Tones of Home

By: Thomas A. Erb

Narrated by: Jared Pike

Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Ashley and Maurice are in love and heading to her hometown for the holidays and to share the good news with her family. Those two things are enough to drive any young man to drink, but add the fact that he's from the south and Afro-American, heading to the rural upstate town of Arcadia Falls, NY, where the reputation of toothless and inbred rednecks scares even the streetwise kids from North Carolina, and Maurice knows the ride will be anything but smooth... Nevertheless, they are truly in love and Maurice is sure he's encountered worse on the gang-filled streets of Durham. He is wrong...

After a series of practical jokes go wrong, Maurice is introduced to the Vanslycke family, where the party really starts. An overzealous brother and a promiscuous bartender are the least of his concerns. Four strangers are about to enter the Torchlight Inn and change their lives forever. Blood begins to flow as the faux Fab Four hunt for "The One" and won't leave until they find them. Nobody is safe. Can the young lovers escape? Who is "The One?" What do the Frightful Four want? Welcome, grab a drink, and settle in for a night at The Torchlight Inn.

©2013 Thomas A. Erb (P)2013 Thomas A. Erb

Helter Skelter intensity and craziness!!!

This story is a rapid fire concoction of mayhem and brutality!! With some classic rock references thrown in. If you like a horrific murderous tale. Check it out!!

A twisty an very violent novella!

What did you love best about Tones of Home?

The twists.

What other book might you compare Tones of Home to and why?

Richard Laymon because of the violence and interesting characters.

What does Jared Pike bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His voices really helped to discern characters.

Any additional comments?

"Tones of Home" is a novella about a college-age engaged couple going home to meet the future-wife's parents. Maurice and Ashley are meeting "Daddy" in a "redneck"-y all-white bar. Oh, the catch? Maurice is a black man. Within minutes, a bar-fight ensues. "Daddy" breaks it up, and Maurice meets his future father-in-law for the first time... and then the twists begin...

At the start, the story plays on the reader's own ideas of racism, and it plays with your ideas of what will happen next. Yes, there are some stereotypes... or are there? The book keeps you guessing, but let me give you a bit of advice: Don't guess. Just go with the ride. I guessed a lot, and it just distracted me.

The reader of the audiobook works well-enough. When he started out, I almost felt like I was listening to a children's book. But that feeling went away by chapter 3. I think it was his higher voice for the female characters.

The book is a novella (about 3 hours of reading time...give-or-take). But the size is right for the story. There isn't any filler...

..Unless you call castration, blood, and gore "filler." That's right, this book is full of extreme gore after the first 6 chapters. Including: A person getting-off on their torture of others, exposed spines, sickly crunches, machete slicings, shotguns blasting people to pieces, etc...

If you hate books with intricate descriptions of killing and torture, don't get this book! It is NOT for everyone. I felt plenty of sickness during the tumultuous ride of "Tones of Home."

Fun bit: the chapter titles are all songs by The Beatles... and there is a reason for this. Also, the paperback has a Beatles-like picture on the front.