The Boy at the Keyhole

July 2, 2018
In Giles’s nightmarish first novel for adults, after the children’s novel The Death (and Further Adventures) of Silas Winterbottom: The Body Thief, nine-year-old Samuel Clay lives on an estate in Cornwall, England, with only the tyrannical housekeeper, Ruth Tupper, for company. Samuel’s mother, a widow, has gone to America to take care of her late husband’s business, having left at night without saying goodbye to Samuel. She does, however, send him postcards from America. But after four months, Samuel, who misses his mother, has begun to get ideas in his head (thanks to his hyper-imaginative schoolmate, Joseph): maybe his mother’s been murdered by Ruth, who buried her body in the basement and has been getting a confederate in America to send those postcards to him. The more closely he observes Ruth, who perhaps has secrets to hide, the more firmly he comes to believe that his suspicions are true. But it’s not until he actively begins to search for proof that Ruth’s behavior really begins to seem suspicious. Told entirely from Samuel’s point of view, the novel is so adeptly constructed and controlled that Ruth becomes a chilling study in ambiguity. Like Laird Koenig’s cult classic The Little Girl Who Lives down the Lane, this novel dramatically tests the limits of youthful innocence when faced with adult mendacity.

August 1, 2018
A young English boy living in an old house with his housekeeper begins to suspect that she may have murdered his mother.In Giles' debut novel for adults, he poses a psychological puzzle with its roots in Du Maurier and other gothic fiction. Samuel Clay runs home from school every day, excited to see whether he's received a new postcard from his mother. She has traveled from Cornwall to America, where she was born, to try to raise money--as he's only 9, Samuel is hazy on the details--after the death of Samuel's father left them struggling. So Samuel is staying with Ruth, the faithful housekeeper. They have a rather complicated relationship; Ruth keeps Samuel fed and clothed, and she's trying to make ends meet, but she's also abusive to the boy at times. For his part, Samuel seems somewhat afraid of Ruth, though he also goes out of his way to defy her sometimes. When his best friend tells him a story about a housekeeper who murdered an entire family and stashed their bodies in the cellar, something clicks, and Samuel becomes certain that Ruth murdered his mother. He begins to search for evidence of her crime, earning her wrath in the process. But at the same time, he begins to remember certain things about his mother that may explain her extended absence. Giles creates a mystery rife with slowly unspooling tension; the fact that most of the novel centers on Samuel means that his childish perspective gives adult readers the opportunity to read between the lines and interpret the truth of situations that the boy doesn't fully understand. In the end, the mystery is not as layered or complex as it could have been, because of this same perspective, but Giles succeeds in crafting a surprising climax.Subtle and haunting.

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September 1, 2018

A neogothic set in a downward-spiraling manor house in midcentury Cornwall inhabited by nine-year-old Samuel and housekeeper/nanny Ruth, who owes much to Cinderella's stepsisters, this novel keeps readers turning the page almost in spite of themselves. Samuel's father is dead, his steel business foundering, and Samuel's mother has gone to America for months seeking funds, with no correspondence. The problem: Samuel's mother never told him she was leaving, and he so dotes on her that in her incommunicado absence, his febrile imagination decides that Ruth has murdered her. Thus it plays out with various machinations by Samuel to find the "truth" and parry the mean, overbearing, and violent Ruth to thwart him. Could Ruth have done it? This claustrophobic novel features an old house and a cast of two (oh, a few side characters), neither terribly psychologically developed. The abrupt ending is somewhat ambiguous, with a tacked-on chapter in a police station raising more questions than answers, leaving readers to ask, wait, shouldn't there be more here? VERDICT Enjoyable reading along the way despite the abundance of clichés, but the sudden denouement is a letdown.--Robert E. Brown, Oswego, NY

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2018
Leaving him in the care of the stern housekeeper, Ruth, without even saying goodbye, nine-year-old Samuel's beloved mother has gone for six weeks to America, where she is ostensibly searching for loans to shore up the family business. But is she really? Oh, sure, she has sent the boy a paltry seven postcards, but otherwise there has been nothing but silence. So when a school friend tells him a probably apocryphal story about a German housekeeper who murdered her employers, Samuel becomes certain that Ruth has murdered his mother. But he has no proof. Then, spying on her through the keyhole in the door to her room, he sees her writing something at her desk and he becomes convinced she is recording the truth about his mother in a diary. Surely this will prove she is a murderer. Won't it? In his first novel for adults?he also writes children's books under the pen name Caleb Krisp?Australian author Giles offers a neat little thriller with enough red herrings and clever ambiguities to keep the pages turning on the way to a disturbing, surprise ending. And, oh, about that rabbit . . .(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2018

A neogothic set in a downward-spiraling manor house in midcentury Cornwall inhabited by nine-year-old Samuel and housekeeper/nanny Ruth, who owes much to Cinderella's stepsisters, this novel keeps readers turning the page almost in spite of themselves. Samuel's father is dead, his steel business foundering, and Samuel's mother has gone to America for months seeking funds, with no correspondence. The problem: Samuel's mother never told him she was leaving, and he so dotes on her that in her incommunicado absence, his febrile imagination decides that Ruth has murdered her. Thus it plays out with various machinations by Samuel to find the "truth" and parry the mean, overbearing, and violent Ruth to thwart him. Could Ruth have done it? This claustrophobic novel features an old house and a cast of two (oh, a few side characters), neither terribly psychologically developed. The abrupt ending is somewhat ambiguous, with a tacked-on chapter in a police station raising more questions than answers, leaving readers to ask, wait, shouldn't there be more here? VERDICT Enjoyable reading along the way despite the abundance of clich�s, but the sudden denouement is a letdown.--Robert E. Brown, Oswego, NY

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 24, 2018
Nine-year-old Samuel is worried about his mother who has been abroad sorting out financial affairs for 113 days. To make matters worse, Samuel is stuck in a draughty old manor house in the English countryside with nobody to look after him but the housekeeper Ruth—who could give creepy Mrs Danvers from Rebecca a run for her money. Samuel begins to wonder if there’s more to his mother’s swift disappearance than Ruth is telling him. A series of postcards from America aren’t enough to quell Samuel’s suspicions that something sinister has happened, and Ruth’s denials only stoke the fire of Samuel’s increasing suspicion and terror. Best-known for his ‘Ivy Pocket’ and ‘Silas and the Winterbottoms’ children’s series, Stephen Giles masterfully captures the inner dialogue of a frightened, desperate boy, and reveals himself to be an adept mystery writer: planting several clues that allow readers to piece together a larger backstory than Samuel is able to see. This taut, terrific and terrifying page-turner is thick with nail-biting tension and will keep readers up long into the night. Commercial crime fiction fans would do well to pick up this gem of a slow-burning thriller but should be advised to go in with as little prior knowledge as possible and simply let the tantalising plot unfold.

Melinda Allan is a librarian and freelance book reviewer