After having read, and enjoyed, “The Cold Calling,” and “Mean Spirit,” (written under the pseudonym Will Kingdom), I wanted to read this; a stand-alone novel, but one featuring many of the characters who appeared in the previous books, such as Cindy Mars-Lewis, Marcus Bacton and Grayle Underhill.

The setting for this novel is the eerie Knap Hall, previously owned by famous actress Trinity, who operated it as an exclusive hotel for the privileged. When disaster strikes, her husband, Harry Ansell, agrees to allow the building to be used in a reality TV show, called the ‘Big Other.’ The idea comes from TV producer, Leo Defford, who wants to populate the house with those who believe in ghosts and the supernatural, plus those who are highly sceptical of such claims.

Grayle is recommended as a researcher, while Cindy (who previously hosted the National Lottery and is therefore the type of ‘3rd division’ celebrity willing to appear in such a show) is one of the guests – along with such luminaries as a comedian called Ozzy Ahmed, a radio show host named Rhys Sebold, a former MP and a ex-royal correspondent who claims to have seen the ghost of Princess Diana. As we know from previous books though, neither Grayle nor Cindy are sceptics and there is a real threat of danger...

I think the matronly, cross dressing, Cindy Mars-Lewis is one of my favourite fictional characters ever and I would read any book that he (she?) appears in. This novel also achieves something which I thought was impossible – it takes a story involving reality television and actually makes it interesting! Utterly enjoyable and I look forward to reading more by Phil Rickman and am delighted I was introduced to his work - thank you to my good friend, Damaskcat, for saying you really must give him a try!




27 s Jody McGrath380 53

Actually a 2 and 1/2 but I rounded down because it didn't deserve a 3. It had some good characters, but with all the POV jumps, it was hard to get to know any of the very well. The book covered a large passage of time, which I think chunks of it could have been removed for more action later. Tons of stuff happened, just none of it was very interesting and nothing was ever solved or fully explained.

I think the book had good potential but never came close to reaching it. It just kept adding more stuff, instead of dealing with the stuff it had going. It was a big let down.13 s Miriam Städtler19

Convoluted writing style, bizarre ending, unlikable and unbelievable characters. Also making fun of minority religions is apparently hilarious. For all the so-called comedians in this cast I did not laugh a single time and the journalists can decidedly neither write nor speak in a vaguely entertaining manner. The story is dull to the extreme with not a single shudder of fear in sight. Only sheer determination brought me to the end. Truly, this book was a true disaster. Off to the charity shop it will go, so I may never have to lay eyes on it again!10 s Jeanne GrunertAuthor 14 books23

I consider Phil Rickman to be among the three best horror writers alive today, placing him among Dean Koontz and Stephen King as the best in the world in the horror genre. That said, this book was a great disappointment.

Where to begin? We have a cast of unlikable, cardboard characters who speak in confusing bits and pieces. Half the time I had to go back and re-read the dialogue to figure out who was speaking because they all sound exactly a.

Our protagonist, Grayle, is probably the worst researcher ever in the history of journalism. There are allusions to some sort of breakdown in her past, which are never explained. There's talk of a murdered sister, who never comes into her reactions to the present or plays any part, really, in the current mystery. It's as if she goes through the entire book befuddled and whining about her boss without doing anything.

Another confusing character is a transvestite named Cindy. No, he's not transexual. He makes it clear he is gay and prefers dressing as a woman because it has some sort of shamanic significance. Other than adding a trans to the novel because it's politically correct, I couldn't figure out that one either. It's explained that he lives "on the borders" and so he is neither male nor female. Okay. But he does nothing shamanic throughout the entire book except visit a local prehistoric barrow in some kind of trance-state which seemed to do nothing whatsoever for the ending of the book.

We have Trinity, a spoiled actress with an unhealthy fascination for Katherine Parr; her husband, referred to as "Ansell", who is aloof and unknowable; an idiot TV producer named Defford who reminds me of the rich producer in all of the other Rickman books; a Tudor house that isn't very creepy other than some dead flies and mustiness; a backstory that's ham-handedly woven into the main plot; and a group of unlikable cardboard characters stuffed into the house for a reality TV show.

