A Winter Haunting

By: Dan Simmons

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

A once-respected college professor and novelist, Dale Stewart has sabotaged his career and his marriage - and now darkness is closing in on him. In the last hours of Halloween, he has returned to the dying town of Elm Haven, his boyhood home, where he hopes to find peace in isolation. But moving into a long-deserted farmhouse on the far outskirts of town - the one-time residence of a strange and brilliant friend who lost his young life in a grisly "accident" back in the terrible summer of 1960 - is only the latest in his long succession of recent mistakes. Because Dale is not alone here. He has been followed to this house of shadows by private demons who are now twisting his reality into horrifying new forms. And a thick, blanketing early snow is starting to fall.

©2009 Dan Simmons (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Dark in all the right ways, a slow-burn gem

This one hit all the right notes for me. Foremost, I think it does a great job creating mood, which is very import to me with regards to this type of story. I think it particularly hits home for those who grew up in the Midwest or at least a place where the winters are cold, dark and long. The slow burn pacing really works here too.

Good but Not as Great as Summer of Night

I loved Summer of Night - it had great characters and really gave me the creeps - and this is good, but not as good. Still enjoyable, still worthwhile. Definitely read Summer of Night first, because it will add a lot to the depth of horror in this story. Narration was a terrific match. Well done!

Good but you really must read SUMMER OF NIGHT 1st.

I read SUMMER OF NIGHT 3 or 4 years ago and while I enjoyed it at the time, much of it has left my memory, much as I'm sure it has protagonist Dale's. A number of very important elements here go back to that book. While I'm sure you could go back and read it as the Novel that Dale is writing in the course of this book, it would be best to read in order.
Bronson is a decent reader but he is often a little stilted and monotone, he doesn't emphasize things properly or with needed intensity. I suspect he needs a good director to show him where and how as we *know* he can be intense (SCARRING THE LITTLE GIRL?!- The Langoliers) This leads to moments of high action and import being missed and having to go back and listen again to catch what happened. Also some better editing could have been done to give important moments proper spacing.
Overall a good read .... just read SUMMER first.

Where was the ending?

Story was good. Had me drawn in, the abruptly ended. So many loose ends and questions. Quite odd.

Spooky thriller with good range

A spooky novel with some surprising spots of action and introspection. Good for car rides.

Great free listen!!!

The story was well written and a surprisingly awesome thriller/mystery. The narrator was wonderful to listen to. He was well spoken & characters were distinguished enough to tell who was who.
I highly recommend this book for an audiobook if possible for you. I couldn’t stop listening & finished it in a day and a half!

Not the sequel I was hoping for

Summer of nights the prequel to this book was and is one of my favorites and I was hoping for more of a continuing of that story with the characters and monsters so to speak but sadly it was not. With out giving it away I will just say this was more of just the main character dale going back to his hometown and facing the ghosts of his past which was ok, just has nothing to do with the vampire like monsters in the first novel that they faced as children in the school, they are not even mentioned. Is this worth the credit? I suppose so I mean it wasn’t a bad story. Just was not what I was hoping for. I think it would have been much better had he gone back to face the creatures from the first book. Other than that to break it down dale goes back to stay in the old home of his friend he lost as a child and comes face to face with his ghosts of the past of those he has lost over the years and has to battle against his own sanity to stay alive. Do I recommend this book, sure if you like ghost stories and such it was decent in its own right. However if you’re looking for a good ghost story I recommend The Elementals by Ronald malfi I believe is his name. That’s also one of my favorites.

Way too different from the freshmen. issue

This is a difficult story to summarize. I believe after book 1 came out we had the specific story of groups of friends fighting the evil when the adults wouldn't or couldn't.

This story is primarily 1 off the young boys back as an emotionally scared young man. It needs more reflexion and between interaction betwéen brothers and friends.

Still, the story has a satisfactory ending which help s Dale face some personal demons.

Delivers on its promise

Fresh take on a haunting story. Genuinely creepy with a satisfying climax. The performance was excellent.

It was OK

I enjoyed it enough to finish it. The performance was excellent in that he portrayed the main character as I would have imagined. I found myself confused by his memories and wish I could have learned more to understand how they all contributed to the character’s choices.