Holy Terror

What could go wrong when British newlyweds John and Emily Wakelin move into their dream cottage in Essex? Plenty, according to Boyle's (Maiden's End) nicely understated novel of suspense. Emily soon discovers why the house's previous occupants fled so abruptly: they encountered things that go bump in the night-as, before long, does Emily. Her commission to embroider an altarpiece representing a local 16th-century Protestant martyr temporarily diverts her, but when husband John departs on business related to the Persian Gulf War, the tormented ghost's entreaties for help increase in frequency and severity. By the time the spirit's identity is disclosed, readers will have shared Emily's terror and the ghost's desolation. Boyle deftly embroiders her own tapestry here-of rural English life, church politics, hidden agendas, colorfully realized characters and the icy grasp of those who do not rest in peace. However, her attempt to intertwine escalating Gulf War events with readers' fears for John and the world misses the mark: we know that Armageddon didn't occur. Despite this cavil, Boyle's spooky tale shivers with frissons. (Feb.)