Michelle Herbert reviews Nyctophobia by Christopher Fowler…
Nyctophobia is a book structured around darkness and light and its focus is on Hyperion House which is bathed in sunlight from dawn to dusk. Callie Shaw is looking to find the perfect house to share with her new husband Mateo Torres in the region of Spain he grew up in. As soon as she sees the Hyperion House she knows that this is where she wants to live.
Christopher Fowler’s description of the architecture of Hyperion House is superb; you can almost see the building glowing against the sunlight with a mountain cliff rising from behind. The house comes with a dark history set against the Spanish Civil War. It is also quite isolated and is a drive away from the nearest village and the people from the village will not willingly enter the house. As well as the sunlit side to the house, Hyperion House also includes a servant’s quarter which mimics the rooms of the main house; these rooms are always kept in darkness.
The relationship between Matteo and Callie is quite disparate; he is a 44 year old successful business man with a nine year old daughter called Bobbie from his previous marriage. Callie on the other hand is 26 and hasn’t truly begun to live her life; she trained to be an architect but with the financial crash ended up moving back in with her mother. During this time it doesn’t seem like she attempts to find another job. It’s a shame that not enough information is given about their relationship so that unless you add it up to a whirlwind romance (they married seventeen weeks after they meet) there doesn’t seem to be a stable base to their relationship. Mateo is away on business for long stretches of time so you never get to really know him.
Callie suffered from Nyctophobia in the past, but had thought she had recovered from this and this is a constant question throughout the story as it twists between being a ghost story or a tale about a psychological breakdown. Callie seems to be quite naïve as she closes herself off to anyone she could become friends with whilst Mateo is away, as she doesn’t drive or speak Spanish. Callie’s main occupation is learning about the history and architecture of the house and this is her main interaction with the people in the village. These characters are really interesting, but just like Mateo there are at times that they like little more than plot devices rather than well rounded characters.
With the intention of writing a book on Hyperion House’s architecture, Callie gets drawn into the mystery of the servant’s quarters and why the housekeeper seems to be keeping secrets from her. Callie’s curiosity seems to overwhelm her as strange things that can’t be explained start to happen. My problem with this story is that Callie believes it is her nyctophobia that is making her see things in the dark. At the same time she also believes that the house is haunted. Both reasons in this narrative are reasonable deductions but her reasoning slips as she can’t decide between one and the other, but can’t also decide that both reasons are valid.
I really enjoyed the way this story has been written, there is a faint trace of menace that slithers throughout the story as we find out more about the house and also more about Callie’s history. There are also some intense moments in this book that really build up tension. In a way this story reminds me of the film The Others. Although the book is set in the modern world I would say it resonates as a gothic tale with haunting visuals and an interesting setting. There are moments of confusion which could be put down to the state of Callie’s reasoning, but these do not hinder the overall story.
Michelle Herbert
Originally published December 3, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
