Thrillers & Suspense
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The Blackhouse: A Novel
From the author of the "dark and devious...beautifully written" (Stephen King) Mirrorland comes a richly atmospheric thriller set on an isolated Scottish island where nothing is as it seems and shocking twists lie around every corner.
A remote village. A deadly secret. An outsider who knows the truth.
Robert Reid moved his family to Scotland's Outer Hebrides in the 1990s, driven by hope, craving safety and community, and hiding a terrible secret. But despite his best efforts to fit in, Robert is always seen as an outsider. And as the legendary and violent Hebridean storms rage around him, he begins to unravel, believing his fate on the remote island of Kilmeray cannot be escaped.
For her entire life, Maggie MacKay has sensed something was wrong with her. When Maggie was five years old, she announced that a man on Kilmeray-a place she'd never visited-had been murdered. Her unfounded claim drew media attention and turned the locals against each other, creating rifts that never mended.
Nearly twenty years later, Maggie is determined to find out what really happened, and what the islanders are hiding. But when she begins to receive ominous threats, Maggie is forced to consider how much she is willing to risk to discover the horrifying truth.
Unnerving, enthralling, and filled with gothic suspense, The Blackhouse is a spectacularly sinister tale readers won't soon forget.
A remote village. A deadly secret. An outsider who knows the truth.
Robert Reid moved his family to Scotland's Outer Hebrides in the 1990s, driven by hope, craving safety and community, and hiding a terrible secret. But despite his best efforts to fit in, Robert is always seen as an outsider. And as the legendary and violent Hebridean storms rage around him, he begins to unravel, believing his fate on the remote island of Kilmeray cannot be escaped.
For her entire life, Maggie MacKay has sensed something was wrong with her. When Maggie was five years old, she announced that a man on Kilmeray-a place she'd never visited-had been murdered. Her unfounded claim drew media attention and turned the locals against each other, creating rifts that never mended.
Nearly twenty years later, Maggie is determined to find out what really happened, and what the islanders are hiding. But when she begins to receive ominous threats, Maggie is forced to consider how much she is willing to risk to discover the horrifying truth.
Unnerving, enthralling, and filled with gothic suspense, The Blackhouse is a spectacularly sinister tale readers won't soon forget.
Editorial Reviews
Advance Praise for The Blackhouse
"Fans of Tana French will embrace author Johnstone's skill at weaving supernatural and setting-as-character aspects into her story, and readers of Lisa Jewell will enjoy her unexpected plotting and character development. The caliber of Johnstone's writing and masterful storytelling will delight both. This richly evocative story exists at the point where love, fear, guilt, bad decisions, psychosis, and mythology collide." -Kirkus, Starred Review
"Atmospheric and compelling with an excellent sense of place, this literary thriller is somehow both uplifting and heart-breaking, with some very unexpected twists!" -Catherine Cooper, author of The Chalet and The Chateau
"[An] eerie gothic thriller... this ghost story ultimately packs a gale-force wallop. Johnstone is a writer to watch."-Publishers Weekly
"Fans of Tana French will embrace author Johnstone's skill at weaving supernatural and setting-as-character aspects into her story, and readers of Lisa Jewell will enjoy her unexpected plotting and character development. The caliber of Johnstone's writing and masterful storytelling will delight both. This richly evocative story exists at the point where love, fear, guilt, bad decisions, psychosis, and mythology collide." -Kirkus, Starred Review
"Atmospheric and compelling with an excellent sense of place, this literary thriller is somehow both uplifting and heart-breaking, with some very unexpected twists!" -Catherine Cooper, author of The Chalet and The Chateau
"[An] eerie gothic thriller... this ghost story ultimately packs a gale-force wallop. Johnstone is a writer to watch."-Publishers Weekly
Readers Top Reviews
CH26
This was an amazing read and had me hooked throughout. I’d recommend reading this book and also Carole Johnstone’s other book “mirrorland” if you’ve not read it before. Excellent writer and excellent books.
Richard Barber
For most of this novel I was a bit ambivalent. It was okay, but I didn't feel any real connection with the characters. But by the end i was wrecked with emotion. Loved it.
