This book is about the class system in post WW II Britain. Although it takes the author about 50 pages to set up the story, it is suspenseful to the end. A very good read.

The Little Stranger has some spooky parts, however, I kept waiting for soemthing more in the story. It was a little slow to start but kept me reading. I enjoyed the descriptions of the house and I thought the characters were nicely developed but just can't help feeling like there should have been something more....

What I liked about this book was the sense of foreboding atmosphere Waters created, and how the characters were affected by it over time. What I didn't like was the wishy-washy approach to what actually haunted the family at the center of the story.

This novel, part gothic tale and part historical suspense kept me up until all hours. The Little Stranger is an old-fashioned ghost story, complete with spooky house, eccentric inhabitants and a narrator who may not be as mild-mannered as he seems. Doctor Faraday, a lonely bachelor, first visited Hundred’s Hall in 1919 as a child when his mother worked for the aristocratic Ayres family. Now, 30 years later he is called back to treat a servant. His once solitary life becomes entangled with the family: Mrs. Ayres the elegant owner; her 24 year old son Roderick, an RAF airman wounded during the war: and daughter Caroline, considered a plain spinster by locals, but for whom Dr. Faraday develops a special attachment. And the mansion, Hundred’s Hall, is to my mind the most important character in the story. Author Sarah Waters ever so slowly builds the suspense as she skillfully weaves tension and dread into each and every paragraph. A book not to be missed.

Hundreds Hall, a once-grand estate in rural Warwickshire, frames the setting of Sarah Waters' newest novel. Post WWII, the house is declining rapidly: the masonry is crumbling, the wallpaper is peeling and weeds have entirely choked out the garden. Roderick Ayers, who has returned wounded from the War, is desperate to hold his home together for the sake of his mother and his sister, Caroline. As Dr. Faraday, the narrator who treats Roderick's injured leg, becomes entwined with the Ayeres family, disturbing occurrences within Hundreds imply that the house has taken on a life of its own. Indeed, the Hall seems possessed by something sinister, something determined to upset the lives of all the Ayeres'. I have now read all five of Sarah Waters' novels and I maintain that she's an ingenious storyteller who never allows the reader's attention to falter. She does an especially good job of developing her characters and brilliantly takes on the point of view of an (intentionally) irritating and unreliable narrator. However, this wasn't my favourite of her books (I'd place it somewhere in the middle) mostly because it has an uncharacteristically linear plot and because it lacks the shocking twists and turns for which Waters is famous.

I enjoyed "The little stranger" immensely ... very well-written, stylish and intelligent, with a terrific ending. The novel was short-listed for the Booker, and has an almost Twilight-Zone feel about it. Disturbing and hideous at times, but always in a very polite way. Does that make sense? Also, if ever a character was in denial, it would be Dr. Faraday ... just my two cents.

Much too long, and not engaging enough to read the whole thing.

Incredibly creepy -- because it slowly dawns on you that the narrator is not a credible witness. And that his plans and purposes are not what he thinks they are. A slow start but so thrillinig by the end that I read this almost naked by the light of the closet after everyone had gone to bed -- just couldn't wait to see what happened. So plan ahead for the end of the book, when you will be glued to it.

Although it has a bit of a slow start, it does help build on the suspense later in the novel - then I couldn't put it down. The menace grows slowly through the book & I was not at all prepared for the events-particularly the ending. Great writing!

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters The writing is good but the story is repetitive and moves slowly, leaving you at the end with a sense that you missed out on something. You don't get a good insight into the characters.