Supernatural Tale in the great tradition of M.R. James ghost stories.
'Magnolia House, Tavistock Square, was not what I'd expected.' From this intriguing opening, Linda Acaster novella, "The Paintings" evolves into a study of the ambiguous, unexpected and disconcerting. An ugly house thrust into the midst of an elegant Regency terrace. A servile Mr Compton, former agent and possibly more to the missing artist Mr Needsham.
Why is there police tape in the missing artist's apartment? What has happened to Jace Needsham? Why is it so cold, dark and neglected in the artist's studio? What paintings is the heroine, Ms Jeffries, meant to assess?
Details of the artist's studio and ramshackle living arrangements are vividly detailed and add to the sense of rising dread, as does the urgency of the heroine's own office staff, who urge her to leave once they learn she is alone with the eerie Mr Compton.
The paintings are superb, the brushwork amazing and each tells a disturbing story: a bride's bouquet in a vase of greening water, petals already falling, the painting of a ptarmigan that shows the bird damaged as if shot, a A picture of hares so life-like that they seem to be dancing.
All are carefully prepared, but without signatures. And why are they hidden away? More disturbing, what are the marks on one of the walls? What is the red ochre that the artist uses?
A sense of decay and rot winds about this story, which is made more immediate and engaging by being in the first person. Ms Jeffries, a sensible heroine, chooses to leave before she completes her assessment and she and the reader are relieved to be out of the place. When she returns to the apartment she does so with back-up.
But she brings something out with her, a smell....
Keenly observed detail and realism counterpoints the supernatural in this novella, and mystery seeps through the story. The missing artist is a mystery in that his earlier work is signed but not the later. And why do his later efforts appear to be half-alive, still wet, still bleeding?
The whole aspect of 'now you see, now you don't' is wonderfully exploited in this story. The climax involves one painting in particular, 'The Snowfield', which is stunning both in its execution and in its ability to draw the viewer in and make them cold - and more....
Excellent. Not to be read when alone, late at night.
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Top reviews from other countries
J Gelsthorpe
An intriguing and chilling mystery set in a modern art studio.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 11, 2021Stuart Aken
A Short to Chill You to the Bones
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 23, 2015Dr. P. Grubb
A beautifully crafted tale where the menace creeps up slowly
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 24, 2015