The House of Lost Souls by Francis G. Cottam, A Great Horror Novel

The House of Lost Souls is a supernatural thriller-suspense-horror novel by the English journalist and writer Francis G. Cottam, author of The Resident and The Waiting Room. Its tone is perfect – it makes the lonely reader look behind their backs. It reminds me one of my favourite horror films, The Craft, and perhaps The Shunned House by H. P. Lovecraft. The writing manners of F. G. Cottam are also excellent, which is another admirable treat.



The setting of the novel is the Isle of Wight. Four young girls, college students enter the Fischer House, an estate once owned by a Nazi supporter, Karl Fischer. Unsurprisingly, the place seems malevolent. A student ends up committing suicide, whilst the remaining three have vile nightmares and intrusive thoughts – in the course of time each of them tries to commit suicide.
Eleven years ago, journalist Paul Seaton also visited the mansion to help his then girlfriend, as the girl intended to write her dissertation about Pandora Gibson-Hoare, a society fashion photographer who had often visited the house in the 1920’s, alongside with her strange friends, the ill-famed Aleister Crowley, horror writer Dennis Wheatley, and Karl Fischer himself. Besides, something unthinkable happened amongst those walls. Paul still suffers from the memories in the Fischer House. Now, learning about the case of the students and the fact that the survivors’ sanity and lives are at stake, he decides to return to the mansion…

Product Description of The House of Lost Souls:
The Fischer House was the scene of a vicious crime in the 1920s - a crime which still resonates as the century turns. At its heart was a beautiful, enigmatic woman called Pandora Gibson-Hoare, a photographer of genius whose only legacy is a handful of photographs and the clues to a mystery. Paul Seaton was lured to the house ten years ago and escaped, a damaged man. Now three students will die unless he dares to go back. But this time he has Nick Mason at his side, and maybe Mason's military skills and visceral courage will be enough.