The Haunted Hotel (with elusive ghosts)

As you may know, I have started my officious countdown to Halloween already. I do this from at least the beginning of August, sometimes more. I watch horror movies and read spooky stories. These days, I have been reading The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins. I am not saying that I have been influenced by its cover, but yes, I bought the book in part because of its cover and the scary pale female ghost cloaked in black. And because Wordsworth Editions generally deliver when it comes to classic scary stories. But so far, I must confess that I have been finding the whole experience somewhat disappointing. Not because it is not good, but because the supernatural elements come rather late in the narrative around page 80 something of a 150 pages novella. I was half-expecting it: XIXth century ghost stories can often have corner of the eye, blink and you've missed kind of apparitions. Everything is rather subdued and very, very, very subtle. Nothing wrong with that, but I will soon need something meatier and more obviously horrifying. There are other stories of Collins in the book, but once I've checked out of his Haunted Hotel, I will not read them and switch to something a bit more blatantly spooky.