F. R. Tallis is a clinical psychologist whose books run the gamut from horror and supernatural fiction to psychology and crime writing. THE SLEEP ROOM and THE FORBIDDEN are two of his previous novels that fall under the horror and supernatural fiction genres. While not quite up to these past efforts, THE VOICES should meet with the satisfaction of Tallis’ core readership.

It is the summer of 1976 in North London, and the Norton family --- Christopher, his wife Laura, and their baby daughter Faye --- have just purchased and are moving into their dream home. It seems that the home, an old Victorian house, will be the perfect place for Christopher, a movie soundtrack composer, to revitalize his dwindling career as he plans to use the top floor for his own recording studio. Something interesting to note is that, up to that point, the summer of 1976 was the hottest on record in London. This adds to the atmospheric setting of the novel. After the family has moved in, we start getting some clues that something is not quite right, not only in the house, but also with Laura. She begins seeing images of a man, hearing noises and voices on the baby monitor, having recurrent nightmares, and “losing” track of Faye in the house. Could this be postpartum depression, or is something more sinister causing Laura to slowly believe she is going crazy?

"THE VOICES should meet with the satisfaction of Tallis’ core readership."

Unfortunately for her, Christopher has become obsessed with his music composing after he, too, hears voices on one of his “empty” tape reels. After doing some research, he believes that what he has stumbled across in his own home is something called electronic voice phenomena, or EVP, which are communications from the dead picked up on recording devices. Oddly enough, this doesn't frighten him. On the contrary, he welcomes the voices and makes attempts to continue communicating with them in the hopes that he can string together enough parts to make a blockbuster musical composition that will put his fledgling career back on top. What becomes painfully evident is that bad things are happening in the house --- the spirits aren’t happy with Christopher --- and he doesn’t seem to care. As his wife’s mental state is crumbling and the apparent risk to his daughter within the home increases, we are left to wonder if he will wise up in time to save his family.

The overall plot concerns a ghost story, but doesn't focus entirely on hauntings, or even their possibility. Subplots abound, to the extent that they almost hijack the book. In one, Laura makes a new friend at a literary reading who encourages her to read feminist literature. Her reading of the literature becomes such a focus of the book that it takes away from the fact that she is struggling with her mental state and frightened about what’s happening in the house —- the things readers are most concerned about. Another (major) subplot involves Laura and Christopher’s friends, Simon and Amanda, and the goings-on among the four of them.

Fans of British suspense who can get past the multiple subplots that detract from the overall story may enjoy the historical parts of the book surrounding the hauntings, as well as the idea of EVP. It is doubtful, though, that THE VOICES will win F. R. Tallis many new fans. It does not appear to be as tightly written as some of his prior books, and, at times, the narrative seems to be overflowing with half-realized ideas and characters who can’t quite carry off the situations in which they are placed.