I had to force myself to read to the end to see if Rickman was going to give me some sort of amazing ending that would make me forgive him for the first 2/3 of the book.

Sorry to say, no fireworks, no amazing ending, no resolution, and you know what? I didn't care, because I didn't anyone in this book.

It's as if he pulled his book "December" off the shelf, dusted it off, and thought, "Hmm, I think I'll modernize it a bit...let me put them into a reality TV show instead of recording a record album, and I'll put them into a Tudor house instead of a crumbling Abby, and there you go!"

Rickman is still one of my favorite writers. Many Goodreads contributors cite his Merrily Watkins series as a favorite, and while I love those books, I consider "Curfew" and "December" his two best works and two incredibly well-written books. Every author is entitled to a dud or two in his career. I think this one counts as that.

As a fellow writer, it's really hard for me to give a book a negative review. I hate doing it, but I couldn't find anything likable in this one. Sorry, Phil. I'll still buy your next book and still recommend you to others, but this one wasn't your best.5 s Damaskcat1,782 4

Assemble a group of sceptics and believers in a haunted house for a week and see what happens and you have Big Other. What could possibly go wrong especially as there are no such things as ghosts anyway - or are there? Leo Defford arranges to lease Knap Hall which is up for sale and he recruits Grayle Underhill to research suitable inmates for the house. Grayle is a journalist who used to write primarily about alternative healing, ghosts and anything vaguely spooky.

But Grayle starts to have doubts about the wisdom of the whole project though she knows she can't afford to turn down the huge fee she will receive and anyway people she knows - Marcus Bacton and Cindy Mars-Lewis - have recommended her for the job and Cindy himself is going to be involved too.

There is of course much more than this bare outline of the plot suggests and no one involved will be quite the same at the end of it. I found the book relatively slow to start off with but the tension gradually mounts as we get closer to the first live transmission and then everything moves very fast. I found this book probably one of the most disturbing of Phil Rickman's books and many incidents have stayed in my mind since I finished reading it.

Well written and researched with interesting - not to say eccentric - characters this is an absorbing read and as ever the psychological aspects of the interaction between the characters is spot on. A great read.4 s Kate1,631 381

I did not enjoy this but somehow managed to finish it.

out-in-2014-and-read5 s James881 29

I expect a professional writer should be able to use his native language competently, but this one has produced a book of such poor-quality prose, it feels as if it were written by a guy who had a bet down at the pub that he could write a novel in a few weeks, and this is the amateurish result. He leaves a lot of sentences unfinished, with a missing subject, as if he just couldn't be bothered; sometimes he mixes up the subject and object; he doesn't understand how articles, prepositions, and pronouns work; he switches suddenly between second and third person mid-sentence; punctuation and paragraphs are not used properly to divide up the text; verb tenses are occasionally confused - how did the multiple readers he lists in the acknowledgements section miss all of this? In a good novel, grammar is invisible: you forget that you are reading, and your mind is immersed in the story. When it is so badly rendered that you see grammatical mistakes on almost every single page, it becomes very irritating. Add to that several glaring spelling errors (for example, "scurilous" [sic]), a range of odd Americanisms "commercials" and "cellphone" and "ass" peppered around the text in this "British" book (these weren't all spoken by the one American woman), a cast of totally unable characters (including a cross-dressing psychic - what was the point of that?), and a complete inability to build any atmosphere - there is no sense of dread, threat, or any real suspense. Rickman seems unsure whether he wanted to write a horror story (but there is no horror), a ghost story (although the ghosts are only barely there), or a detective novel (but there is no detective). In fact, it's so badly written, I have trouble understanding how it got published at all.

