Dead End House

De: Bryan Smith

Narrado por: Lizzie Canyon

The abandoned house at the end of Millhaven Road stands on blighted and barren ground, as if nature itself shuns this tainted place. It is known simply as Dead End House, and unspeakably terrible things happened there long ago. Murder, torture, mutilations, cannibalism, and necrophilia. Vile deeds spawning an enduring legend of horror.

But the house only looks abandoned. Behind the blacked-out windows and crumbling facade, evil endures. So step up to the front door and knock if you dare. Crazy Calvin and his lunatic sister have been sharpening their knives, and are eager to see you.

©2023 Bryan Smith (P)2023 Fright Night Audio

First Bryan Smith book I was not very happy with

First Bryan Smith book I was not very happy with. Too long on torture not enough story.

Splatterpunk at its finest

If you enjoy high levels of extreme horror with a well written story, it doesn’t get much better than this
Lizzie’s narration was unflinching really bringing these characters to life

At this point it’s hard to make me cringe, but this managed to do that so a well-deserved 5stars

Good but not great

While I love splatter punk violence, the story had more of that than an actual plot. The violence was creative and descriptive, but it began to feel repetitive after a while. Maybe there is such thing as too much of the same torture porn.

A bleak and brutal extreme horror story

Trixie and Lexie are TikTok influencers who have built their following by touring famous crime scene locations. For their latest video, the twins are going to tour the infamous Dead End House. Unspeakably terrible things happened there long ago. Murder, torture, mutilations, cannibalism, and necrophilia. Vile deeds spawning an enduring legend of horror. Unfortunately for Trixie and Lexie, Dead End House only looks abandoned. They’ll soon find out firsthand what makes this house infamous.

This is my second book by Bryan Smith, and I’m kicking myself for not reading his work sooner. This is such a great story from start to finish. Smith adds several new characters throughout the book, and at times I was like, what’s the point? But as we progress, the pieces start to line up and finish with a killer twist. Smith does a fantastic job of structuring the story in such a way that it kept me engaged. From start to finish, there was literally never a dull moment. The story jumps back five years at times to give us backstory on a particular character, but there was never a point where I felt like I was taken out of the experience.

The characters in Dead End House were very well written, and the development was deep. We see firsthand some of these characters change in a terrifying way from the mental torture they endure. It’s difficult to talk about their growth or rather development without spoiling the story, so I’ll just say that these characters felt so real. In my mind, I pictured the Firefly family from House of 1000 Corpses, if they were written better. It was interesting to see minor characters become main characters and vice versa throughout the book, and see it done in such a smooth way.

The tone of the book is where it really shines for me. A lot of the extreme horror books I’ve read lately have been fun reads and at times very tongue-in-cheek. Dead End House is a stark contrast to those books. The cover may be cartoony and give off that vibe, but it’s anything but fun. The story is bleak, and the violence is absolutely brutal. We see characters that are stripped of life and hope and beg for death, only to be denied. Characters have to make gut-wrenching decisions in order to stay alive, and ultimately, those choices change who they are and what they believe.

I listened to the audio version of Dead End House narrated by Lizzie Canyon, and she was fantastic. The way she was able to give each character a different voice was spot on. The voice she did for Ursula just added to the character's unhinged personality. I tried to find other books she’s narrated, but this is the only one I could find. I really hope she narrates more books because she was excellent.

If you’re looking for a fun extreme horror story in the vein of Playground, Talia, or Genital Rot, this is not it. If you need a reminder of what’s really important in life and to be happy with what you have and who you have to share it with, Dead End House is the story for you. It’s a soul sucking journey into the depths of hell that Rob Zombie wishes he could write.

Wow

Yo dude by far one of the craziest books I’ve ever had the pleasure to witness!
I really appreciate mr. Smith and all of his hard work to entertain me thank you so much for this gem.

Sick and depraved

Be steadfast in your faith before listening/reading. The story was a page turner in the most horrendous way. But I cannot deny that it was well put together and all together a good read.

Wow!

What. A. Ride. I really enjoy reading this author's work. This book was no exception. A well crafted and disturbed story.

Basically like a Rob Zombie movie on steroids (not in a good way)

The majority of this book is descriptions of extreme torture and misogyny. There was potential for a decent plot, but this is just pure torture descriptions. This book could never be made a movie as is because it is more extreme than a Rob Zombie movie. I almost quit listening with just an hour left because of the necrophilia with an old corpse. The narrator was awesome, there was no real plot. If the needless torture scenes were cut this would be a two hour listen.