Lost [Paperback]

I would have liked to have given this book more stars. It was well written and I liked the character of Winnie Rudge. However, the author seemed to have had several ideas for books in his mind and decided to try to put them all in one novel, creating something that was confusing and which, ultimately, didn't work. We start with Winnie Rudge, the author of children's readers and an astrology book, which has been very successful. She comes to London to stay with her cousin in Hampstead, only to find he has disappeared and there are some builders working in the kitchen who are neurotic about sounds in the chimney stack. We follow Winnie as she hunts down people who know her cousin and try to discover his whereabouts and as she and the builders investigate the noises in the chimney. Then, the story becomes confused. Without wishing to give the plot(s) away, there is a confusion of characters and clues. Winnie believes her ancestor was the character Dickens took Ebenezer Scrooge from and she also has images of Jack the Ripper fleeing to Hampstead and attacking young, pretty servant girls. Jack the Ripper's hunting ground was, obviously, Whitechapel and he attacked middle aged, drunken prostitutes, not pretty young girls. So, if anyone was interested in the book due to links to the Ripper they would be sorely disappointed, as that part of the storyline stretches credulity too far. Overall, the story becomes a bit mired in side plots, with odd characters appearing, sudden side steps into areas we haven't been aware of before and bizarre occurences. I think it could have been a very good book, but I was disappointed at the end and felt the whole thing was simply a mishmash of storylines, which did not add up.

What Gregory has always done well in his writing is his character creation, it gives you someone that you can not only empathise with but want to spend time with which, as far as I'm concerned is the cornerstone for any novel.

However whilst the prose and humour was just as sharp as ever what this title lacked was any clear plot outline as it felt like the more idea's the author had the more he added without any real thought as to cohesion for the project as a whole. This just led to confusion, a great deal of head scratching and to be honest will be something that will leave a lot of people wondering whether he's all spent up with the previous two offerings.

I had high hopes for this ghost story and every last one of them was shattered. I felt cheated by the narrative, which struck me as being far too meandering and self-indulgent for its own good. If I hope to read a ghost story and I seem to get a ghost story I rarely expect it to beome something disapointingly other and quite disjointedly so too. I was similarly disapointed by the lead protagonist. One of literatures less convincing female characters.

Perhaps this was just not for me. Perhaps the writers style will suit other readers tastes more than mine. But to my mind, it was trying to be too clever for its own good. As a result, I found it disapointing & dull.