THE HOUSE AT MIDNIGHT

Lucie Whitehouse knows her BRIDESHEAD REVISITED and has here reused some of its parts, yet created something with a memorable life of its own. Lucas Heathfield, a 20-something Oxford graduate, inherits a grand country house after his charismatic Uncle Patrick's bewildering suicide. He invites his tight circle of college pals to share the house with him. Soon they are all spending every weekend there, falling in and out of love with each other, while the house develops a disturbing hold on them, especially on Lucas and the manipulative charmer, Danny. Kate Reading's pacing is impeccable as she builds the characters' sense of dread and the listener’s sense that some kind of complicated smash is coming, echoing past disaster. Reading excels in this gripping psychological puzzle. B.G. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2008]