Slade House

A Novel

By: David Mitchell

Narrated by: Thomas Judd, Tania Rodrigues

Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

The New York Times best seller by the author of The Bone Clocks and Cloud Atlas

Named one of the best books of the year by San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, National Post, BookPage, and Kirkus Reviews

Keep your eyes peeled for a small black iron door.

Down the road from a working-class British pub, along the brick wall of a narrow alley, if the conditions are exactly right, you'll find the entrance to Slade House. A stranger will greet you by name and invite you inside. At first, you won't want to leave. Later, you'll find that you can't. Every nine years, the house's residents - an odd brother and sister - extend a unique invitation to someone who's different or lonely: a precocious teenager, a recently divorced policeman, a shy college student. But what really goes on inside Slade House? For those who find out, it's already too late....

Spanning five decades, from the last days of the 1970s to the present, leaping genres, and barreling toward an astonishing conclusion, this intricately woven novel will pull you into a reality-warping new vision of the haunted house story - as only David Mitchell could imagine it.

Praise for Slade House

“A fiendish delight... Mitchell is something of a magician.” (The Washington Post)

“Entertainingly eerie... We turn to [Mitchell] for brain-tickling puzzle palaces, for character studies and for language.” (Chicago Tribune)

“A ripping yarn... Like Shirley Jackson’s Hill House or the Overlook Hotel from Stephen King’s The Shining, [Slade House] is a thin sliver of hell designed to entrap the unwary.... As the Mitchellverse grows ever more expansive and connected, this short but powerful novel hints at still more marvels to come.” (San Francisco Chronicle)

“Like Stephen King in a fever...manically ingenious.” (The Guardian [UK])

“A haunted house story that savors of Dickens, Stephen King, J. K. Rowling and H. P. Lovecraft, but possesses more psychic voltage than any of them.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

“Tightly crafted and suspenseful yet warmly human...the ultimate spooky nursery tale for adults.” (The Huffington Post)

©2015 David Mitchell (P)2015 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Diabolically entertaining...dark, thrilling, and fun... One needn’t have read any of Mitchell’s past books to enjoy Slade House. Those who do crack it open will find inside a thoroughly entertaining ride full of mind games, unexpected twists, and even a few laughs.”(The Daily Beast)

“A smart, spooky thrill ride... If you haven’t yet read Mitchell, choosing this novel just might make a believer of you.” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

“Plants died, milk curdled, and my children went slightly feral as I succumbed to the creepy magic of David Mitchell’s Slade House. It’s a wildly inventive, chilling, and - for all its otherworldliness - wonderfully human haunted house story. I plan to return to its clutches quite often.” (Gillian Flynn, number-one New York Times best-selling author of Gone Girl and The Grownup)

A wonderful bit of fantasy!

David Mitchell is constantly toying with the scientific and metaphysical in a way that delights the imagination. This work followed Cloud Atlas for me in my journey through the writings of Mitchell, and I do believe will propel me into Bone Clocks, which I've heard this is meant to accompany. Bravo, David Mitchell!

thoroughly entertaining

a new author to add to my favorites. it was a fun and dreamlike novel.

This is his worst book

What did you like best about Slade House? What did you like least?

I liked all his other books but this one was boring. It told the same story over & over again with a different victim/character each time. The basic premise was not very interesting.

Was Slade House worth the listening time?

no

Darn

Now I need to reread The Bone Clocks! (Lovely problem to have.) David Mitchell's writing is a wonder.

Sprig

Just absolutely wonderful. Great author and very well acted/ spoken. Perfect for fall season. Watch out for snow flakes

Very interesting

I didn't know what to expect from this book. I read about it, and wanted to listen to it. I was not disappointed. I would recommend it.

I 💜 David Mitchell

I love David Mitchell’s stories. They have all the depth and complexity of my two favorites: Margaret Atwood and Octavia E. Butler.

There are better books.

House of Leaves. Ubik. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. And more.
The story leaves so much to be lacking, the entire time I listened I wished it was something else. It's not engaging. It's frustrating. It pulls some cheap "aha!" moments that feel unfair.
As for the voiceover, it's good. There are moments when the voicework has the actor gender-swapping and it doesn't work every time.

Time Is Time Was Time Is Not

That was a psychedelic ride! David Mitchell does such an amazing job of building false senses of security and then flipping reality. I really enjoyed this book a lot. Also as an added bonus it helped give me some insight into The Black Lodge from Twin Peaks. I'll probably revisit this book again for the excellent narration alone

Good, Not Great

Any additional comments?

An enjoyable listen. Easier to follow than Mitchell's longer works. Wish it were longer so the characters, ideas, and subplots could've been more numerous and even better developed.