Strangers

By: Michaelbrent Collings

Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer

Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

You wake up in the morning to discover that you have been sealed into your home. The doors are locked, the windows are barred. There's no way out.

A madman is playing a deadly game with you and your family. A game with no rules, only consequences. So what do you do? Do you run? Do you hide?

Or do you die?

©2013 Michaelbrent Collings (P)2014 Michaelbrent Collings

Sadly Flawed

I don't often write reviews for my Audible books because for me they are not only stories by writers whose work I've already found to be quite good but they are also a form of complete escape. This book really missed the mark for me however.
. ***SPOILER ALERT!***
If all it takes is the uncovering of the secrets of ones loved ones for them to be able to simply stop loving them because that person or people hasn't lived up to the vision of what a parent, or anyone, thinks they should be then that love is extremely shallow! If a parent, even at their most vulnerable can't accept their child for the flawed human they are and still look at them with love, I don't get it. To me this makes the very foundation of this book extremely flawed & very disappointing.

Creepy Claustrophobic Horror Story

Would you consider the audio edition of Strangers to be better than the print version?

Yes, just because the addition of the different voices and especially Jerry's internal monologue allows the narrator to adapt certain affectations that add to the storytelling experience.

What other book might you compare Strangers to and why?

I'm not sure of any books I'd compare it to, but in terms of movies there is a good deal similar with the Cube series of movies only instead of literal booby traps it's the characters secrets in Strangers that cause most of the conflict. In terms of just being a book in which a family is forced to confront their problems there are many examples.

Which character – as performed by Jeffrey Kafer – was your favorite?

I liked the performance of Jerry, the patriarch of the family. Jeffrey did a good job of portraying his increasingly frayed hold on reality and his vocalizations of Jerry's voice brought to light the amount of self-doubt and guilt that Jerry had throughout the situation. It provided the most intense sensation of the loss of hope in the face of that kind of situation out of the characters.

If you could rename Strangers, what would you call it?

I might just rename it Stranger, because when you get down to it it's only really one stranger who matters in the story. Of course the plural version can be said to extend to the fact that the neighbors and companies and whatnot showed how much strangers people can be with those they interact on a regular basis so perhaps the plural version is better for that regard.

Any additional comments?

I received the code for this story in exchange for an honest review, its the second book I've been entertained with by both Michaelbrent Collings and Jeffrey Kafer and both of them are remaining on the list of authors/narrators to look out for.

GOT IT!!

This would be an amazing stand alone book, but I know that it's not. I had read the second book in the series not knowing that it was the second. So now I'll reread Stranger Still, then Stranger Danger. They way it should be read.
It's gonna be a good Weekend.

Creepy and wonderful

I really enjoyed this book because it kept me guessing through out. It is very eerie and dark, which I find interesting. There were several times I thought the book was going to wrap up, but there was a twist and it kept going. It was probably a little longer than it needed to be, but I'm not complaining.The narrator was good and kept the story interesting as he told it. If you like horror, you will like this book. I received this at no charge in exchange for my honest and unbiased review from audiobook boom.

Speechless!!

First novel that I've read by this Incredible author. Just flawless and it's my goal now to read everything and anything by Michaelbrent Collins!! Great story line. Really creepy!!
This story would make an Incredible movie!! Looking forward to the next Michaelbrent Collins novel that I choose!!

intriguing premise, bland/unlikable protagonists

I just don't see why we should care about an unlikable, selfish, morally bankrupt family suffering for the entirety of the story in a ludicrous killer scenario. Am I the only one who I wanted all of them dead in the first few chapters so we could move on to a set of more heroic and intelligent characters? Their reactions to the traumatic story around them offered no connection for the reader and no reason to root for anyone as they just run around, repeatedly dumbfounded by the same scenarios over and over.