A Night of Blacker Darkness

Being the Memoir of Frederick Whithers As Edited by Cecil G. Bagsworth III

By: Dan Wells

Narrated by: Sean Barrett

Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

EXCLUSIVELY AVAILABLE IN AUDIO

No one else has Dan Wells’ hilarious new novella - it’s not available in print, in ebook, by mobile phone text or Victorian phonograph. Audible is bringing it to you exclusively, for a limited time.

The basic premise is this: it's 1817, and a man named Frederick Whithers is wallowing in jail for a crime he didn't commit, desperate to get out so he can go and commit it for real. He fakes his own death and escapes in a coffin, but when he gets to the graveyard and crawls out of the coffin, somebody sees him and assumes he's a vampire. It's pretty much all downhill from there. Frederick spends the rest of the book doing everything he can to steal a massive inheritance from a dead man, all the while running from constables, vampire hunters, ghouls, poets, proper young ladies, highly improper young ladies, morticians, mysterious figures, and the most pathetic collection of vampires to ever disgrace a work of fiction.

The book is Extremely Silly: imagine a horror story, as written by Monty Python, in the style of the old screwball comedies like The Producers, What's Up Doc?, and Some Like it Hot, and then imagine that for some reason it's also in the style of a Victorian frame story starring John Keats and presented by a fake historian. A delightfully funny novel full of witty dialogue brought to life by the narrative voice talents of Sean Barrett.

©2011 Dan Wells (P)2011 Audible Ltd

Wonderfully funny

Loved it! Adored the characters even when they were being horrible. Laughed out loud in places, and have recommended to everyone I've come across.

Very entertaining!

I loved this story! It was very amusing, and the premise was brilliant! Comedy plus horror made an excellent combination.

Hilarious and entertaining.

If you love British comedy, you will love this book. It was an entertaining listen and I found myself laughing until it hurt.

A fun story!

A fun, light-hearted vampire story in the style of Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams.

The most silly story - and delightful!

This is the most silly story! Wells leads us from one absurdity to another nonsense from beginning to end. Sean Barrett reads it as if Frederick's puzzlement and quick wits were his own : as a reader, he actually is "The Great One" (no spoiler here). The scene in the charnel house had me laughing out loud while driving which wasn't the most secure thing to do. In short, it was a great fun!
NB : I'm not sure I'll ever be able to read anything by Keats after that ;)

cute and funny

this was really entertaining. The story has a totally nerdy kind of sense of humor and is just a series of gags, one after another, but that didn't make it any less fun or satisfying to listen to. I loved when Mary Shelley showed up as a grave robber.

Uproarious!

This book is a perfect antidote to the plague of brooding, seductive and powerful vampire romances infesting the shelves. The vampires, far from being a menace, are inept and brainless. Fortunately for our hapless "hero", so is the vampire hunter and just about everyone else caught up in this farce. Frederick , never the less, doggedly slogs through vampires and vampire hunters while dodging his murderous and untrustworthy but lovely partner in crime as they race to steal an inheritance. He does so with a single minded determination helped- or hindered- by the poet John Keats and a rather bloody minded Mary Shelly.

A fun read and a good performance

Quick, light-hearted read

This is the book I listen to when a bit stressed because the farcical, light-hearted gothic horror story reminds me not to take life too seriously. If you like Terry Pratchett’s Disc World books, you will like this too. It’s the same type of exaggeration that lets us examine reality it a new light.

Funniest book I ever listened to.

I would definitely listen to this recording again. I highly recommend this book. as a long time listener get this one.

Absurd and Awesome!

This book is one of those where you just laugh at all of the silliness and the stress the characters are going through, cause all of it is so ridiculous. I love it. We need more books like this one. I gave the story 4 stars because it can be difficult to keep track of sometimes, especially in an audio format, but that isn’t much of a hindrance. It is so epic, and there is adequate explanation for you to get the picture.
In short, if Dan Wells and I were both vampires, I would give him all of my rabbits.