Match Book
The Witching Hour
Anne Rice
1990 · 1216 pages · Horror
How it reads
The Witching Hour is horror (gothic horror, specifically), and its dominant mood is eerie. It's atmospheric and uncanny, with a sense that something is wrong. It's a slow burn: character-driven, with a payoff that comes from accumulation rather than twists. It rewards attention and suits unhurried reading more than five-minute gaps.
It's set in a big city setting, in the historical past, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are family and identity. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.
It opens a series. The ending is left open, for you to argue about. At 1216 pages it's a real commitment. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something eerie
- you have time to settle in
- you want something to chew on
Maybe not if…
- you need something cosy or heartwarming
- you're reading in five-minute gaps
- you want something you can finish this weekend
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- horror
- Author gender
- female
- Author experience
- prolific veteran
- Setting: place
- big city
- Setting: time
- historical
- Mood / feeling
- eerie
- Pace
- slow burn
- Tone / weight
- heavy and literary
- Length
- long
- Narrative style
- third person, several viewpoints
- Publication era
- modern classic
- Popularity
- well known
- Series vs standalone
- first in a series
- Ending style
- ambiguous
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
- The Twenty Days of TurinGiorgio De MariaShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn
Her Fearful SymmetryAudrey NiffeneggerShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn
The HistorianElizabeth KostovaShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn- Reluctant ImmortalsGwendolyn KisteShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, gothic horror
The drowning GirlCaitlín R. KiernanShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn- The Shadow at the Bottom of the WorldThomas LigottiShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn
Appears in
Find a copy
Reviews on Goodreads ↗Match Book earns a commission on purchases made through these links, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, Match Book earns from qualifying purchases.