The Seven Visitations of Sydney Burgess

By: Andy Marino

Narrated by: Christine Lakin

Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

From an electrifying voice in horror comes the haunting tale of a woman whose life begins to unravel after a home invasion.

“Marino offers horrors both existential and visceral. From a stunning opening, the sense of dread just builds and builds.” (M. R. Carey, author of The Girl with All the Gifts)

"Odd and dark and fascinating.... Not quite like anything I've ever read before. A strange, compelling, late-night page-turner. It kept me reading way past my bedtime." (T. Kingfisher, author of The Hollow Places)

Possession is an addiction.

Sydney's spent years burying her past and building a better life for herself and her young son. A respectable marketing job, a house with reclaimed and sustainable furniture, and a boyfriend who loves her son and accepts her, flaws and all.

But when she opens her front door, and a masked intruder knocks her briefly unconscious, everything begins to unravel.

She wakes in the hospital and tells a harrowing story of escape. Of dashing out a broken window. Of running into her neighbors' yard and calling the police.

The cops tell her a different story. Because the intruder is now lying dead in her guest room - murdered in a way that looks intimately personal.

Sydney can't remember killing the man. No one believes her.

Back home, as horrific memories surface, an unnatural darkness begins whispering in her ear. Urging her back to old addictions and a past she's buried to build a better life for herself and her son.

As Sydney searches for truth among the wreckage of a past that won't stay buried for long, the unquiet darkness begins to grow. To change into something unimaginable.

To reveal terrible cravings of its own.

©2021 Andy Marino (P)2021 Redhook

Critic reviews

"Marino does an impressive job writing tender and heartbreaking moments without sacrificing the brutal tone that drives the story. Absolutely devastating." (Publishers Weekly)

I have a Hate-Love Relationship with this

Story- VERY dark and disturbing. However, the ironic and sarcastic lines made me laugh, mostly thanks to another fantastic job by Lakin. But this is not my style, and I feel like a need a shower.

Save your credits

Took me months to finish this book. The characters were uninteresting and unsympathetic, the story jumped around so much it was hard to keep track of what was happening and everything happening was unrealistic. It felt like the author started out writing a book about addiction and relapse, and then got hit in the head. I’ll be returning this immediately after finishing this review.

Save your credit and get something by Stephen King instead.

Not Story Advertised...But Not Bad

Overall, it's not a bad book. It's just a very different one than the one we are led to expect in summary. Pros: Creative story, interesting ending, strong characterization, and really good narration. Cons: Too wordy, and timeline is hard to follow. Would be a much stronger story at about 2/3 the length.

not for me. to scatter brained

not for me, story hard to follow. narrator was great. I was looking for a suspense or thriller, got a story about an addiction

Confusing and disjointed

The first third was OK, the rest was nonsensical. A lot of it didn’t make sense, especially the ending.

Eye rolling throughout

This story is not great. It tries to be too many things and really only delivers as an explicitly realistic POV of an addict. The book is listed under supernatural but it belongs in sci-fi and there's nothing "thrilling" about it. After chapter 6 or 7 it's very clear where the story is going and it's a ton of eye rolling from that point on.

it's a waste of time

the main character was very unlikable and rude the 2nd half of the book, the entire time it's a weird dis on love and relationships. the only meaningful topic talked about was addiction and relapse, but was handled oddly. I got this book because I thought it was a cool break in, true crime and horror book, but it's 100% not. overall I won't waste your credit on it

Loved it!

I enjoyed every minute of this book. It was eerie and exciting and left me wanting more and more. great psychological horror with a twist. Narration was excellent as well.

I could listen to this narrator all day long

I could listen to the narrator all day long. Her voice is so smooth and soothing and she did such a good job at giving each character a distinctive voice so I knew who was talking. she even did a great job at distinguishing Danny's child and teenager self.

the story itself was super weird, not what I was expecting, but in a good way. I'd love to know what happens next, I feel like it was getting to the part I was most excited for when it ended. The swimmer was superbly creepy and despite having no visual aid, it seriously itched the trypophobia part of my brain. Great work all around.