Mr. Jakes — Tony Richards

Alex Morland, once a bestselling novelist, is now a forgotten failure. He wants to write a new thriller that will revive his career, but he needs somewhere quiet to do it. When he arrives in the seaside town of Birchiam at the start of winter, he finds The Grange, a massive, traditional Victorian hotel, almost completely empty. His every whim is catered to. He barely needs to even leave his room. But who are those peculiar individuals he occasionally meets in the gardens and the bar? Why the sudden screaming in the corridors? And as for the hotel's night manager-Mr. Jakes-why does Alex only see him in his dreams? The trap has been sprung. He'll have to pay a terrible price for all the pampering and comfort he's received. The plot goes back over a hundred years, to when the hotel first opened and its very first night manager moved in. A chilling supernatural novel in the style of The Shining, from a HWA and British Fantasy Award finalist.