What do you think?
Rate this book
Gothic Revival
Alex and Leo Renfield are a husband and wife contractor team who’ve recently moved to the village of Woodhaven, Connecticut to escape the chaos of life in New York. Pretty close to broke, they meet Theodora Hamilton, a somewhat unsavory and odd individual, who offers them an astronomical amount of money to repaint the first floor of her family home.
But along with the huge paycheck comes a set of unsettling rules that must be followed explicitly if they are to accept the offer; one of which is they must reside on the property having no direct contact with the outside world until the job is complete.
Is Theodora Hamilton just an eccentric woman with a peculiar way of doing things, or is there a more sinister agenda that Alex and Leo are unaware of? What exactly does she have in store for this down-on-their-luck couple who have no choice but to accept the offer and the strange requirements that come along with it?
But along with the huge paycheck comes a set of unsettling rules that must be followed explicitly if they are to accept the offer; one of which is they must reside on the property having no direct contact with the outside world until the job is complete.
Is Theodora Hamilton just an eccentric woman with a peculiar way of doing things, or is there a more sinister agenda that Alex and Leo are unaware of? What exactly does she have in store for this down-on-their-luck couple who have no choice but to accept the offer and the strange requirements that come along with it?
536 pages, ebook
First published August 17, 2014
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 22, 2014
Received this free for my honest review. I give this book five stars. Here’s why:
Leo and Alex Renfield have struggled to earn enough cash and hope for better things when they move to Woodhaven, with their remodelling business.
Theodore Hamilton hires them for a stupid amount of money to work at her home. They’re suspicious, but need the cash. It’s odd enough she wants them to paint at night, but when they find themselves at the disgustingly expensive home of the Hamiltons’, things get a whole lot worse.
This is where things begin to get deliciously odd in the home they’re working on. One thing after another culminates in a great ball of suspense, and I loved how Carson pulled all the threads together in a perfect crescendo of suspense, in the final quarter of the book.
This book has humour, spooktastic moments, exceptional dialogue, solid likeable characters, and delightfully odd happenings.
If you want to be entertained by a talented wordsmith, grab your copy of Gothic Revival.
Leo and Alex Renfield have struggled to earn enough cash and hope for better things when they move to Woodhaven, with their remodelling business.
Theodore Hamilton hires them for a stupid amount of money to work at her home. They’re suspicious, but need the cash. It’s odd enough she wants them to paint at night, but when they find themselves at the disgustingly expensive home of the Hamiltons’, things get a whole lot worse.
This is where things begin to get deliciously odd in the home they’re working on. One thing after another culminates in a great ball of suspense, and I loved how Carson pulled all the threads together in a perfect crescendo of suspense, in the final quarter of the book.
This book has humour, spooktastic moments, exceptional dialogue, solid likeable characters, and delightfully odd happenings.
If you want to be entertained by a talented wordsmith, grab your copy of Gothic Revival.
March 5, 2020
Another winner!
This book has all the elements that make it un-put-downable. Mystery, drama, ghosts, comedy and a good love story. I read it in 2 days. I highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a good creepy mystery. Five stars all the way!!
This book has all the elements that make it un-put-downable. Mystery, drama, ghosts, comedy and a good love story. I read it in 2 days. I highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a good creepy mystery. Five stars all the way!!
December 19, 2014
Alex and Leo Renfield are celebrating their first wedding anniversary at the local Chinese food restaurant, when fortune—or is it misfortune?—intervenes. Sure, they have enough in savings, but they aspire to what every couple dreams of: Owning their own home. Once Leo expresses an interest in home-remodeling work to their waitress, the local rich, eccentric couple sitting beside them—wait…wasn’t that booth vacant?—offers them an odd opportunity. They’re given an unbelievable offer of $30,000 just to paint the first floor of their Victorian “beauty.” But things are not that simple, folks.
