Mr. Jakes

by Tony Richards

Alex Morland, once a bestselling novelist, is now a forgotten failure. He wants to write a new thriller that will revive his career, but he needs somewhere quiet to do it. When he arrives in the seaside town of Birchiam at the start of winter, he finds The Grange, a massive, traditional Victorian hotel, almost completely empty. His every whim is catered to. He barely needs to even leave his room. But who are those peculiar individuals he occasionally meets in the gardens and the bar? Why the sudden screaming in the corridors? And as for the hotel's night manager-Mr. Jakes-why does Alex only see him in his dreams? The trap has been sprung. He'll have to pay a terrible price for all the pampering and comfort he's received. The plot goes back over a hundred years, to when the hotel first opened and its very first night manager moved in. A chilling supernatural novel in the style of The Shining, from a HWA and British Fantasy Award finalist.

122 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

My latest book -- from UK publisher Endeavour Media -- is a bit of a departure for me. THE ASTONISHING ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY -- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... -- takes the Great Detective all over the world, from the States to Africa to the Far East, taking in locations in Europe and the Caribbean along the way. How did I come to write these 13 new mysteries? It's explained in my blog, below.

I'm a writer mostly of supernatural fiction, author of a series of fantasy thriller novels set in the magic-filled town of Raine's Landing, Massachusetts. Currently, that series is up to #6 -- WITCH HUNTER --.with a seventh on the way.

But I write regular crime fiction too, with numerous tales published in AHMM, and a second novel featuring my ex-FBI agent turned private detective, Matt Barrett, is now out from Cemetery Dance Publications. It's called THE TRIBE. (The first novel was THE DESERT KEEPS ITS DEAD).

I've seen to publication almost 100 short stories, enough to fill 8 collections, the latest being THE UNIVERSAL AND OTHER TERRORS (Dark Renaissance Press), and my work has appeared in Asimov's SF, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Weird Tales and numerous top anthologies including Year's Best Horror.

Reviews

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

MR. JAKES is the first book in Dark Renaissance Books' "Haunted House" imprint. On the synopsis of this title, it likens it to "The Shining" in style, and I certainly feel that was accurate. We start off with Alex Morland, an egocentric-one time best selling novelist who is desperate to get back the lifestyle he so fleeting had. A very unsympathetic man, in my opinion. From the onset, things seem "wrong" when he "accidentally" stumbles upon The Grange--an old-fashioned hotel that caters to his every whim.

The night manager, Mr. Jakes, only appears to him in dreams; yet even that isn't enough to convince Alex that perhaps things aren't quite what they seem--in fact, Alex is only concerned with getting another bestseller out there so that his name is out in the limelight once more.

While much of the book was predictable, I still enjoyed the way everything played out. The pacing was steady, unwavering, and the descriptions of this Victorian hotel beautifully authentic! Things did change up a bit towards the end with a twist I didn't predict. Upon reflection, I felt that the ending was much more satisfying and "true to form" than the one I had been anticipating.

Recommended to fans of old-style haunted house stories!!

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Jakes by Tony Richards

Writers block, that long, dry spell of absolutely no inspiration…every author has experienced it in some form, and so has Alex Morland, devastatingly. Now, however, he believes he’s found a cure. In an attempt to compose another masterpiece like that he wrote six years ago, he’s going to recreate the setting in which he penned that story.

All he has to do is find the perfect seaside hotel with the correct ocean view, settle into isolation and seclusion in his room…and voila!...instant inspiration.

He finds what he looking for a little past Birchiam, on a side road nearly overlooked…The Grange, huge, Victorian, and practically empty.

Perfect.

Alex registers and is shown to a room just as perfect. He’s left alone to compose his next masterpiece. Room service is fantastic. All he has to do is call down to the desk and moments later, a magnificent repast awaits on a trolley outside his door. He truly never has to want for anything or leave his room…but he still can’t write…and when he does venture forth, there are a few sights which niggle uneasily at his imagination…

…such as the tearful young woman he discovers in a gazebo in the garden. She acts as if he’s not there. The child who runs up and down the halls, shrieking, then begging Alex to help him find his way out. The teenager’s voice he hears on the telephone, talking about a bombing…The haunting music of Lakmé floating up the stairs at night…

Even more disturbing is the way the desk clerk, Maisie, seems to anticipate his every wish…and her agreeable cheerfulness and desire to please are becoming a bit cloying. The image he glimpses in a mirror of Mary Jane, the other clerk, require a double-take making Alex wonder what he’s really seeing…

…then there’s Mr. Jakes, the night manager. So far, Alex meets him only in his dreams—or so he decides—but they have some very erudite conversations about his novel, and his life in general. Mr. Jakes is encouraging, polite, literary, but there’s something…a sinister flavor to everything he says…

No matter. Alex is inspired. He writes what may be his best novel ever. His agent has gotten a contract for the story, incomplete as it is. Alex has succeeded. He decides to leave The Grange…

…and can’t.

The Grange is keeping him there. The further he gets from it, the more his inspiration fails. The old hotel has made him, and his talent, its prisoner, and there’s no way for him to escape.

Or is there?

Mr. Jakes comes to him once more, with an explanation of The Grange’s purpose, and also offers Alex a way for himself and his talent to survive, and Alex doesn’t know if he has the will to refuse…

This is a story in which many a writer may recognize a bit of himself in Alex, as well as the lengths he goes to in order to regain his ability to write. There’s a hint of The Shining in the aspect of the old hotel which has seen better days and its effect on its isolated guest, but it’s only a whisper. The incipient evil is pure Tony Richards, but the revelation of its extent as well as the identity of the Grange’s other residents is truly a shock.

Arriving at the ending will have the reader paging back through the story to seek out those nuances perhaps overlooked the first time around. It may also make him hesitate when seeking some out-of-the-way place to spend his next holiday…especially if he’s an author.

5 STARS.

This novel was supplied by the publisher and no remuneration was involved in the writing of this review.