Customer Reviews
The Man in the Picture - By: Rich, 06 Jan 2009 
An enjoyable novella, marred by occasionallly clumsy prose. It reads a little too much like a first draft. The plot is good but there are instances such as the revelation that Oliver has a girlfriend who he intends to marry. She is important to the plot but the fact that she is only mentioned as we get to the final chapters makes her feel tacked on. I also found it difficult to work out when the book was set. It feels very old-fashioned which I have no problem with but the mention of a mobile phone near the end feels out of place. Not as good as her other ghost stories.
A terrifically chilling mystery - By: Matt, 31 Dec 2008 
The "Man in the Picture" is a novella that concerns a Cambridge student who visits his professor & old friend at the university. In the course of the meeting, the two discuss a painting of a Venetian balll the old man bought many years ago, the terrible secrets it keeps & the inevitable consequences for those who discover who is the man in the picture...
A clever ghost story, "The Man in the Picture" may be short, but Susan Hill, having already shown her expertise in the format with "The Woman in Black" & "The Mist in the Mirror," delivers a finely-tuned, masterfully constructed supernatural mystery. A sense of dread permeates every page & the unrelenting pace will leave you breathless right up until the horribly disquieting finale. Hill reaffirms her position as a peerless exponent of a neglected genre with this elegant masterpiece.
Excellent & highly recommended.
No shivers up this spine - By: Brida, 25 Dec 2008 Not having read any other books by Hill, I cannot comment upon how THE MAN IN THE PICTURE stands up against her other works. I came to the book hoping for a chilling ghost story; something I always look out for at this time of year. But, like many others on Amazon, I have come away from it more disappointed than chilled to the bone.
The book has at its heart the story of a woman scorned, looking for revenge, & a Venetian painting which seems to have a remarkable power to help her in her search.
I appreciate that the genre of ghost stories is perhaps one of the most challlenging for a writer to get right. Atmosphere has to be built up, & in this instance, Hil had to try & create a story which, although supernatural, had to have a feel of the possible to it. Overalll, Hill has managed to succeed at this. However, I did not find it as chilling as the reviews suggest - there were no shivers up my spine & I could easily read it before bed without the threat of nightmares keeping me up! Perhaps though, this disappointment on my behalf is due to not being used to her writing style - perhaps the sense of dread she creates is more subtle than that. While I may have been let down by this particular book, I shalll probably look out for her other book, THE WOMAN IN BLACK, to see how they compare.
I've been more scared getting lost in lakeside - By: Mrs. N. D. Trott, 10 Oct 2008 I was very disappointed with this book, it started off reallly well but just seemed to evaporate into nothing, the story was ok but nothing was reallly explained & it wasn't scary either! the story wasn't in anyway spine tingling, infact it feel flat on it's face, very disappointing & even more so for the fact that it's a very thin paperback (I read it in a day) & it cost me £6.99 !!! not worth it at alll !!!
Great start but then... - By: Sea Monster, 02 Sep 2008 Not as good as the "Woman in Black". It starts (very) well but the plot loses direction at the middle & the becomes downright silly in the end. A good ghost story requires suspension of disbelief. It is an indictement of the plot that the disbelief occurs at the final actions of the protagonists rather than the manifestation of the supernatural.
