The Cracks
By T H Huddleston
- The Cracks
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Author: T H Huddleston
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Publisher: Titan Books
- ISBN: 9781835413036
- Published: October 2026
- Pages: 368
- Format reviewed: Paperback
- Review date: 14/10/2026
- Language: English
Punk Rock certainly had attitude, but it also had its day. I myself am more of a Post-Punk/New Wave fan, artists who came from Punk and proved that they could actually hold a tune and write a song. Punk was almost more about the movement, the mindset, than it was about the music. Can someone put this attitude into a horror novel? Does T. H. Huddleston’s The Cracks bring this attitude to the horror genre?
Sandra Riley finds herself homeless after her husband dies after a long illness and unpaid debts mounting up. Her saviour comes during the funeral when an old university friend and lover, Gerry, invites her to stay in his ramshackle stately manor to recuperate. With no other choice, Sandra takes up the offer and finds herself living with Gerry, Joy and their child. It is an uncomfortable situation made worse when the dynamic in the home shifts. Is it just Sandra, or are Joy and Gerry trying to make her their servant, and why is the house seeming to support them?
‘Tis the season of horror stories and 2026 appears to be the year of the haunted house as this is the fourth I have read this year. What makes this tale different is the scope of the house. This is a proper manor house full of hidden doorways and mazy basements. It is a classic ghost story in many ways. Things that go bump in the night, accidents that are more than they seem, but this is not the main thrust of the story as I see it. Huddleston layers the story with the concept of Punk?
What is this concept? I am not sure, and I do not think that Huddleston does either. Is the book about eating the rich, letting the working classes rise against the class system? If it is, then the tone feels a little off. There seems to be an equal sneering to both the landed folk and the towns people. It feels almost ‘student politics’ in its simplicity, but this may be on purpose. The main antagonist has a simple philosophy, their actions forthright. The tone of the book reflects this in many ways but does feel naïve in places.
This book is a genre title; Urban Fantasy Horror. Normally, these exists in a world like our own with supernatural elements. I think that tonally this is slightly out of tune in The Cracks. What is Punk, when was Punk? It was a 70s movement, so how old in Sandra? I get the impression she and her cohorts are 90s/00s Punks who think they have an idea of what Punk was, but they are not the Punks who are in their 60s and 70s who lived it. Modern takes feel more like Plastic Punk to me and that is reflected in the final acts of the story when Punk plays its part in an awful song, one that even the OG Punks would have said no thanks to.
With so much time spent on the odd socio-economic aspects of the story, and the ‘power’ of Punk, what horror is left, feels anaemic, only given any centre stage towards the end. Most of the book read more as a disjointed meandering on class that somehow manages to insult all and not propose an answer. I do not think there is enough horror on show for it to appeal to a genre fan.
Written on 14th October 2026 by Sam Tyler .
Topics and themes
Key Tropes
Tone & Pace
Themes
Setting
Content/Warnings
General
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