An abandoned lunatic asylum is the perfect setting for a ghost story and Rosalind House, built in1845, is now the home of a “synergistic loving” community presided over by Smeaton Dunsmore, one of the narrators. The community rule is a volume called The Book of Light. Mostly they seem keen on gardening and carpentry. Another resident and narrator is Angela Fairley, who humorously refers herself as Fairy Angela, and is a psychic investigator searching the house for evidence of paranormal activity. Their community is joined by a couple, Ali and Jack, who ostensibly are in quest of a quiet retreat. She used to be a nurse and he a police officer, but the inquisitive Angela discovers evidence that there is something fishy in their past. 

“I was fascinated by the paranormal, folklore, the seventeen-century witch trials…. I trained myself to read tarot, dabbled with Ouija boards … but it was pretty obvious that I didn’t possess a channel. So I … decided to make it my life’s work to prove the existence of ghosts” is Angela’s statement of her calling. She doesn’t experience the appearance of ghosts herself, but she tells Ali, “I think you can only see ghosts if you’re responsible for taking a life.” Ali herself has an experience of being attacked by something in the bath. Later she sights a wet child, a boy no one else can see. But he leaves footprints.

The Lingering was a superb Halloween read for me and I am delighted to welcome SJI Holliday to my my list of favourites that includes Susan Hill, Andrew Taylor, and F. G. Cottam. It is difficult to develop the classic ghost story to full-scale novel length. To make The Lingering work, Holliday has to introduce some themes from other genres. So besides the ghost of an old victim we have a serial killer on the loose and another traditional standby, pharmaceutical experiments. But though I found my credulity a trifle strained, The Lingering was a non-stop read. If you like plausible horror fiction, you should enjoy this story.