The Man in the Picture: A Ghost Story

By Susan Hill

Book Overview

A chilling tale of a cursed Venice and a painting that traps the soul.

From the acclaimed author of The Woman in Black, Susan Hill delivers a masterclass in atmosphere and escalating psychological horror. The Man in the Picture is a sophisticated, deeply unsettling ghost story perfect for fans of classic Gothic fiction and slow-burn terror. Don't look too closely, or you might be the next to join the eternal carnival.

When renowned antique dealer and collector Christopher Cockerill acquires a striking nineteenth-century painting of a masked Venetian gentleman, he believes he's found a valuable, if somewhat unsettling, piece for his collection. The picture captures a sinister reveler from the city's notorious carnival, his face half-hidden in shadow, his eyes fixed on the viewer.

But as the painting hangs on his wall, Cockerill begins to notice small, terrifying shifts. A whisper of cold air, a fleeting shadow, and the unnerving feeling of being watched transform his peaceful flat into a place of subtle dread. It is an image that seems to possess a life--and a chilling curse--of its own.

As Christmas approaches, Cockerill finds himself irresistibly drawn into the painting's history: a history of dark secrets, tragic fates, and a malignant Venetian terror that refuses to be confined to the canvas. With the lines between reality and the supernatural blurring, Cockerill must confront a timeless evil that threatens to consume his sanity and his very soul.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590200918
• ISBN13: 9781590200919
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Overlook Press
• Length: 145 Pages
• Weight: 0.67 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.9" x 6.6"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

Chilling...

Though not as outright frightening as WOMAN IN BLACK, still effective and highly literate. Once again, Hill chooses the short novel to tell this ghost story, which is reminiscent of such masters as Poe and Lovecraft.The Man in the Picture

Couldn't put it down !

What a great little book. Not at all "frightening" the way the jacket misleads, but it's a little creepy - in the way a Twilight Zone show would be. Original !

Good story, well written

The story is much smoother than Poe, but not unlike one of his plots. Intriguing, and extremely well written--the flow of the prose is skillfully simple. Definitely worth reading.

Ghost story of an antiquary

Susan Hill's latest novella recalls the famous Edwardian ghost stories of M. R. James and the Benson brothers as much as her famous previous short novel THE WOMAN IN BLACK recalled the Victorian ghost stories of Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Henry James and John Meade Falkner. We have here many of the more familiar tropes of M. R. James's ghost stories--tales within tales, multiple narrators, bachelor antiquarians in rooms at Oxbridge, and a woman possessed by a burning revenge--and in terms of atmosphere Hill is pretty faultless. But the novella leaves too much unclear in its telling. Although you want a certain amount of mystery preserved at the end of a ghost story, there's just too much muddled at the end of this to really get the effects Hill strives for--so while most of the story is quite a page turner, the final narrative section leaves you a bit unsatisfied.

Very Poe

I was intrigued by the premise of the story. When I started the book, I knew it was one of those books you just can't put down, nor do you want to. It is similar to a modern Poe story and I hope you agree, one that you would want to recommend to friends and read again!