The Man in the Picture: Amazon.co.uk: Susan Hill: Books

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Synopsis
The chilling tale of a painting so terrifying; its secrets will haunt those who see it. It is a ghost story by the author of "The Woman in Black", to be listened to by the fire on a cold winter's night. A mysterious depiction of masked revellers at the Venice carnival hangs in the college rooms of Oliver's old professor in Cambridge. On this cold winter's night, its eerie secret is revealed by the ageing don. The dark art of the Venetian scene, instead of imitating life, has the power to entrap it. To stare into the painting is to play dangerously with the unseen demons it hides, and become the victim of its macabre beauty...

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Customer Reviews

24 Reviews

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

3.5 out of 5 stars (24 customer reviews)

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30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars No Chill - No thrill, 21 Oct 2007

By	York8500 "purcell2001" (york, uk) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Man in the Picture: A Ghost Story (Hardcover)

I read this after listening to a review on Radio 5. The reviewers indicated the novella was heart-stoppingly chilling and a good old fashioned ghost story. I love a good ghost story; so much more chilling than the gore of today that occupies the horror genre.

The book is well written and would benefit from being read on a misty winter or autumn evening in front of a roaring fire, with the house to yourself, the phone turned off and the gurantee of no disturbances.
I read it in an hour, so it kept my attention, always a good sign.

It loses stars for me as it had zero chill factor; never once did I look over my shoulder; never once has it kept me awake, not once have I thought about the content of the novella since.

It should pull on everyones fears... the eyes in certain pictures that appear to follow you round the room, but it failed for me to connect. I came away from this thinking that Hill could write better, so today I have started reading the Women in Black to see if that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

Worth a read, but really not spine tingling.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What an anti climax!, 12 Jan 2008

By	The Kitten (uk) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Man in the Picture: A Ghost Story (Hardcover)

I am a huge Susan Hill fan and this little book started off so well.
A dark wind swept night,the cosy College rooms,a story about a dark ,mysterious painting.
However ,I feel that Hill just ran out of steam ,with no cohesion of plot, characters, and the ending for this supposed ghost story petered out into a total anti climax,sooo disappointing.

Dont waste your money on this slim volume that didnt deliver,get it from your library instead.

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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Pointless pastichery..., 12 Mar 2008

By	Chintan Nanavati "Chinhealer" (Staffs, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Man in the Picture: A Ghost Story (Hardcover)

*Sigh*. This book has really annoyed me. It is a very slight tale indeed and yet retails at a gargantuan �9.99! (Good job I borrowed it from the library instead!) This smacks of exploitation of Woman in Black's legions of fans. Not having read that esteemed tome yet, nor seen a stage version, I can't comment on whether The Man in the Picture is a dip in form or more of the same from Hill.
On the plus side, Hill shows she is quite competent in apeing the style and subject matter of M.R. James. And while I can begrudgingly accept that he was a pioneer of this type of fiction, I have to say I'm left quite cold by his stories. (Not in a spine-tingling way!) I much prefer Bram Stoker's novels or Dickens' ghost stories for olde-worlde chills.
So, yes, despite having some storytelling facility, Hill squanders it on a story with very little originality, stock characters and less fear factor than your average episode of Buffy or Scooby Doo! The lazy plotting, the Miss Havishamesque character of the nonogenarian Countess and the generous smattering of cliche throughout this story really aren't good enough. (Incidentally, Stephen King's latest Duma Key - which happens to revolve around the horror of art among other things - also has a Havishamesque character, but at least her backstory is well fleshed-out and genuinely disturbing.)
Supernatural fiction has evolved into a far more subtle and surprising and interesting and multi-layered beast these days compared to the Victorian exponents of the genre. Check out the novels of Phil Rickman or Stephen King (of course) or early Clive Barker or Koji Suzuki or even James Herbert to be truly frightened. And the almost 40-year-old Exorcist by William Peter Blatty is a far, far superior slice of literary horror than this trifling effort by Susan Hill.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars It's not meant to be a Hollywood blockbuster! A creepy, old-fashioned tale for those with a good imagination!
Instead of complaining about the retail price of the book, (in which case, why buy it instead of renting it from the library? You can see it's a thin novel! Read more

Published 23 days ago by Holly Berry

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
I was a little disappointed by this book. My edition was one with all those quotes on it from people (critics usually) that had read it and loved it. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Kirsty B

4.0 out of 5 stars Creepy
It's true this isn't as good as The Woman In Black but I still found it very spooky. There is something about Susan Hill's writing style which makes reading one of her ghost... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Ms. K. Tomlinson

4.0 out of 5 stars Like Ghostly Tales of Old
Susan Hill wrote one of my favourite `ghost stories' and in fact one of my favourite novels The Woman in Black a book that I recommend to anyone and everyone. Read more

Published 5 months ago by Simon Savidge "savidgeread...

3.0 out of 5 stars The Man in the Picture
An enjoyable novella, marred by occasionally clumsy prose. It reads a little too much like a first draft. Read more

Published 6 months ago by Rich

4.0 out of 5 stars A terrifically chilling mystery
The "Man in the Picture" is a novella that concerns a Cambridge student who visits his professor and old friend at the university. Read more

Published 6 months ago by Matt

3.0 out of 5 stars No shivers up this spine
Not having read any other books by Hill, I cannot comment upon how THE MAN IN THE PICTURE stands up against her other works. Read more

Published 6 months ago by Brida

3.0 out of 5 stars I've been more scared getting lost in lakeside
I was very disappointed with this book, it started off really well but just seemed to evaporate into nothing, the story was ok but nothing was really explained and it wasn't scary... Read more

Published 9 months ago by Mrs. N. D. Trott

3.0 out of 5 stars Great start but then...
Not as good as the "Woman in Black". It starts (very) well but the plot loses direction at the middle and the becomes downright silly in the end. Read more

Published 10 months ago by Sea Monster

4.0 out of 5 stars A spooky little novella
I agree with other reviewers that this book was not up to the standard of The Woman in Black but it is still well worth a read. Read more

Published 11 months ago by MaryAnne

› See all 24 customer reviews...

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	72% buy the item featured on this page: The Man in the Picture 3.5 out of 5 stars (24)
	15% buy The Woman in Black 4.5 out of 5 stars (57) �5.59
	8% buy The Mist in the Mirror 4.0 out of 5 stars (16) �5.99
	3% buy The Woman in Black (Vintage Classics) 4.8 out of 5 stars (5) �5.19


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The Man in the Picture [Audiobook] (Audio CD)

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