I could easily see Tom from Psychomania settling down into a house like this.

14. Slade House – David Mitchell

Five chapters, five decades, twins, and a very fun read. There is a house that shows up once every nine years and lets someone in through an iron door in an alley. It’s magic and, of course, once you want out, you can’t leave, like a proper English manor house version of the Hotel California. After the first chapter when the story jumped a decade and wasn’t going to follow the previous set of characters I was worried it would be confusing or annoying or both. I have had trouble with normally literary authors writing something that is supposed to be scary and is just irritating instead. However, I was pleasantly surprised by Slade House and it’s quite a short novel, despite the chapters increasing in length as they go. It was a short, spooky, satisfying read.

Will Thorfy be invited into the haunted house? Maybe he’ll notice the door is open, maybe he won’t.