• Sick House

  • By: Jeff Strand
  • Narrated by: Joe Hempel
  • Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (284 ratings)

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Sick House  By  cover art

Sick House

By: Jeff Strand
Narrated by: Joe Hempel
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Publisher's summary

It's a home invasion from beyond the grave in this novel of unrelenting terror from the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Pressure, Dweller, and Wolf Hunt.

It doesn't seem like the perfect house, but screw it, it's good enough to rent for a year. Unfortunately for Boyd, Adeline, and their two young daughters, it's immediately clear they chose the wrong place.

The nightmare begins with violent coughs and headaches. Food starts to rot almost as soon as they take it inside. A pet tarantula goes missing. Some family members begin to exhibit creepy behavior.

Then the ghosts arrive, and all hell breaks loose....

©2018 Jeff Strand (P)2018 Jeff Strand

What listeners say about Sick House

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

This House is Sick

Wow, Jeff Strand knows how to creep me out. This story played on two of my phobia’s quite well, kind of wish he pushed it further, kind of glad he didn’t. Have to say this was the first book that I didn’t want to listen to right before I went to bed. Had to watch some TV just to relax from listening. Needless to say once daylight came around I was quick to go back and hear the rest of the story and get some resolution. Have to say I didn’t see the ending coming together the way it did and really was impressed.

I enjoyed the character’s relationships the most. Boyd’s family was your basic family and I liked their interactions with each other. Since Boyd is the main character it is told from his perspective and as a father I appreciated his interaction with his wife and kids as well as his end goal in providing for his family. They seemed like a real family and it made the series of events more traumatic as I fully felt like I was right there with them.

This was quite a different type of haunted house. The “Home invasion from beyond the grave” description is spot on. The blending of the haunted house and history of how the haunting started worked perfectly. Wasn’t sure where things were going initially with some of the back story but when it comes together it really knocks it out of the park. The home invaders are some sick individuals and their piece of this story is really twisted and disturbing. Definitely needed a shower after listening to their tale.

Joe Hempel did a fantastic job with this narration. I blame him for me needing to switch to something lighter before bed. The tension he is able to convey through his narration really kept me on edge. I’m still freaked out about that damn spider.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Deliciously dark!

When Boyd gets a promotion, he has to rent a new place closer to work, they find a house they think is perfect for them, but things start turning bad pretty quickly! Food starts spoiling nearly as soon as it's brought into the house, Boyd starts feeling sick, and the rest of the family start acting weird. But it's when the ghosts start turning up that things take a descent into darkness.

The plot of this was good...ish. The first half of the book was intriguing, entertaining and had me hooked, but then things start going weird and that's why it's a 4 star and not a 5 star read. The author builds the tension nicely from the start, and I loved that! It made me eager to see what was going to happen next. I even liked it when the ghosts came and things started ramping up, but then Gina enters and things just go weird. Never the less, the plot was good and I liked it for the most part.

I liked Boyd and his family. They just want a nice place to live, but are thrown into something that shouldn't involve them. The most uncomfortable parts were to do with the daughter. It broke my heart and was tough to read!! One thing I've seen with this author is how he makes such great characters! They are easy to like and I was rooting for them all the way through.

In all, this was a good read. Even with it being so dark, it still had a lot of funny moments which added much needed levity to the overall story.

Joe Hempel is one of the best, especially when he reads Horror. He knows how to bring the atmosphere and tension to life. He has plenty of tones and voices for all the characters and was easy to listen to.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

You don't want to move into this house...

I had a good time with this book. This was a really nice change of pace which was exactly what I was looking for. I don't read horror all that often but I almost always enjoy it when I do decide to pick one up. This was a really quick read that hooked me right from the start. I am so glad that I decided to pick up something a little different than my usual reading fare.

Boyd and his family are excited to get a fresh start when he gets a promotion. They find what they believe to be a perfect house for their family in their new town and are thrilled to move in. Then some strange things start happening. Food goes bad almost as soon as it comes into the house. There is an incident with the family's pet tarantula. Then things really start to get crazy.

I really liked Boyd and his family right from the start. They really seemed to be excited about the move and they kept a pretty positive attitude about things until events became out of control. I loved the way that Boyd and his wife, Adeline, always put the kids first and did everything in their power to protect them. The kids seemed to handle things better than could be expected and some pretty important scenes in the book revolve around them so they were important players in the story.

I did enjoy the first half of the book a bit more than the second half. I was almost holding my breath trying to figure out what was going on in this house. I knew that something big would happen and I think the anticipation really added to the overall enjoyment for me. After some of the big events started, the excitement level stayed at a very high level until the book came to a conclusion. I did enjoy the action and liked that there were some pretty creepy and gory scenes but the mystery of the story seemed to fade a bit. I did appreciate the epilogue and liked that there were a few surprises saved until the very end of the novel.

