The House of Susan Lulham (Merrily Watkins Series, 13)

'The House of Susan Lulham' is classic Phil Rickman (and anyone who has read others by this author will know what that means.) For me Rickman is the best writer in the paranormal genre today, always balancing the creepy with the mundane, the gothic with the cosy, the grim with a touch of humour, and terrifying events with the presence of characters I care about so that I truly mind if they survive. The people who appear regularly in the Merrily Watkins series, are the sort who walk home with me on a dark night (some of the visitors I would rather not walk home with, obviously.) Merrily is now a part of my life and I feel I know here as well as my oldest friends. (I do worry about her smoking.) She offers what seems to be a realistic representation of the inner discomfiture of today’s Church as an institution, its empty pews, its need to update itself, to become more relevant, and above all its struggle with the concept of Deliverance. If anyone can ever reconcile me to religion it will be Merrily - rather a feat for a fictional character I think!

I love the Hereford of Phil Rickman, this story adds to the rich tapestry we've come to know. Phil Rickman's take on the paranormal is just how it is - tantalising on the edge of doubt. I also enjoyed the modernity of the story and the rather poisonous presence of social media and the horrific people who inhabit that twilit, troll-inhabited subterranean world, surely more terrifying than any ghost Merrily could dispel with St Patrick's Breastplate! I doubt even that would be effective in such a case. Great atmosphere, characters and Rickman can always find a wealth of paranormal interest to reel us in.

Merrily Watkins is asked to look into the strange phenomena which are bothering a young woman who has recently moved into an architect designed house in Hereford which was formerly owned by Susan Lulham who committed suicide in spectacular fashion. Zoe feels that Susan is till there in the house. So far so normal for Merrily's other job as Diocesan Deliverance Consultant. But Merrily has doubts about the whole thing - something doesn't ring true. As she and Sophie - the Bishop's lay secretary - work to uncover the history of the house, she becomes more and more worried by what they find. This is a really spooky short read and I was very glad I read it in daylight as I found I kept looking over my shoulder at the slightest noise. It is a novella and can be read at a sitting and it is an expanded version of the short story of the same name which appeared in the anthology 'Oxcrimes'. I read the short story first but you don't actually need to as the novella is complete in itself. If you haven't read any of this author's Merrily Watkins series then this novella might be a good place to start even though it is the latest on the series. It does give you a good idea as to whether you might enjoy the full length novels. For Merrily Fans this will stave off the withdrawal symptoms for a while.

This was very short - more of a novella than a novel. It seemed rushed, but nevertheless a good tale. There was the usual spookiness which you would expect from Phil Rickman, which under his hand, seems entirely believable. I enjoyed it but would have likes more, though I'm not sure how it could be achieved.

This, the first novella from best selling author Phil Rickman. sees Hereford Deliverance Consultant Merrily Watkins called in by a young woman who claims that her house is haunted by a previous occupant - a young woman who committed suicide there. This is not the usual Rickman tale, there's no ancient history or legends to uncover, the house is an ugly sixties building, originally quite isolated, but now on the edge of an upmarket housing estate. After a grisly murder takes place there, Merrily finds that even fairly modern buildings can have a dark history - and that maybe it could have influenced more recent events. This is an excellent story and a very welcome treat for all Merrily fans, but also an ideal introduction to Phil Rickman's work for those who have yet to join that growing band.

A good read for fans of this series. However because it was a short story it revolved around Merrily and I much prefer it when Jane, Lol and all the other characters we have got to know are involved, but that is just my personal choice and I would certainly recommend this if you like the series.

This is a stand alone novella in Phil Rickman's Merrily Watkins series. I've read all of the books in the series so was keen to read this one as well. It certainly didn't disappoint! If you enjoy supernatural mysteries, you'll like this book even if you're unfamiliar with the author's other work. It's well written and wonderfully creepy. If you're already a fan, this gives an even deeper insight into Merrily's evolving thoughts on her job, and is a great addition to the series.