First, they must take a physical exam performed by the Hamilton’s doctor. He keeps some odd hours, this doctor, claiming a rare skin-disease as the cause. And once it’s time to start work, Alex and Leo will be keeping odd hours as well, having to stay at the Hamilton’s until the job is finished. They must not leave the house. They cannot bring anything with them from home, other than clothes, and this is just the beginning. Buckingham puts good-ambiguity to great effect here, layering the story so that the reader is constantly guessing, just like the characters, unable to find a footing, except for that $30,000—their key to the good life. The exquisite ambiguity reminds me of a good Dean Koontz novel.
Once Alex and Leo arrive at the Hamilton’s house, Buckingham’s imagination muscles begin to flex. Is Leo interested in the Hamilton’s house out of nostalgia? Or is there an uglier truth behind his fascination? Once they get to work, all bets are off. Time is hard to keep in the house. Theodora Hamilton claims it’s a magnetic anomaly, but can a magnetic anomaly account for character’s limbs acting of their own accord? And why has almost everyone disappeared from the quiet little town of Woodhaven? What will Leo find when he breaks his legal contract by investigating the second floor? Soon, Alex will realize that severe choices have to be made, and that it will take their combined will-power, and courage, to survive a force that only Buckingham’s twisted imagination could produce.
Gothic Revival is a suspenseful, mind-bender of a novel which readers will find a hard time putting down. Buckingham pays homage to the American gothic story whilst keeping it unique. We’re given characters we can easily sympathize with and care about. They’re a perfect match for one another, and the dynamic is put to good use as we go down the rabbit-hole.
While reading, I often found myself thinking: How could you do that to that wonderful, loving couple? A true mark of a brilliant writer at work. Gothic Revival is one of those horror novels that burrows into your head like a greedy termite. And once it’s done consuming, its effects linger for eternity.
First, they must take a physical exam performed by the Hamilton’s doctor. He keeps some odd hours, this doctor, claiming a rare skin-disease as the cause. And once it’s time to start work, Alex and Leo will be keeping odd hours as well, having to stay at the Hamilton’s until the job is finished. They must not leave the house. They cannot bring anything with them from home, other than clothes, and this is just the beginning. Buckingham puts good-ambiguity to great effect here, layering the story so that the reader is constantly guessing, just like the characters, unable to find a footing, except for that $30,000—their key to the good life. The exquisite ambiguity reminds me of a good Dean Koontz novel.
Once Alex and Leo arrive at the Hamilton’s house, Buckingham’s imagination muscles begin to flex. Is Leo interested in the Hamilton’s house out of nostalgia? Or is there an uglier truth behind his fascination? Once they get to work, all bets are off. Time is hard to keep in the house. Theodora Hamilton claims it’s a magnetic anomaly, but can a magnetic anomaly account for character’s limbs acting of their own accord? And why has almost everyone disappeared from the quiet little town of Woodhaven? What will Leo find when he breaks his legal contract by investigating the second floor? Soon, Alex will realize that severe choices have to be made, and that it will take their combined will-power, and courage, to survive a force that only Buckingham’s twisted imagination could produce.
Gothic Revival is a suspenseful, mind-bender of a novel which readers will find a hard time putting down. Buckingham pays homage to the American gothic story whilst keeping it unique. We’re given characters we can easily sympathize with and care about. They’re a perfect match for one another, and the dynamic is put to good use as we go down the rabbit-hole.
While reading, I often found myself thinking: How could you do that to that wonderful, loving couple? A true mark of a brilliant writer at work. Gothic Revival is one of those horror novels that burrows into your head like a greedy termite. And once it’s done consuming, its effects linger for eternity.
October 5, 2014
Review of Gothic Revival
a novel by Carson Buckingham
It has been a very long time since I read a book that I didn’t want to finish. And I couldn’t forecast the ending. Not often I’m caught out!
One of the things I like so much about this book was the carefully-drawn main characters. Although they loved each other to bits, they were, never-the-less, not always on the same page. Plenty of differences causing all manner of ructions, twists and turns in the plot. Yet the plot flowed effortlessly, never getting caught up in obscure off-shoots or throwing in new characters just to keep up the interest. The other characters were diverse and most were deliciously creepy. All cleverly written.
