Review: The House at Devil's Neck by Tom Mead

The House at Devil's Neck (A Spector Locked-Room Mystery, #4)

by Tom Mead

Release Date: July 15, 2025

2025 Mysterious Press

Ebook ARC; 320 Pages

ISBN: 978-1613166505

ASIN: B0DL3N8PFL

Audiobook: B0FFWXJN4C

Genre: Fiction / Historical / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

An apparent suicide in a London townhouse uncannily mirrors a similar incident from twenty-five years ago, prompting Scotland Yard's George Flint to delve deep into the past in search of the solution to a long-forgotten mystery.

Meanwhile, Joseph Spector travels with a coach party through the rainy English countryside to visit an allegedly haunted house on a lonely island called Devil’s Neck. The house, first built by a notorious alchemist and occultist, was later used as a field hospital in the First World War before falling into disrepair. The visitors hold a seance to conjure the spirit of a long-dead soldier. But when a storm floods the narrow causeway connecting Devil’s Neck to the mainland, they find themselves stranded in the haunted house. Before long, the guests begin to die one by one, and it seems that the only possible culprit is the phantom soldier.

 

My Thoughts

The House at Devil's Neck naturally caught my attention as it's a locked-room mystery at an atmospheric home with a history of hauntings and other to-dos. We've also go all of the usual things happening with secrets, mysterious connections between characters, seances, haunting, more secrets, locked-room mysteries, bad weather, and a house with atmosphere. What could you not love about it?

 

Well, as it turns out, a plot that becomes too convoluted can actually make you roll your eyes and rethink how much you are enjoying a book. To be fair, I really enjoyed the first half of the book and enjoyed trying to keep up with twists and turns as they occurred. For someone who has read a lot of these things, there were some things that I just expected to happen, and they did, but those things didn't lower my pleasure when the characters discovered these things. It's hard to explain without actually giving away important plot points to the story, so I'll just say that some of the plot points were actually predictable, expected, but didn't remove you from the story. However, when things get too complicated to try to throw off a reader, then you have a problem. And it's too bad as most of the story was interesting. However, when things just start getting too fanciful for me, I start rolling my eyes, and this is what happened. Too many ridiculous explanations for x, y, and z. 

 

Spector is definitely an intriguing character though, and I really enjoyed how he picked apart the theories the others had regarding the murders.  Because the author tries really hard to capture the atmosphere of an Agatha Christie novel, something that is definitely not easy to do, I do have to commend him for reminding me of those novels quite often. And I like the fact the author states that the reader has all the facts they need to solve the puzzle on their own if they can. And I did, even if I didn't quite have all the facts down pat. So that was fun. The other characters were unique in their own ways and I enjoyed their quirks and foibles very much. 

 

Verdict

The House at Devil's Neck was really enjoyable for the first half of the book, but sabotaged itself in the second half by becoming too convoluted with some ridiculous explanations. And I love convoluted story lines. The quirky characters were fun and I enjoyed how they interacted with each other and how they all eventually interconnected. I did think the ending was a bit unsatisfying, but overall I enjoyed this book.