The sole reason I haven't given this book a one-star rating is that its basic plot concept was good: the idea of staging a Big Brother-style reality TV show in a haunted house occupied by believers and sceptics a is actually quite clever. I just wish the quality of the writing lived up to it. Strangely, despite the fact that he can't write, Rickman has a well-established career as a novelist; the front matter of the book lists 21 other published novels. However, if this is a good example of Rickman's writing, I certainly won't be reading any more of it.3 s1 comment Veronica-Lynn Pit Bull585 17

3 1/2 stars

Night After Night is the 3rd book set in Phil Rickman's Cold Calling world (which can get a little confusing since the first 2 books were originally written under the pen name of Will Kingdom). It could possibly be read as a stand alone - but I wouldn't recommend it. all of Rickman's books that I have read, Night After Night is an atmospheric and character driven slow build to a mystery that is both mundane and subtly supernatural. A large part of the enjoyment is steeped in an understanding and appreciation of the characters and their history. I am not giving Night After Night my usual Phil Rickman 5 stars because the book centers around 2 characters - Grayle Underhill and Cindy Mars-Lewis that never really captured my attention. Marcus Bacton plays a small supporting role and his adorable bull terrier with the psychotic eyes - Malcolm - gets honorable mention for sitting at Marcus's feet.

Night after Night seemed to start off even slower than expected. The first half of the story was an introduction to new characters and a lot of (dare I say somewhat tedious) background information to support the possible haunting at Knap Hall. None of the new characters really grabbed me, except for the 1 that I decided I really d and then several pages later he was really dead. It wasn't until 50% in on the kindle that things started to heat up and get interesting; and we didn't hit the "un-put-down-able" point until the 80% mark.

The essence of the story is that Grayle gets "volunteered" to research for a reality TV show based on a presumably haunted house - so instead of Big Brother - it's Big Other. The producer Leo Defford has a preconceived idea (thanks in part to Grayle's research) as to the nature of the haunting; but that was just scraping the surface. The more information that comes out, the less Defford wants to know. And then naturally the actually live characters have their own drama going on which is superimposed over the supernatural elements.

In summary - a somewhat weak installment in the Cold Calling world - but if there is another I will certainly read it.horror-supernatural phil-rickman3 s Russell SandersAuthor 10 books20

Phil Rickman writes very long, complex novels that have a strong influence of horror, usually based on Welsh folklore. And quite often, there is a rational explanation for why things are happening, yet the reader is left to wonder a bit. Rickman is one of my favorite novelists, and I usually devour his books, and despite the fact that I limit my reading to an hour or so a day, I speed through his 500-600 pages novels in about a week. His series of novels featuring Vicar Merrily Watkins, the exorcist (known as a “deliverance minister” here) are worth reading for their colorful, fully developed, engaging characters alone. That being said, I must say I was not entirely enamored of Rickman’s Night After Night. It is not one of the Merrily Watkins novels, so it stands alone. The backdrop—a creepy old Tudor mansion—and the circumstance—the filming of a reality TV show—are both fascinating. The characters are varied and well-drawn. But I found the plot not only lagging, but it, at times, confused me. I was constantly re-reading passages because I was lost as to who was talking or what was happening or how that particular passage related to the grand scheme of things. The outcome, I must say, did not gratify me for I thought it was too little, too late. But I refuse to fault one of my favorite authors entirely. Perhaps I was just not in the mood to read this kind of novel right now. Perhaps I am so in love with Merrily Watkins that I couldn’t invest in another protagonist. So I’m not entirely dissing Night After Night. I think anyone who s a little bit of creepy, who loves the Big Brother TV program, who s a complicated whodunnit might adore this book. For me, I’m glad I pre-ordered the new Merrily Watkins—come early next year, I can bury myself in Welsh folklore once again with familiar characters I’ve come to know and love.2 s Angela107 3

I just don't get Phil Rickman. I don't get his writing style with its dodgy syntax, very often there are no subjects, half finished sentences and clauses which stop in the middle only to be finished in the following sentence. What's that all about? Is it deliberate? If so, what's its function? I don't get the constant exclamations of 'oh my God!' and inane repeated references to a particular item of clothing - in this case it was a woolly hat, in another of his novels (yes I confess, I've read another one of his) it was a duffel coat. But I really don't get which genre his novels are supposed to belong to - are they mystery? Comedy? Drama? In this case there was practically no mystery, I didn't laugh at all and I kept waiting for something to happen. I found the Merrily Watkins novel I read extremely irritating but thought I'd give him another chance. Lesson learnt.2 s J.A. IronsideAuthor 56 books351

Not one of Rickman's best ones IMO but still very readable. As usual the edge of supernatural/paranormal happenings interwoven with the complex interplay of character interactions and local legend kept a steady layer of tension and intrigue front and foremost. It did take a good third of the book to really get going but I loved the concept. Celebrity big brother with ghosts where the ghosts might actually be real and hostile, vs the huge personalities and eccentricities of the celebs - clever stuff.crime ghost-stories mystery2 s Plum-crazy2,324 41

I was expecting "Night After Night" to be a standalone novel but it's actually the third book featuring Grayle Underhill & Cindy Mars. No matter as I've read both the others (see below).