Veronika Jordan
Mirrorland is one of my favourite books ever, so I had huge hopes for the author’s next book. The Blackhouse didn’t disappoint, but it didn’t quite match up. I think my problem was twofold. Firstly I didn’t warm to Maggie enough to keep rooting for her and that has nothing to do with her mental health issues. It was more to do with her relationship with her mother, which I didn’t really understand, and her reasons for coming back to the island. Was her mother always lying to her and did that make her a bad person or simply a deluded one? My mother was convinced she could ‘see things or ghosts’ but we regarded it as more of an eccentricity than anything else. 'Nearly twenty years later, Maggie is determined to find out what really happened, and what the islanders are hiding. Why would she do that? Best let sleeping dogs lie. It can only end in tragedy.' Her sudden appearance caused huge animosity amongst the locals. I know they didn’t want her digging up the past, but they were very rude and often threatening towards her and Alec’s behaviour is shocking and unforgivable. After all none of it was actually her fault. She was five. She wasn’t even born (excuse my maths if I’m wrong) when the double tragedy occurred. Secondly it was just too long. At times it just seemed to drift, when I wanted to move the story forward. Maggie constantly questions her childhood and her mother’s belief that she also had the ‘gift’. Was it real or not? I’m still not sure to be honest. Robert, on the other hand, with his obsession with Norse mythology and mummified crows to ward off evil, is very strange and creepy, especially the stuff with the dying sheep. That for me was the scariest bit. 'Unnerving, enthralling, and filled with gothic suspense, The Blackhouse is a spectacularly sinister tale readers won’t soon forget.' I’m afraid it just wasn’t sinister enough for me, but maybe that says more about me and my reading habits than the story itself. But don’t get me wrong. I still loved it. Carole is a master of suspense and knows how to deliver a twist with the best of them, it just didn’t have the same impact as Mirrorland. I’ve seen it described as a slow-burn, but for me it was just a bit too slow. Would I read her next novel? Hell yeah.
Short Excerpt Teaser
Prologue Prologue
It wasn't the screams he remembered most, although they crashed to shore inside the howling, furious wind and ricocheted for hours around the high cliffs above the beach. It wasn't the storm or the roaring, foaming waves that carved great snaking wounds through the wet sand and stole its shape from under his feet.
It wasn't the dark or the flashing torchlight. Or the frantic hours of men pushing boats into the wild surf: motorboats, fishing boats, even old wooden sgoths. All to be smashed into the bay's high headlands or hurled back onto the shore like stones from a slingshot.
It wasn't the long, tired wails of the women whose silhouettes stood in a clifftop vanguard ahead of the silver-starred inland sky. Nor those waving white arms out on the rocks, which became slower and less frequent as the screamed chorus grew quieter. And it wasn't the wondering about which of those arms, those bobbing heads that disappeared and sometimes reappeared, belonged to his father.
It wasn't even the eerie silence that came after. The exhaustion of energy and grief and hope. The exhaustion of wind and rain and thunder and sea.
It was the tide bell out on those rocks. Its low, heavy ring growing ever more muffled under the weight of water and all that time.
And it was the black tower casting an invisible shadow over the sand and bay and calming waves.
They were always what he remembered the most. Sometimes they were all he could think about.
The tide bell. And the black tower.
And knowing that every man on those rocks would never come back. Because of him.
Because of what he'd wanted. Because of what he'd done.
It wasn't the screams he remembered most, although they crashed to shore inside the howling, furious wind and ricocheted for hours around the high cliffs above the beach. It wasn't the storm or the roaring, foaming waves that carved great snaking wounds through the wet sand and stole its shape from under his feet.
It wasn't the dark or the flashing torchlight. Or the frantic hours of men pushing boats into the wild surf: motorboats, fishing boats, even old wooden sgoths. All to be smashed into the bay's high headlands or hurled back onto the shore like stones from a slingshot.
It wasn't the long, tired wails of the women whose silhouettes stood in a clifftop vanguard ahead of the silver-starred inland sky. Nor those waving white arms out on the rocks, which became slower and less frequent as the screamed chorus grew quieter. And it wasn't the wondering about which of those arms, those bobbing heads that disappeared and sometimes reappeared, belonged to his father.
It wasn't even the eerie silence that came after. The exhaustion of energy and grief and hope. The exhaustion of wind and rain and thunder and sea.
It was the tide bell out on those rocks. Its low, heavy ring growing ever more muffled under the weight of water and all that time.
And it was the black tower casting an invisible shadow over the sand and bay and calming waves.
They were always what he remembered the most. Sometimes they were all he could think about.
The tide bell. And the black tower.
And knowing that every man on those rocks would never come back. Because of him.
Because of what he'd wanted. Because of what he'd done.
