The Radleys

A Novel

By: Matt Haig

Narrated by: Toby Leonard Moore

Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Just about everyone knows a family like the Radleys. Many of us grew up next door to one. They are a modern family, averagely content, averagely dysfunctional, living in a staid and quiet suburban English town. Peter is an overworked doctor whose wife, Helen, has become increasingly remote and uncommunicative. Rowan, their teenage son, is being bullied at school, and their anemic daughter, Clara, has recently become a vegan. They are typical, that is, save for one devastating exception: Peter and Helen are vampires and have ;for seventeen years been abstaining by choice from a life of chasing blood in the hope that their children could live normal lives.

One night, Clara finds herself driven to commit a shocking - and disturbingly satisfying - act of violence, and her parents are forced to explain their history of shadows and lies. A police investigation is launched that uncovers a richness of vampire history heretofore unknown to the general public. And when the malevolent and alluring Uncle Will, a practicing vampire, arrives to throw the police off Clara's trail, he winds up throwing the whole house into temptation and turmoil and unleashing a host of dark secrets that threaten the Radleys' marriage.

The Radleys is a moving, thrilling, and radiant domestic novel that explores with daring the lengths a parent will go to protect a child, what it costs you to deny your identity, the undeniable appeal of sin, and the everlasting, iridescent bonds of family love. Read it and ask what we grow into when we grow up, and what we gain - and lose - when we deny our appetites.

©2010 Matt Haig (P)2010 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"Funny, scary and wickedly familiar...Reading The Radleys proved an unpredictable experience, its themes crafted through a pleasurable switch of tones. On the one hand it’s a parochial comedy of manners in a...suburban setting, but it quickly gathers poison and then effortlessly enters the supernatural without ever betraying its worldly concerns.” (Alfonso Cuarón, director of Y Tu MamÁ TambiÉn, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Children of Men)

" The Radleys is, first and foremost, the remarkable story of a family, born of denial and deceit, learning to tell the truth. That the family in question happens to be Undead is secondary, because in Matt Haig’s masterly hands vampirism is much more than blood lust. It is a yearning for love, truth, passion, and authentic connection.” (Allison Burnett, author of Undiscovered Gyrl)

"A sharp, bloody tale of abstinence and indulgence (and trying not to eat the neighbors).” (Steven Hall, author of The Raw Shark Texts)

Just ok

Not his best book but not bad. Just ok. Not a book that you can't put down and cannot wait to get back to. With that said, I read it pretty quickly because I am on vacation. Good light beach read. Narration was ok.
Was it the waste of a credit? No. Enjoyable enough.

Great narration of a fun story!

I love this author’s work, and this performance of it was delightful. It was suspenseful and fun.

completely charming

Along with some great vampire worldbuilding and fine writing thrown in. And also a wonderful reader!

Brilliant!!

More please! Loved the story, writing style, and narrator. I don't want to spoil the story.
All I can say is listen and absorb The Radleys.

Vampires?!

I was close to returning the book once that detail emerged. I was not happy to have used a credit for this. All in, putting the vampire blood lust aside, it was a light, beach-read about families.

Blood doesn't satisfy cravings. It magnifies them.

THE RADLEYS is not a syrupy sweet sparkly YA vampire romance novel… fortunately! What it is; is a satisfyingly thought-out and well executed story about a suburban family (the Radleys) who have a guiltful taste for the sticky red stuff.

Matt Haig did a favorable job in first, showcasing this family’s dynamics of love and dysfunction as they struggle to blend in and be “normal” and second, in telling a thrilling heart pounding vampire tale. His ability to maintain a strong balance of the two, succeeded in captivating my attention throughout.

Would I recommend THE RADLEYS to a friend? Definitely!... especially in the MP3 audio format. Toby Leonard Moore’s narration/performance in accent, really adds to the experience of this UK born book.

As stated before THE RADLEYS is not your expected bloodsucker story, although there are sprinkles of humor and romance with colorful bits of creative vampiric history; I’d classify this book in the paranormal drama category due to its slightly PG13 soap-operaish vibe. Now the question is… will there be a sequel? I hope so.

Fun and inventive

Fun, quirky, inventive, as with other Haig novels like The Humans, and How to Stop Time. Haig writes clearly. He is insightful on many themes as with his novel, The Humans, creating a 97 point list of how to live properly. He is one of the most creative and amusing writers I have enjoyed reading. I recommend him to the reader looking for light fare but good writing.

Delightful!

Haig’s take on the vampire novel set in the most pedestrian middle-class family in nondescript home within a small English village is delightfully entertaining. He elevates the genre.

Fun listen before Halloween

I like my listens to reflect the seasons. Halloween is coming up and I like Matt Haig, so I chose this one. This book was a cute and different way to get into the Halloween mood. That said, like many other reviewers, this wasn’t my favorite Haig story. It was good, not great.

what fun...

I generally don't like fantasy stuff, especially series like Twilight, but I decided to take a chance on this book based on some reviews I read. I was suprised by how much I liked this book. The writing style was fun, the characters interesting and the story solid. This summer I listened to Freedom: A Novel and absolutely hated it. It's ironic that this one is similar in story, but just so much more. Too bad though, I'm sure it won't be an Oprah book club choice.