I loved the idea of the book - a group of contrasting characters spending the night in haunted house to prove/disprove the existence of ghosts - but I couldn't help feel that I was reading a "Merrily Watkins" book without the appearance of the main character. It was so similar in style - choppy, often half-finished sentences, a slightly disjointed feel overall....even the chapter headings were hidden in the text.

It's a long time since I read them but I don't remember either of the previous Grayle/Cindy books being so distinctly "Rickman". Even being so familiar with his style, I found it a bit muddling at times.
A good read nevertheless but not one of his best.

"The Cold Calling"
"Mean Spirit" myst-supernat-series-following read-20171 Sue412 11

I really Phil Rickman's writing (his Merrily mysteries are particularly engaging), but this third book in the Cold Calling series was just as good, if not better. I flew through it, eager to follow Cindy, Grayle, and the rest of the characters through the creepy goings-on. Very enjoyable.1 Lori504 13

Creepy, unsettling and fast-paced. Rickman's melding of reality TV and the supernatural sets up an interesting premise and a compelling read. 1 Cathy Cole2,114 60

As a reader of Phil Rickman's Merrily Watkins series, I've come to admire him for his ability to create a true sense of unease, of chills down the spine, of things just glimpsed out of the corner of the eye. He does this, yet keeps the story grounded in the real world. He does that again in Night After Night.

As Grayle Underhill begins her investigation into the 500-year-old Knap Hall, Rickman was succeeding brilliantly at making me very uneasy about the ancient Tudor farmhouse. In fact, I was reminded of one of my favorite novels, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. I couldn't wait for all those celebrities to be locked inside that house-- and this is as close as I'll ever come to liking reality TV!

Unhappily for me, I found my sense of unease to abate quickly. The story goes into quite some detail about choosing the celebrities and preparing for filming, which I did find interesting, but all that detail took away from the unsavory history of Knap Hall and the feeling that unspeakable things were about to happen.

Instead of things going bump in the night as I'd hoped, the story centered on all the secrets of the celebrity inhabitants. True to Rickman's usual style, the "scary stuff" was all rooted in the real world, but without that carryover of unease and dread to buoy the story, I felt a little bit let down. Night After Night is still an engrossing read, but the wow factor was missing for me.
1 Caroline770 16

I've enjoyed all Phil Rickman's books, but his stand-alones have always been my favourites.
"Night after Night" is a stand-alone, though anyone familiar with Rickman's writing under the pseudonym Will Kingdom, will recognise a few of the characters.
Although it doesn't pack a punch "Candlenight" or "December", "Night after Night" is high on athmosphere and creepiness, a slow build-up to an explosive ending.on-kindle1 Andrea Stephenson69 4

A welcome return for Cindy Mars-Lewis and Grayle Underhill, previously met in the books The Cold Calling and Mean Spirit, written under the pseudonym Will Kingdom. And an interesting premise - a group of sceptics and believers brought together in a 'haunted house' for a version of Big Brother. But something dark lurks in this house which doesn't bode well for the filming to come...Another great story from Phil Rickman. 1 Andrea Collins28 2

Anyone who enjoyed the Will Kingdom books will love this - most of the old gang are back again!. Oh, and it IS scary.... LaurieAnn 86

Abandoned as the writing style is crap and annoying. Shsme as the story had me interested. 1 Kevin Crowe104

Combining elements of the thriller with those of the ghost story while transcending both genres, “Night After Night” is a beautifully written page turner with rounded characters, all of whom have pasts they would prefer either to keep hidden or to move on from. The action is set in Knap Hall, an ancient house with a disturbing history whose last incumbent was former actress Trinity Ansell, whose most famous role was playing Katherine Parr, Henry VIII's last wife and who is convinced the Hall is haunted by Parr. When she dies in mysterious circumstances, the Hall remains empty until TV producer Leo Defford rents it from Trinity's widower, Harry. Defford has been commissioned to produce a TV reality show, loosely based on Big Brother, in which a group of celebrities consisting of both those who believe in ghosts and those who are sceptics are thrown together for a week in a house that is alleged to be haunted. The reality show is called "Big Other".
It is written in the present tense and in the main through the eyes of previously unemployed journalist Grayle Underhill who is hired by Defford as a researcher.

The first half of the novel sees Grayle researching the lives, interests and interactions of those contracted to appear in "Big Other". Grayle herself, all the characters, has a back story that impacts on the viability and progress of "Big Other". some of the other characters, she hopes her work on "Big Other" will be a way back into serious journalism.

The second half takes place while the reality show is taking place and includes scenes both within and outside Knap Hall. All such reality shows, whether they be "Big Brother", "Love Island", "I'm a Celebrity" or any other similar programme, are essentially exploitative: they rely on those thrown together demonstrating the worst sides of their personalities, often taking extreme positions, exposing their vulnerabilities and falling out with each other. Sometimes, as with the fictional "Big Other", people are chosen in order to maximise conflict and vulnerabilities. Rickman ruthlessly exposes the cynical nature of such programmes, with producer Defford using every opportunity to increase ratings by exploiting the weaknesses and conflicts in the Hall.

No plot spoilers here. The novel has many unexpected twists and lots of cliff hangers to keep the reader hooked, while also being a wonderful satire on reality TV and celebrity. I now intend to read more of Rickman's work.
T. K. Elliott (Tiffany)241 52

Although the books do not follow the same storyline, this is the third book in a series. Even though it can be read as a standalone, you are ly to enjoy it more if you read the previous books first as they establish the main characters - Grayle Underhill (journalist), Cindy Mars-Lewis (well, read the book), and with Marcus Bacton and Andy Anderson having walk-on parts.

In this one, Grayle (now working as a freelance journalist) gets a job as researcher for a new reality TV show: Big Other, in which several mostly-washed-up celebrities (including Cindy) will be shut into a potentially haunted house for a week. They are carefully chosen to be split between believers and non-believers in the supernatural. The stated aim of the programme is to establish whether the supernatural exists.

Of course, as seasoned readers of Phil Rickman books, we know that a) it does, and b) it will all end in tears.

I found that this book - even though the supernatural is very much front and centre - was more about the people and their interactions than the supernatural elements per se. I also found it less scary than the Merrily Gentry books or some of the standalones - this isn't cosy horror by any stretch of the imagination, but it doesn't have the same level of evil creepiness. All in all, a much more comfortable book for a nice evening in!

I shall be returning to this one, I think.horror reviewed1 Gilda Felt638 10

I was initially put off by the fact that one of the major characters from the previous books, ex-policeman Bobby Maiden, had been completely written out of this one. I’m not sure why that step was taken; maybe there was no way to fit him into the plot, which seemed sort of weird but whatever. In any event, the book definitely didn’t start off on the right foot.

But as the story progressed, I was able to begin to understand why that step was taken. This time Grayle Underhill is the central focus as the main protagonist. Having someone at her back would have changed the entire dynamic of the story, because whatever is going on, it’s having a real effect on Grayle.

And that was a pleasant surprise. Rickman returns to a more unearthly and chilling story. Are the events taking place supernatural, or the hand of man? Some questions are ultimately answered. Some are not. It’s up to the reader to decide.

The book was delightfully spooky, and perhaps the last it from the author since there doesn’t seem to be anymore in the Cold Calling series. It’s too bad that Rickman seems to have left horror behind, because he did it so very well.
1 Jim Bowen921 10

I don't know if you've necessarily heard of Phil Rickman before, but in case you haven't, he write mysteries of a semi-paranormal bent. His most famous creation is Merrily Watkins, a diocesan exorcist, who gets pulled into mysteries by the local police force, when there seems to be things of a slightly paranormal bent going on.

Rickman hasn't written as much about her of late. Maybe it was becoming hard to come up with new stories (how many rural/semi-rural religious conundrums can there be?), so this book is different. It sees a group of z=list celebrities get locked in a haunted house for a week (a la Celebrity Big Brother), as they tell themselves horror/ghost stories a la one of those bad ghostly haunting shows, or Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk).

