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  • The Woman in Black: Angel of Death

  • Written by: Martyn Waites
  • Narrated by: Penelope Rawlins
  • Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (3 ratings)

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The Woman in Black: Angel of Death

Written by: Martyn Waites
Narrated by: Penelope Rawlins
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Publisher's Summary

The fully authorised, chilling sequel to Susan Hill's best-selling ghost-story, The Woman in Black, released in 2012 as a film featuring Daniel Radcliffe. This is the book the follow-up film starring Jeremy Irvine (War Horse) and Phoebe Fox will be based on.

Autumn 1940, World War Two: Bombs are raining down, destroying the cities of Britain. The evacuations begin, and soon children are being taken to the country for safety. Teacher Eve Parkins is in charge of one such group. The children are scared and Eve does her best to calm them, but the truth is that she too is haunted by a personal tragedy she cannot put behind her.

Their destination is Eel Marsh House. Desolate and forlorn, it is situated on a causeway and is sinking into the treacherous tidal marshes that surround it. Far from home and with no alternative, Eve and the children move in. But soon it becomes apparent that there is someone else in the house with them, someone Eve can't see but who is far more deadly than any number of German bombs...The Woman in Black.

©2013 Martyn Waites (P)2014 Random House Audiobooks

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An Ineffective Usurpation

Thankfully, this is not the straight-up rip-off of Susan Hill's imaginative ghost story that I feared. Martyn Waites borrows the dank, creepy Eel Marsh setting (complete with sound-deadening mist, hidden causeways/quicksand, furniture creaking by itself, and fright-inducing rooms), and incorporates Hill's macabre dark-clad Spirit whose appearance is a harbinger of death. But rather than shamelessly seeking to capitalize, Waites puts together an homage (this is more an "inspired by" story than a "sequel").. The plot is fairly clever, the characters are interesting, and the foreshadowing is used admirably. Waites describes some genuinely spine-tingling ghostly occurences (and deaths) effectively. The writing in general isn't great, unfortunately - lacking believability and flow - and the plot descends pretty rapidly into the ludicrous.. but the short chapters yield staccato plot turns and drive a nice pace. For me, there's also something unsettling about creepy kids and old dolls - and Waites uses them to good effect.

Penelope Rawlins is by far the weakest aspect of this recording. Her diction is fine and she injects an appropriate amount of emotion and mood for the text, but her dialogue is painful (most character voices are legitimately cringeworthy) and her narration is plodding (I increased the playback speed to 1.25X to satisfactory effect).

Altogether, this "decent" novel is imaginative, has some fright elements, and uses the setting and antagonist well - but it descends into 'silly' pretty quickly. With a better reader and a less cheezy ending, I would award it 6.5/10 stars. Instead, this underwhelming recording of a well-conceived but semi-ludicrous ghost story warrants 3.5 stars out of 10.

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