Title: A Good Short Story Masquerading as a Novel
Product review: If you're looking for a new take on the Victorian Christmas ghost story (as this novel claims to be), well, this may not be the book for you. Palliser takes his time setting up this tale, in which the ghosts are more figurative than anything else. The first 200 pages or so are filled with plot lines that seem to go nowhere and tales that have you moving from the 9th to the 17th to the 19th centuries. Quite confusing, and, frankly, rather dull. Had this been a short story, it would be quite good, but as a nearly 400 page novel it is simply tedious.
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