The Children's Hour Audiobook By Douglas Clegg cover art

The Children's Hour

Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection of 1M+ titles.
Yours as long as you’re a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for $8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Children's Hour

By: Douglas Clegg
Narrated by: Derek Shetterly
Try Standard free

$8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $20.66

Buy for $20.66

In this gripping supernatural thriller of horror and suspense - from Bram Stoker Award-winning author Douglas Clegg - something is terribly wrong with the children of Colony, West Virginia. Innocent though they seem, these kids come out at night - to hunt.

When Joe returns with his wife and two young children to the peaceful mountain town of Colony, West Virginia, he doesn’t expect to find the girl who disappeared when he was a boy. But she remembers Joe and her other friends who left her behind in a deep well within a mysterious barn.

Now, she's out for blood.

Is she a vampire? Or something more demonic...

Whatever’s lurking in the old mines under the town has been disturbed by Joe’s return. Joe did something when he was a boy - something that stopped the terror and evil from erupting. But now, a creature living in darkness wants out. It’s going to use the children of Colony to exact its revenge...Its hour has come round at last - in The Children’s Hour.

©1995 Douglas Clegg (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
Horror Scary

Editorial reviews

Bram Stoker award-winning author Douglas Clegg’s most celebrated novel, The Children’s Hour, becomes terrifyingly real in this nuanced performance by Derek Shetterly. Writer Joe Gardner reluctantly returns to his hometown, Colony, West Virginia, with his family and walks back in to a nightmare. He hides a dark secret from his childhood, and he knows that an evil force is still at large in Colony. Shetterly’s characterization and interpretation heightens the terror that suffuses every moment of this horror classic. Called, "the best horror writer of the post-Stephen King generation", Clegg will not disappoint with this one.

All stars
Most relevant
Easy to follow plot in spite of having too many characters to keep track of. The author makes the drama feel fully personal.

very interesting novel

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

A dark and atmospheric novel of small town life and the evil that lives directly beneath the surface. It may have dragged a wee here and there, but it didn’t spin me out of the story and the slower interludes didn’t last long. Not that this is a fast novel to begin with…because it isn’t. It isn’t supposed to be. Mr. Clegg takes his time getting you familiar with the characters and the colorful backstory of Colony, West Virginia. And then all hell breaks loose...

Welcome home, Joe. We’ve been waiting. …All of us.

Welcome home, Joe. We’ve been waiting...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

It sucks you in and then doesn't let go until the last word on the last page! Great winter read!

Creepy Good!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

neat spooky small-town-horror thriller great for Halloween. original and interesting premise executed well. made me curious about the author's other works

cool story well narrated

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

YES. West Virginia has this strange vibe anyway, so when I read that this book was based on a fictional town called Colony, I thought, hm, this will be creepy for sure. Kids at night that "hunt"? Telepathic tendencies? Dead people in an old, dark, barn? People that lurk about in the woods? All checks out like getting lost on a WV back road.

What other book might you compare The Children's Hour to and why?

If Children of the Damned was an audiobook, I'd have to choose that one. I saw the movie some years ago and that movie was just as creepy. All these children with glowing eyes, roaming the town at night in search of souls. *shivers*

Which scene was your favorite?

None of the scenes really stood out to me, because the book as a whole was great.

If you could rename The Children's Hour, what would you call it?

Spooky Holler.

don't ever stop when driving through WV

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews