The Mountain King

Resurrected Horrors, Book 1

By: George Ernsberger

Narrated by: F.C. McAllister

Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

"[A] harrowing adventure...." (Stephen King)

For Ben and Annie, the long weekend in the Catskills is an escape from the heat and noise of New York City. A time to connect with friends, heal their marriage, and breathe fresh mountain air. Then, a sudden storm unleashes a slithering nightmare.

Thousands of venomous serpents trap the vacationers, crawling through cracks in the old cottages, sinking fangs into anyone who moves, bringing convulsions and death.

Now, the survivors devise a desperate plan to escape. But something is watching them with cold, inhuman eyes. To live to see another day, they must confront a creature of primordial instinct....

©1979 George Ernsberger (P)2018 Eric Hoheisel

More Sex Than Horror

I was really excited to read 'The Mountain King' because of Stephen King's winning recommendation! I was very surprised to find that this book is not "pure, chilling terror," but mostly sexual encounters and fantasies between a small group of wealthy people. There were literal hours and hours of interpersonal happenings (that I found intensely boring) before there was action of any kind. And once you did get to the action, the action was not very... exciting.

Overall, I think this book really missed the mark. I have no idea why Stephen King liked it!

That said, the narration was an improvement on the boring story.

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

Snakes on a plane? How about all around?

I really don't listen to Stephen King. The man writes "ok" horror (I've never found a page that chilled me, nor a film that scared me that had his name on it). So, whenever I see his name I take it with a grain of salt. So, I generally go in with no expectations, rather than raised ones.

Mountain King sounds like a Tolkien type tale, but references the deadly Rattler in his natural habitat. The book does start out a little slow, but I can appreciate set up, build up, and increasing tension so long as it gets to a satisfying conclusion. After all, you have to care about the characters before they start getting killed off, otherwise it is all flavor and no substance. So, does the book start off with a bang? No, but it does try to provide time to let you get to know the characters, to care about them, and their personal problems. Does the book get good? Yes, the last 1/3 of the book does jump into high gear and it is something that plays out like jaws, but on land. One bit of difference is that you do get a snake's POV from time to time. Kind of like when jaws is approaching a victim, but . . . .not. It's pretty cool.

There are some serious things, like sexual content, and death by snake bite, so not for kiddies, but these are things you have to expect in a book for adults. You will certainly never think less of rattlesnakes after this book.

F.C. McAllister does a fine job narrating, as you can understand him, but he does come across as a little sedate when he should have been a little more active. Even though I did receive a promo code for this review it in no way influenced my considerations of the material, and in fact, inspired me to be more honest. In fact, getting a code generally makes me harsher as a reviewer as I am more often concerned what someone like Me will decide based on my review.

Overall, the book is 4 stars all around, it could have been really great if it had been gifted with a little more action up front, but overall the story satisfies quite well.

Arachnophobia but with snakes instead of spiders

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

NOPE NOPE NOPE! I SO don't do snakes... still not sure what I was thinking when I picked this one up. *shudder* So, if you saw that old movie, Arachnaphobia, this is the snakes version of that. It is well written and narrated. If you like skin-crawling stories like this, you definitely want to pick this one up.

Mountain King

There's only so much horror you can get out of snakes, no matter how big they are.
*SPOILERS*
You have people and dogs bit, alot, and a kitten swallowed whole. Couples go to a mountain retreat to get away from daily life. The main characters want to either beat up, bash in or kill their spouse, at the same time realising how much they love the other. One man brings his girlfriend, who has slept with the other men. He doesn't know this. He asks her to marry him and right after tries to figure out why he asked.
After a thunderstorm leaves them stranded on the mountain they have to try to survive the snakes. If you enjoy what I've discribed (I left quite a bit out) then you will enjoy this. I definately do not recommend this for younger (under 16) or animal lovers.

I did enjoy listening to the narrator.

I received this audible free and am leaving my honest review

Snakes Alive

At first it was a little boring but when the friends go the Catskill the action and horror arrives. There is explicit sex and creepy large rattle snakes; it was not as scary as I was looking forward too but ok. Narration was a little monotone needs more excitement in parts. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. Thank you

Good story, painful performance

The story was engrossing enough to listen all the way through, sometimes even enough to forget the monotone reading by the narrator. That is the primary struggle to enjoy the story in-spite of the painful sound of the performance. Would have been much better with a better actor.

this wasn't horror or thriller to me

I was interested in this because it was supposedly a horror novel from the 70's and Stephen King gave it a good review. Maybe what King said was taken out of context for PR purposes. I didn't find this book a horror or thrilling. Mostly I got bored. More than half the book was a soap opera about these people's lives and their relationships. There was a lot of sex, which actually wasn't bad. I know King likes lots of background and character building and he goes off the rails at times, but this was just boring to me.
When it finally got to the snake part, I was hoping for at least a creature feature that would be fun, but it really wasn't. I didnt care about the characters and I wasn't tense about who might get bit or anything. And that's even with one of the women pregnant.
I wanted this to be so much more.

I requested this copy of the audiobook and have voluntarily left this review

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