Personally, I d it. My grumble for a while has been that they Watkins books haven't been that scary, and that it felt he was jumping on bandwagons of late. This book isn't that, and it feels better because of it.horror thriller TraceyAuthor 14 books17

Night after Night

Trinity Astell wants to turn Knap Hall into something special. She feels connected to the place because it is said Katherine Parr was connected to the building while living nearby at Sudeley and Trinity played Katherine in a film.
But now things are suddenly different. HGTV has rented the Hall to do a live programme to see If any of the celebrities in the Hall sense the apparent ghosts that haunt the building.
Cindy Mars-Lewis is one of the celebrities while Grayle Underhill is working as a researcher in the show.
Neither of them know just how Knap Hall is going to affect their lives.
Yet another brilliant book by Phil Rickman with characters I have grown fond of over thefts previous books. Parts of it arbitrary to read but then the truth isn't always easy even if events took place centuries previously.
Highly recommended. Davey45 1 follower

This is kind of a difficult book to give a rating to. Ultimately I enjoyed it a lot, and had a hard time putting it down, so I am erring on the side of high stars despite its shortcomings. I enjoyed the character development, which is good, since in the end I feel that it was more character development than actual plot. There was no real resolution and even though I don’t think there were technically any plot holes, it somehow felt there were. Emotional plot holes, I guess. But in a way that made it feel very realistic—no tight resolution, no solving the haunting and releasing the spirits into eternity, no answers about what really happened at that Neolithic tomb, just a diverse cast of characters voicing differing opinions and growing to each other or not. But they were really *good* characters, and that made it worth it to me . Claudia23

If you want to read 528 pages of mind numbing drivel about making a reality tv show and the trials of securing high maintenance 3rd rate celebrities with snippets of the dark foreboding history of a house then this is the book for you.
If however, you were expecting a creepy gothic tale of a historic house which would make up for the reality tv storyline then this is not the book for you. I forced myself to finish it out of sheer commitment that having wasted hours on it there must be a redeeming ending. My advice is skip it, watch I’m a celeb or some other nonsense instead, it will take less time and you’ll feel just as apathetically demoralised after!

Given an extra star just to commend the proofreader who also had to suffer this book and did a good job - that or I was too bored to spot mistakes! Jennifer1,136 5

So, I d the premise of this book: a behind-the-scenes look at a celebrity reality TV show, much Big Brother, set in a haunted house. That's right up my alley.

However, I found Rickman's writing style awkward, as the point of view would shift without warning from character to character, breaking the flow of the story.

Plus, the ending seemed rushed and rather anticlimactic after all of the build-up.

Yet, despite this, I would probably pick up another Rickman. I found the plot compelling and a bit different from the normal ghost story. I d the "research" into the background of the house and the history of the place. He's worth another chance.

*occasional language, adult situations.read-horror John Edward Borrett3

Huge disappointment

I’m a fan of Phil Rickman and almost all his books. There’s always almost the perfect mix of mystery, horror and the fallible human nature.

This one sadly came nowhere near any of that. Some of his most interesting characters from previous ‘Grayle’ series were dusted off, but never came to life. Very 2-D and mostly regurgitating tropes. The new characters were alas just as wooden and shallow.

The plot, which started with a bang, pretty much fizzled out entirely in the past third. Am almost as if Phil realised he’d run out of time and threw together something to try tie it up, resulting in a very beige, Columbo-esque finale.

Won’t stop me reading his new books. I know he can and has written so much better than this. But a shame nonetheless. Diane DicksonAuthor 35 books89

Another enjoyable read from Mr Rickman. I am a bit disappointed that I didn't realise that though it is a stand alone story I could have read other books with the same characters earlier. Not to worry I'll probably get back to them.

For me this seemed to be a different style to the books I've read before by this author. i loved the premise of the story and the characters were many and interesting and some of them almost totally hateful.

The scene setting was excellent but then Phil Rickman does seem to excel at that. It's a fairly complicated story and you do have to concentrate but it is well worth the effort I think.

Good book - d it. TrilbyAuthor 2 books18

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