December

In the best British tradition of the Christmas ghost story, Rickman creates a spookily atmospheric tale of a medieval Welsh abbey which has a history of horrific December deaths and accidents dating from the 12th century to the present. The cast of characters revolve around a group of aging rockers who are the survivors of a disastrous recording session in the abbey studio on 12/8/1980, which also happens to be the day the former Beatle, John Lennon, was shot to death outside his Manhattan apartment building, an event which plays a significant role in the unfolding of the story.

Be forewarned that the prologue and the first few chapters are confusing and quite difficult to follow as the narrative washes between epochs and characters, none of which are familiar to the reader as yet. These characters and events begin to sort themselves out as the book takes on a more straight-forward narrative approach as the book progresses.

Sean Barrett's narration is excellently suited to the material and this audio version is enhanced by riffs from songs purportedly recorded in the abbey sessions.

A wonderfully dark tale for the nights of the winter solstice.

I am a fan of Phil Rickman. The story is my kind of dark mysterious tale

I'm sure this won't get posted. I'm still trying to finish the book .I finally had to buy the ebook for my Iphone so I could sort the story out. That worked well, until the syncing failed to work. I now have spent $20 and the ebook is wandering around out there (who knows where?) and I am pretty sure I will love this book if I can ever wade through it. BTW, I don't like your cook-book approach to reviewing.

Narrator has a heavy accent - struggled to understand it. This was complicated by a discombobulated story line....ugh...