The Cabin at the End of the World

A Novel

By: Paul Tremblay

Narrated by: Amy Landon

Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Paul Tremblay’s terrifying twist to the home invasion novel—inspiration for the upcoming major motion picture from Universal Pictures

“Tremblay’s personal best. It’s that good.”—Stephen King

Seven-year-old Wen and her parents, Eric and Andrew, are vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet New Hampshire lake. Their closest neighbors are more than two miles in either direction along a rutted dirt road.

One afternoon, as Wen catches grasshoppers in the front yard, a stranger unexpectedly appears in the driveway. Leonard is the largest man Wen has ever seen, but he is young, friendly, and he wins her over almost instantly. Leonard and Wen talk and play until Leonard abruptly apologizes and tells Wen, “None of what’s going to happen is your fault.” Three more strangers then arrive at the cabin carrying unidentifiable, menacing objects. As Wen sprints inside to warn her parents, Leonard calls out: “Your dads won’t want to let us in, Wen. But they have to. We need your help to save the world.”

Thus begins an unbearably tense, gripping tale of paranoia, sacrifice, apocalypse, and survival that escalates to a shattering conclusion, one in which the fate of a loving family and quite possibly all of humanity are entwined. The Cabin at the End of the World is a masterpiece of terror and suspense from the fantastically fertile imagination of Paul Tremblay.

©2018 Paul Tremblay (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

“A tremendous book—thought-provoking and terrifying, with tension that winds up like a chain. The Cabin at the End of the World is Tremblay’s personal best. It’s that good.” (Stephen King)

Turn right after 300 yards

I pre-ordered this title, so I was unable to listen to the sample before I bought it. Otherwise I would have known that the narrator sounds exactly like my GPS. The droning of her voice is completely artificial, with every sentence ending in the same flat, uninflected tone. Why anyone would try to sound like this, I cannot say, but I do know that no human being speaks like this without real effort.

I'm three hours in, but I just can't get used to it. I think I will return it and buy the Kindle version. If I'm in the mood for audio, I will have my Amazon Alexa read it to me. It would sound less robotic and have more personality than this. (Actually, Alexa has a great personality once you get used to her . . . but now I digress!)

I will avoid this narrator in the future.

Narrator Problems

Decent story, but the voice that the narrator used for all the male characters sounded like Barney the Dinosaur. This was not something I could grow used to like a bad smell, instead its effect on me grew worse by the the hour. By the conclusion of the book, I couldn't wait for the end.

Can't even finish listening

At the start of the book I found the narration really annoying, but tried to continue to listen for an hour or so. I can't continue due to the breathiness and flatness of the narration. I may decide to read the book at some point, but this was a waste of a credit.

Mixed Bag

It was a struggle to keep listening to the story due to the narration. I agree with another reviewer’s assessment that all the male characters sounded like Barney, it was distracting and frustrating. The story however was good enough that I was able to listen through to the end. I recommend buying the book and reading it rather than listening to it.

Worst Narrator I have ever heard

If you are considering buying this, get the kindle or book version. The audible narrator is so, so, so, so, bad it will ruin the story. It did for me and many others apparently. I had to end up skipping over half of the book bc I couldn’t stand the pathetic performance but I was invested enough in the story to want to hear the end. First time I have ever done that! The entire performance sounds like someone trying to impersonate a sexy robot or something. I can’t even describe how awful it is!

AWFUL!

Good Lord! This could have been a 4 hour book, but the writer needed to use every descriptive word in the dictionary OVER AND OVER. I couldn't even finish it because I was so irritated at all the little, useless details he put into every sentence. UGH!

Deeply disappointed

I had been really looking forward to this book's release, as I have thoroughly enjoyed Paul Tremblay's "A Head Full of Ghosts" and "Disappearance at Devil's Rock". He's one of very few authors who has totally creeped me out with his eerie horror style, and I just love it. However, I can hardly believe that this book is written by the same man.

Previous reviewers have commented on the narration, and I agree with them. The male voices sound just like Barney the dinosaur. But I could have dealt with the narration if the book hadn't fallen so flat in its story telling. The ending wasn't really an ending at all, as we're left with no answers, but only additional questions. There is no sense of closure, we aren't told what was true and what was not, and we don't even find out what happens to the main characters.

I felt like this book was trying to make a point, but I have no idea what that point was. I just feel tremendously let down. If you have enjoyed Paul Tremblay's previous works, take it from me - you probably won't enjoy this one.

Terrible

Well, I listened to the whole thing, but I'll never get that time back. Or that credit.

The Worst I’ve Read This Year

This is an awful book. I’m not even sure what it was really about. It was so convoluted with ideas about the end of days and the sacrifices that characters had to make to save the world. But the sacrifices were never explained or at least the reasons for the sacrifices were never explained. Why these characters had to sacrifice and why now. Even who was demanding these sacrifices was never explained. Throw in the two gay parents with an adopted daughter as those that needed to sacrifice and the plot becomes even muddier. In the end, whether it was meant or not, the book came across as anti-religion, anti-gay, —mess.

And to top it all off, the narrator was horrible. There was hardly any difference in the voices of the characters. She just seemed to drone on in a robotic manner.

I’ve heard so many good things about this author. Well it didn’t show here. I will not be reading any more of his books.

Terrible

Omg I don’t even know where to begin with this book... not to give things away but it was never explained why them? Why now? What is the point of this ending... what happened? Skip this one and spend your money or credit on something else.