I have just re-read this novella which is from the Merrily Watkins series, and as ever Phil Rickman's stories just seem to be even more enjoyable the second time around. This a modern tale, a modern ghost in a celebrity (Susan Lulham's) house and related in part by the cynical and secular society we now live in. As the Diocesan Deliverance Consultant (that's exorcist to you and me) Merrily is called to a house where a terrible suicide occured. Is the house haunted? Or is the troubled and cunning occupant Zoe drawing Merrily into a trap? After only one visit to the house (secretly filmed by Zoe and splashed over social media) - a fresh nightmare begins. I read this over one day and could not put it down. This is a story where everyone seems to have an agenda, where the church is mocked but expected to deliver (an hilarious fictional Facebook dialogue on this subject), and the reader is left with more questions than answers. I suspect we will hear about "Suze" again.

Well done Phil Rickman with Merrilly Watkins again. Always a great story line and a great read. Merrily is real and likeable, and anyone who hasn't read any of these books should start straight away! The House of Susan Lulham keeps readers guessing until the end. Highly reccommended.

I read all of Phil Rickman's books and this one gave me a chillingly thought-provoking read on a flight back from Europe.

This is a great short book (novella) for all Rickman fans, as we wait impatiently for the next novel installment of the Merrily Watkins series. It has everything that we fans love about Rickman's work: compelling, complex characters, a suspenseful mystery that could be supernatural....or not....and his masterful writing that includes suspense and enough detail to help us really sink into Merrily's world. For fans of the Merrily series, it's also wonderful to be able to sink into Merrily's world for a bit. And my favorite thing? Even though this is a Kindle single, it's actually novella length, not a short story, and is as long as some short novels! I feel like I got my money's worth! And I also laughed out loud about some of the comments about Facebook in this novella, especially since the author participates in a lively page dedicated to his work! But I think this also has a potential to be a book to recommend to those who have not read any of the books in the Merrily Watkin's series. Rickman has done a great job of giving enough context to the characters that you don't have to have read the other books to understand this one--it is, after all, a stand-alone work. Everything that makes his other books great is here: Merrily Watkins, the very human Deliverance Consultant (ie. Exorcist) for the Church of England, who deals daily with the lack of faith in the world around her, and people's reactions to her as a woman, and as a representative of something many people don't want to believe in. Deliverance is called, by her own advisor, the last resort, and in this novella, and in others, she struggles with the ways in which people don't want to believe in the work she does, and yet find themselves consulting her. Of course, the real thing driving this novella forward (and this is true for the novels too), is just a cracking good story, with elements of the supernatural, but it is the complex characters and moral dilemmas they face that make these books leaps and bounds above the average mystery. If you're a Rickman fan, this a must buy, but if you just want an well written mystery, or a good ghost story, try this. But be warned: after you read this, you'll want to read all the Merrily books! And they are highly recommended!

So kurz und prägnant hat Rickman den Zwiespalt in der Seele seiner Hauptfigur Merrily Watkins noch nie ausgedrückt wie in diesem Kurzroman. Ständig den "Attacken" der unsichtbaren Welt ausgesetzt, muss sie sich als Repräsentantin der Kirche in einer zunehmend atheistischen Gesellschaft behaupten. Wenn ihre Hilfe dann noch von Facebook-Usern als Vorführ-Effekt interpretiert wird und sie in den Verdacht gerät, einer geistig labilen Person zum Mord verholfen zu haben, benötigt sie beinahe übermenschliche Kräfte, um aus dieser Zwickmühle heil herauszufinden. Das Ende ist-wie immer bei Rickman-auch hier offen. Was bleibt, ist ein fesselnder Fall und das Bild einer Gesellschaft, in der nichts so ist, wie es scheint. Fünf Punkte dafür!

Ein guter Einstieg für alle, die Merrily Watkins nicht kennen und für die, die sie kennen ein weiterer Beweis von Phil Rickmans Begabung. Hohes Suchtpotential!