This was my first experience listening to Joe Hempel's narration and I kind of feel like I might have been missing out. I thought he did a fantastic job with this book and I am pretty sure that I liked the story even more because I made the decision to listen to the book. He did a great job with all of the voices and was able to add a lot of excitement to the story. I definitely hope to listen to more books by this narrator in the future.

I would recommend this book to horror fans. This was a really interesting take on a haunted house story with plenty of gruesome and scary moments to keep things entertaining. This was my first time reading any of Jeff Strand's work and I look forward to reading more in the future.

I received a review copy of this audiobook from the narrator or author via Audiobook Boom.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Sick House...yep.

I received this audiobook free from the author or narrator, yet I give my honest review here.

I enjoyed this book a lot. I was expecting one thing (typical haunted house) - but the author added some interesting twists that take the reader/listener into new territory. (If you were hoping for spoilers - sorry!) I was a little disappointed, though, because (around half-way through) I thought the book was peaking a little early - but then it went in a whole new direction. Enter Gina. After all - she is largely to blame for the house being what it is. Listen through to the epilogue - that's where one of the big twists comes. To be such a sick and twisted story - there was quite a lot of humor. No, really. What does that say about my sense of humor? I couldn't go all the way to 5 stars with the story because there were a few places where I thought the story got just a touch silly. But all in all, it was very much a good story.

The narrator gave a very good performance. His pacing and rhythm were good. Easy to listen to with no jarring changes in loudness. I thought his voices were by and large very good - especially the witch. There were a few times when I couldn't see a lot of separation between the voices of the two daughters and the mom - but that's tough to do. Same goes for the three ghosts. Nevertheless, he did a great job.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Stand Goes Dark!

This is an exceptional horror story. There was at least one moment where I was cringing, and if I was watching a movie would have been peeking through my fingers.
Strand outdoes himself.
Excellent narration by Hempel.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

Watch out for black mould

A house is cursed when the sister of a murdered witch takes matters in her own hands
I thought the author did a great job introducing new elements to the haunted house genre
Excellent narration from the very talented joe hempel
As a fan of Jeff strand this was one of his best highly recommended
I received a free review audiobook and voluntarily left this review

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4 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Al
  • 07-08-18

More gory than scary

I received a free copy of the audiobook with the option of leaving a review.

Boyd was stuck in a rut when a choice promotion makes it seems like his luck has turned. Off to a new town and renting a decent house for a family used to a small apartment makes it all look like a dream come true. Then weird things start to happen.

I kind of liked this. The setup and premise were interesting, as was the actual ending. I liked the family, they were normal at face value, but there was some deeper stuff hidden away that was pushed to the fore as the story carried on. The initial interaction with the house was good, food rotting, the tarantula going missing and so forth. The fact that only the family suffered was a nice touch.

The narrator did a good job, and the writing was terrific at times, but here's the rub - after a creepy start, it went from potentially scary to a silly splatterfest. I found myself zoning out far too often after the last quarter or so of the novel, having been very engaged for the first 75%. If you don't like gore, either because it makes you barf or makes you bored, you should probably steer clear of this.

I liked most of it, so I'd definitely be interested in checking out another Jeff Strand work though. Give this one 3.5/5.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

What did I just listen to?

Joe Hempel is one of my favorite narrators, so I assumed that this book would be a safe choice in spite of never having read the works of Jeff Strand. I was wrong. No offense to the author, but this book was incredibly uncomfortable to make it through. I'm not a prude when it comes to gore, but so much of this was done in poor taste. The gore was the only well thought out part of the entire book, leaving the storyline and character details to feel more like an afterthought that was just thrown together.

I'm definitely going to ask to exchange this book. I still love the narrator's voice.... but I still feel like I just willingly put myself through needless hours of punishment.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Jeff Strand is good. Real good.

Jeff Strand is good. Real good. If you haven't read/listened to him, then you are missing out. Sick house is a good and enjoyable story. Not my favorite of Mr. Strands, but he has set the bar pretty high for himself which may have hurt him here a little bit. A good Strand is still head and shoulders above most.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Sick and Depraved

This was my first time listening to a book by Jeff Strand. I selected it because the narrator, Joe Hempel narrates several other authors I enjoy, mainly Ambrose Ibsen.

I listened to about four hours of this six hour book and although it started off promising enough it got sick and twisted pretty quickly. I'm not into blood, guts and graphic descriptions of violence, if that's your thing, you'll probably really enjoy this book.

Warning: This book does have some gruesome scenes involving children.

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