go slowly mad, without the reader knowing if she really is insane, or if everyone else around her is in on a giant conspiracy. I won't be spoiling the ending here, but I thought it was more than powerful and will leave me thinking for a long time.
The plot of this story is fantastic, and I think any avid reader could appreciate it and enjoy it like I could. I think the issue I have with this book is the type of writing. The fact that there were no quotation marks did slow my reading down (although I still got through it in a couple of hours), as I had to keep going back and figuring out when someone was speaking and when they were thinking.
Generally, however, I really appreciate this book and I can see myself re-reading it again in the future.
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