The Deceased

By: Tom Piccirilli

Narrated by: J. Scott Bennett

Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Something is calling Jacob Maelstrom back to the isolated home of his childhood - to the scene of a living nightmare that almost cost him his life. Ten years ago his sister slaughtered their brother and parents, locked Jacob in a closet...then committed a hideous suicide. Now, as the anniversary of that dark night approaches, Jacob is drawn back to a house where the line between the living and the dead is constantly shifting.

But there's more than awful memories waiting for Jacob at the Maelstrom mansion. There are depraved secrets, evil legacies, and family ghosts that are all too real. There's the long-dead writer, whose mad fantasies continue to shape reality. And in the woods there are nameless creatures who patiently await the return of their creator.

©2000 Michele Scalise (P)2018 David N. Wilson

Strange and disjointed but excellent narration

I don’t really know where to begin....probably because I didn’t really know what was going on in this book most of the time. It’s just strange. I would finally think I knew what was going on, only for a new chapter to start and leave me wondering what happened to the story I was listening to in the previous chapter. And, what were the turtles about?! On a positive note, the narration was excellent! I received a review copy at my request and voluntarily reviewed.

had trouble following

I had trouble following this book. I am not sure what was going on most of the time and that left me feeling like i wanted to turn it off. I may try to listen to this again later to see if i can follow it. It seemed to have a very interesting premise, not sure if it was dreams/ghosts/imagination/etc but interesting.
"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

Twisted, unusual horror story

This is a twisting story that muddies the water between reality, fantasy and insanity. It’s a convoluted plot of horror story authors, twisted characters, axe murders, incest, ghosts and spirits that feed off the living. Throughout a lot of the story I was not sure who was dead and who was alive, who was sane or who was insane, and I still don’t know what the turtle had to do with anything. It’s confusing and yet somewhat captivating at the same time. At times the only thing that kept me going through the flashbacks, the hauntings and the erratic weaving of the story, was the great narration. The narrator was a steady voice that created tension and pulled you through the tumultuous sea of dead and crazy people in this novel. The author’s style of writing seems somewhat structureless and yet you still want to keep going just to see if it all makes sense in the end; with this story, I’m not sure that it did for me.

as far as horror stories are going it was...

well actually I do read horror stories but I do have some limits and this story was a bit too twisted in my opinion but I did like it it was scary and it did the job overall I gave this book 4 stars because I think it was nice

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

Too many flashbacks

I almost don't know what to say about this book. There is so much going on and it was hard to follow. The viewpoint switches back and forth through reality to hallucination to flashback to I'm not sure what was happening.

The protagonist is a horror writer whose family was murdered by his sister 10 years previously. He was a child at the time, doesn't remember any details, and is heading back to his family home to see if he can figure it all out. Two women follow him there, one is his agent's girlfriend, and the other is writing a thesis on his work. And then all hell breaks loose and the story takes one weird turn after another. What was up with the turtle?

I do have to say that male authors can be quite predictable. There's one scene where the author is describing how a young woman is holding an axe in preparation to commit an axe murder and the author stops to describe how appealing her breasts look at this moment in time. Seriously?

The audiobook narrator did a great job. I would have no problem listening to other books using him as a narrator.
I received a copy of this in audio format for free in return for an honest review

A well narrated train wreck

This thing was pretty much a train wreck. There were so many things going on, different timelines and people (real and imagined) and dream sequences and turtles…huh…wait…turtles?? Yep. Turtles. Hey, don’t ask me, I already told you it was a train wreck.

The really weird part was that I actually liked parts of it and parts were written well despite the lack of focus and coherent storyline. Unfortunately, I can only give this one a wee over the dreaded one star. Too bad, I really wanted to like it a whole lot more...but it really was a train wreck. The only positive really was the excellent narration but even that couldn't save this one.

The deceased

I did not care for anything about this book aside from the narrator.It was impossible to follow.I wish I'd have given up on it. J Scott Bennett was a great narrator.I was given this book by the narrator,author or publisher free for an honest review.

Nonsensical

Saying this book is confusing is giving it too much credit. It jumps around into different situations, including way to much sibling 'intimacy' (that's really gross, dude), that to me, never amounted to anything substantial. When I think back, I'm not sure how I even finished it. I wish I had those hours back. I won't be purchasing anything more from Mr. Piccirilli. Narration was fine.

Hard To Follow

This was a difficult audiobook for me to finish. I usually enjoy a good horror or ghost story so this should have been a slam dunk. However, the writing style was more disjointed than I like which made it difficult to follow and get invested in. There are all the elements of a good horror and ghost story here and it is narrated well, so someone else might enjoy it more.
I received a copy of this audiobook at my request and this is my voluntary review.

Like listening to a text book.

I had a really hard time staying focused on this story. It started out decent enough but before long I was lost and confused. I'm sure this didn't help but I had to take frequent breaks and listen to another book because this just became tedious to try to stay focused. I really felt like I was back in school and being forced to read a text book that made no sense to me.
I enjoyed J. Scott Bennett's narration. I don't fault him at all for me not being able to stay focused. I would like to go back and try to go through this book again and see if I can make heads or tails out of it. Not sure if this is Tom's typical style but if it is I am going to need to stay away.

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