Evil doesn't always look scary....
Built at the turn of the 20th century by one of the richest and most powerful men in the world, tucked away in the pristine Pocono Mountains, Summer Place, a retreat for the rich and famous, seems the very essence of charm and beauty, "a scene borrowed from a wondrous fairytale of gingerbread houses, bright forests, and glowing, sunny meadows."
But behind the yellow and white trimmed exterior lurks an evil, waiting to devour the unwary....
Seven years ago, Professor Gabriel Kennedy's investigation into paranormal activity at Summer Place ended in tragedy, and destroyed his career. Now, Kelly Delaphoy, the ambitious producer of a top-rated ghost-hunting television series, is determined to make Summer Place the centerpiece of an epic live broadcast on Halloween night. To ensure success, she needs help from the one man who has come face-to-face with the evil that dwells in Summer Place, a man still haunted by the ghosts of his own failure. Disgraced and alienated from the academic community, Kennedy wants nothing to do with the event. But Summer Place has other plans....
As Summer Place grows stronger, Kennedy, along with the paranormal ghost hunting team The Supernaturals, sets out to confront - and if possible, destroy - the evil presence dwelling there.
But sometimes in a paranormal investigation, the ghosts hunt you....
©2011 David L. Golemon (P)2012 Seven Realms Publishing, LLC
"Scary!!"
The character descriptions were spot on.
One night while alone in my house, I found myself turning on lights as I was actually a bit nervous. Normally, books don't frighten me. But, there are parts of this one that did. Especially the voice of the entity.
"A pleasantly chilling piece of entertainment"
I really enjoyed this book for a quite original take on the average haunted house story. I was taken in immediatley by the foreword from the author.
Although never quite falling in love wih any of the characters, they were reasonably well drawn with enough back story to have the reader care about what happens to them.
The shocks were well spaced and didnt resort to unecessary gore to highlight them.
I liked the authors performance, as opposed to some reviewers. I tend to think that a lot of male narrators go beserk with lisping female characters and I found Kafers more straight forward reading refreshing. The only caveat on this would be that the man should never sing on a story ever again.
All up a very entertaining way to pass the time.
"This is a good read. Story is very interesting"
I really enjoyed this story. It was gripping and you were pulling for the characters. It has a moderate level of suspense. I will check out other titles by this author because this book was so good.
"A good old fashioned ghost story..."
I was hesitant when purchasing this book since I was unfamiliar with the author and the voice talent, however, I was very pleasantly surprised. I love a good Ghost Story, and you don't see very many anymore. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!...Best yet, sounds like there may be a sequel in the works! I look forward to listening to other books by this author and this reader! Well done! :o)
Hope
"Entertaining"
Overall Supernaturals was a pretty entertaining book. I enjoyed the assortment of characters and the twists and turns the story takes. Golemon doesn't do himself a favors by bringing up Shirley Jackson's book The Haunting of Hill House, I couldn't stop comparing the story line. There are some certain parallels between Hill House and the goings on of Summer Place. Kafer's narration certainly aided to the suspense of the story, however on a few occasions when a Irish or German accent was needed it fell pretty short of believable (fortunately these moments are short with limited dialogue).
I gave high marks because the characters are very interesting, I like the team Golemon assembles as well as the back story of Professor Kennedy and Detective Jackson. The story flowed well, never dragged or got too hokey. This was a great haunted house story!! Goleman leaves the story open for a sequel, I hope to follow the Supernaturals on another ghost hunting adventure.
"evil wins when good men do nothing "quote
"you have to get this one!"
couldnt stop listening
the indian dream walker, he found out what the haunting was all about
excellent performance
the dreamwalker
some characters were so damn annoying you wanted to scream,because they couldnt see beyond their noses. But in saying that it added to the story.
"The Audible equivalent of a SyFy movie."
The best description I can think of for this book is that it is the literary equivalent of a movie on the SyFy channel. In other words, entertaining plot,often unintentionally humorous, not the greatest writer and the WORST narrator! Oh my god, maybe I'm just spoiled with the likes of Craig Wasson and George Guidall, but this guy. Everyone sounded the same, men, women, the elderly. There were a couple characters that he attempted accents for, but often he would forget they had accents, and they'd sound like everyone else and the accents were hilariously bad to begin with! And the characters themselves, thanks to the inexpert craftsmanship of the author, were ridiculously one-dimensional and cliche and at times, borderline racist. I mean the team of paranormal investigators consisted of a mysterious Spaniard, a wise Native American, and a tech savvy inventor referred to on numerous occasions as a former "gang banger" or looking like a "gang banger." Yeah, bad. And the narrators attempts at sounding African American, hilarious. So, in short, I enjoyed this book like I enjoy an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. It was a non-stop hilarious romp! Sadly, however, that was probably not the author's intention.
"a nice find, great read, front runner in its field"
Yes, I would, and will someday. As someone who reads/listens to 4-5 books a week, I've become a bit jaded to formulaic plots and figuring out the end game well before the end. I've been coming across a lot of great reads lately, though, and this is one of them!
Gabriel Kennedy, obviously, but all of his personal friends, too.
I read a review where someone knocks the narrator, but for the life of me, I don't understand why! I thought Mr. Kafer did an excellent job. His vocal talent and reading of various characters never took me out of the story (uber important), and he did a very nice job with consistency. I thought he was superb.
It was simply a good ghost story...a good story period! Well plotted, spooky, enough humor to keep the book from becoming utterly gloomy...a very nice find, and I love to come across an author I've never encountered and be so happy with a spent credit.
The only critical thing I would have to say- and it's a minor point, certainly nothing to take away from a great story- is that based on the time this is taking place( meaning the 21st century, I'm guessing 2010 or 2011), I was surprised not to hear much about the internet being a factor in making this a huge phenomenon. There was very little talk of web stuff at all. Mr. Golemon, I mean absolutely no disrespect and you did a wonderful job. But it did sort of stand out for me. But that is a very minor point. This, like the book "14" by Peter Clines, was just a fantastic find I would highly recommend.
"scary and suspensful despite silly ending"
First the Bad News: the ending/reveal of the story is pretty silly and out of left field. The plot and characters sometimes lapse into cliche.
The Good News: In spite of these shortcomings, the story is largely enjoyable and engaging. (I'd probably have given 3 1/2 stars to the story if that were an option, but the goofy ending precludes a 4 star rating for me.) It has good suspense and some genuinely scary moments. The performance is solid and doesn't diminish. Deathless literature it is not, but it kept me entertained and that's what I was looking for.
"What a great find."
This was recommended by Audible. I read the other reviews and they all said this was a fun book. I was not disappointed. This was a long book but the action never stopped. This book was an adventure and a mystery. I enjoyed this book very much. Its very "American Horror"