The following Sunday, we invited her parents to lunch. Whilst she was occupied putting the finishing touches to the meal, I took her mother aside and asked her what exactly she had seen that day we were moving in. She described a woman, with a grey face, dressedin grey silk crinoline, moving across the atrium – exactly what the old man had described to me.

I was stunned – and very spooked. Later, after her parents had left, I decided I had to tell my wife. She took it in the pragmatic way she had of dealing with most difficult issues in life. ‘You’ve met several mediums in your research – why don’t you ask one of them to come in and see what they find?’ From the number one bestselling author, Peter James, comes T he Secret of Cold Hill. T he spine-chilling follow-up to The House on Cold Hill. Now a smash-hit stage play.

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This is a sequel to Peter James' book "The House on Cold Hill". I enjoyed that book so I figured I would like this one too. A few days later, a medium who had helped me a lot during my writing of Possession came to the house, and I took her into the atrium, and left her on her own, as she had requested.

Artist Jason Danes and his caterer wife Emily think their new house is perfect, even if their only neighbours, Maurice and Claudette Penze-Weedell, are more than a tad strange. But they’re certain more people will be moving onto the Cold Hill Park estate soon, including the family bombing around in a huge American car, cigar smoke trailing in their wake. It’s a shame the locals in the village aren’t keen on newcomers, though. Things start smoothly but both couples sense a feeling of others in their new homes. This only gets worse when one of the locals points out that nobody has ever survived beyond forty in Cold Hill House and no one has ever truly left.This seems like a negative review, but it's not entirely. I did enjoy this book. Peter James is a great writer and this book is just as well written. It's easy to read and it is enjoyable. The ghosty bits are suitably chilling. I think I was just a little disappointed, and I expected it to be different. I don't really understand the author's motivation to write this. The looming presence of Cold Hill House is now a distant memory. In its place stands a new development of modern homes, built after the devastating fire that burnt the house to the ground.