Another positive thing for me personally was the proliferation of shortish chapters. I get seriously yawn-stricken with some very famous authors who insist on never-ending chapter lengths as if they can do anything they please because they are famous. I’m no novelist, but surely I’m not alone in this. Short chapters rock! For me, 100 page chapters cause me to fall asleep and/or bookmark part way through which annoys the hell out of me. I’m a bit OCD, and I like to put the book down at night at a chapter’s end, the easier to pick up next time. Buckingham is a master (mistress?) at this.
Ms Buckingham is also a genius at dialogue. This novel is loaded with it. I have read thousands of novels and not too many authors can keep a book interestingly operative with so much dialogue. That got five stars from me alone!
Overall, I was very impressed with this author’s work. I can find no criticism with it except that I was lusting for another 600 pages!!
There are many other things I could say, but won’t, for spoiling the reader’s enjoyment. It is a novel worth buying to keep rather than borrowing. Forget the library. Buy this book and you will be very, very sorry. Sorry when you come to the end of the last subtly climactic page.
John Irvine
www.cooldragon.co.nz
a novel by Carson Buckingham
It has been a very long time since I read a book that I didn’t want to finish. And I couldn’t forecast the ending. Not often I’m caught out!
One of the things I like so much about this book was the carefully-drawn main characters. Although they loved each other to bits, they were, never-the-less, not always on the same page. Plenty of differences causing all manner of ructions, twists and turns in the plot. Yet the plot flowed effortlessly, never getting caught up in obscure off-shoots or throwing in new characters just to keep up the interest. The other characters were diverse and most were deliciously creepy. All cleverly written.
Another positive thing for me personally was the proliferation of shortish chapters. I get seriously yawn-stricken with some very famous authors who insist on never-ending chapter lengths as if they can do anything they please because they are famous. I’m no novelist, but surely I’m not alone in this. Short chapters rock! For me, 100 page chapters cause me to fall asleep and/or bookmark part way through which annoys the hell out of me. I’m a bit OCD, and I like to put the book down at night at a chapter’s end, the easier to pick up next time. Buckingham is a master (mistress?) at this.
Ms Buckingham is also a genius at dialogue. This novel is loaded with it. I have read thousands of novels and not too many authors can keep a book interestingly operative with so much dialogue. That got five stars from me alone!
Overall, I was very impressed with this author’s work. I can find no criticism with it except that I was lusting for another 600 pages!!
There are many other things I could say, but won’t, for spoiling the reader’s enjoyment. It is a novel worth buying to keep rather than borrowing. Forget the library. Buy this book and you will be very, very sorry. Sorry when you come to the end of the last subtly climactic page.
John Irvine
www.cooldragon.co.nz
September 19, 2014
Gothic Revival by Carson Buckingham
It’s the first wedding anniversary of Leo and Alex Renfield, and they’re finding it hard to make ends meet. After moving to Woodhaven, the couple hope to find work with their remodelling business. It can’t come soon enough. So, when an eccentric woman named Theodore Hamilton offers them a painting job at her home, one involving a serious wad of cash, the Renfields have to decide whether the strange requests accompanying the job are worth the trouble.
It’s odd enough she wants them to paint at night, but when they find themselves at the disgustingly expensive home of the Hamiltons’, things get a whole lot worse.
Contracts are signed, and Leo and Alex return home. Out of the ordinary (and frankly quite scary) things begin to happen. Alex’s hand is taken over while writing, Leo is talking to himself, and entire places in Woodhaven are suddenly abandoned … Or were they ever occupied in the first place? Not to mention the things going on with their turtle!
At the home of Theodora, the Renfields find themselves deeper and deeper in a troubling world. In the last one hundred pages, the weaving of the story is pulled together with a masterful thread.
With soft echoes of Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked this way Comes, Gothic Revival is one of the best books I’ve read in many years. Buckingham is clever, witty, and builds suspense like a pro. The story is spun through dialogue, and just when you think, ‘okay something needs to happen now,’ it does.
