The House of Footsteps

Written by Mathew West

Narrated by Joshua Manning

If you loved The Haunting of Hill House, welcome to Thistlecrook…

It’s 1923 and at Thistlecrook House, a forbidding home on the Scottish border, the roaring twenties seem not to have arrived. But Simon Christie has – a young man who can’t believe his luck when he gets a job cataloguing the infamous art collection of the Mordrake family. Yet from the moment he gets off the train at the deserted village station he can’t shift a headache and a sense that there’s more to the House and its gruesome selection of pictures.

Simon’s host is glad of his company, but he gets the feeling the house is not so welcoming. As his questions about the Mordrakes grow, he finds answers in surprising places. But someone is not pleased that old secrets are stirring.

As night falls each evening, and a growing sense of unease roils in the shifting shadows around him, Simon must decide what he can trust and ask if he can believe what he sees in the dusk or if his mind is poisoned by what has happened before in this place between lands, between light and dark.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Release date: Feb 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9780008472955

Mathew West

Mathew West grew up in Aberdeenshire (and very briefly New Zealand). After a spell as a music journalist he now lives and works in Edinburgh as a civil servant. A keen horror film buff, his novels are born out of love of classic gothic fiction seen through modern eyes.

Reviews for The House of Footsteps

[Valerie Laing · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was an interesting and atmospheric book but if you’re looking for fast paced this isn’t for you. It moved very slow in the first 12 chapters or so I even forgot and left it for a couple weeks. I’m glad I stuck with it as it was worth a listen.

[vanessacw · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Simon Christie travels to Thistlecrook House on the Scottish Borders to catalogue an intriguing art collection belonging to the Mordrake family. But all is not what it seems….,This is an atmospheric and creepy gothic style story. I enjoyed the style of writing, it’s perfect for the type of book it is. The story draws you in slowly. I really didn’t know what was going on and I’m not that sure I knew by the conclusion either! Even so, I found it very compelling and was eager to turn the pages. There are hints of the supernatural as well as black magic, all adding to the suspense. A great all round eerie tale set in a spooky old house. What’s not to like?