Deadfall Hotel by Steve Rasnic Tem

Rasnic Tem is admired and respected by those in the field of horror and weird fiction, but little known to a broader readership, perhaps because much of his output in a 30-plus year career has been at shorter lengths. While this is the general reader's loss, Deadfall Hotel is unlikely to change things: a beautifully crafted novel with hints of Mervyn Peake and Ray Bradbury, it has already been well-received, but is probably too claustrophobic to become a breakout novel. Richard Carter is a single parent, struggling to cope with the loss of his wife in a house fire, and to be a good father to 10-year-old Serena, who is far too rapidly entering womanhood. Seizing on the offer to run the remote Deadfall Hotel, he soon comes to realise that the job is not what it had seemed. The sprawling, unmappable building is host to a bizarre cast of guests, each with their own history and rituals, as well as strange, and often dangerous, needs. A dark and particularly moving story of love, loss and change, with a posse of horror kittens thrown into the mix.