There are laugh out loud moments that make Gothic Revival a little bit addictive, and the characters are developed so well, they’ll stay with you long after the last page is turned.
5 stars.
http://www.hmcwriter.com/gothic-reviv...
It’s the first wedding anniversary of Leo and Alex Renfield, and they’re finding it hard to make ends meet. After moving to Woodhaven, the couple hope to find work with their remodelling business. It can’t come soon enough. So, when an eccentric woman named Theodore Hamilton offers them a painting job at her home, one involving a serious wad of cash, the Renfields have to decide whether the strange requests accompanying the job are worth the trouble.
It’s odd enough she wants them to paint at night, but when they find themselves at the disgustingly expensive home of the Hamiltons’, things get a whole lot worse.
Contracts are signed, and Leo and Alex return home. Out of the ordinary (and frankly quite scary) things begin to happen. Alex’s hand is taken over while writing, Leo is talking to himself, and entire places in Woodhaven are suddenly abandoned … Or were they ever occupied in the first place? Not to mention the things going on with their turtle!
At the home of Theodora, the Renfields find themselves deeper and deeper in a troubling world. In the last one hundred pages, the weaving of the story is pulled together with a masterful thread.
With soft echoes of Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked this way Comes, Gothic Revival is one of the best books I’ve read in many years. Buckingham is clever, witty, and builds suspense like a pro. The story is spun through dialogue, and just when you think, ‘okay something needs to happen now,’ it does.
There are laugh out loud moments that make Gothic Revival a little bit addictive, and the characters are developed so well, they’ll stay with you long after the last page is turned.
5 stars.
http://www.hmcwriter.com/gothic-reviv...
November 19, 2014
Gothic Revival is an interesting horror story.
While I like both Leo and Alex - and especially their relationship as husband and wife - I feel as though I knew them long before they moved to Theodora Hamilton's home for their summer job at around the halfway point. The pace of the first half of the book was too slow. I knew Leo and Alex would get through the weirdness and strange things happening around them by relying on each other - even when they disagreed. But I didn't need half a book to convince me of that.
What I liked most was the strangeness and suspense. I enjoyed the creepiness, like meeting the Mertzes and tasting the foul vegetables, avoiding the faces carved into the bathroom wall, and finding the Memento Mori. And when Leo decided to explore the forbidden second floor in search of Alex, I actually whimpered. Though I was curious as to what was up there, I feared for the consequences that would result in Leo's curiosity. And what he finds had me mentally screaming for him to run away.
What I found most disappointing was the numerous typos and missing punctuation. They were distracting and took me out of what should have been a very suspenseful story.
But, if you can ignore missing punctuation and typos, and love a suspenseful horror story, then this one's for you.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
While I like both Leo and Alex - and especially their relationship as husband and wife - I feel as though I knew them long before they moved to Theodora Hamilton's home for their summer job at around the halfway point. The pace of the first half of the book was too slow. I knew Leo and Alex would get through the weirdness and strange things happening around them by relying on each other - even when they disagreed. But I didn't need half a book to convince me of that.
What I liked most was the strangeness and suspense. I enjoyed the creepiness, like meeting the Mertzes and tasting the foul vegetables, avoiding the faces carved into the bathroom wall, and finding the Memento Mori. And when Leo decided to explore the forbidden second floor in search of Alex, I actually whimpered. Though I was curious as to what was up there, I feared for the consequences that would result in Leo's curiosity. And what he finds had me mentally screaming for him to run away.
What I found most disappointing was the numerous typos and missing punctuation. They were distracting and took me out of what should have been a very suspenseful story.
But, if you can ignore missing punctuation and typos, and love a suspenseful horror story, then this one's for you.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
December 5, 2014
Good read
Although not my genre this one kept my interest. It is well written in a logical flow without a lot of flash backs. The book would make a good movie.
Although not my genre this one kept my interest. It is well written in a logical flow without a lot of flash backs. The book would make a good movie.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews