Alone

By: Brian Keene

Narrated by: Scott Weinberg

Length: 1 hr and 20 mins

Publisher's Summary

When Daniel Miller wakes up one morning, something has gone terribly wrong. The power is out. The phones are dead. The house is silent. The street is shrouded in fog. Both his partner and their adopted daughter are missing. So are their neighbors. And so is everyone else in the world. Daniel Miller is the last person left on Earth...or is he?

From award-winning, best-selling horror writer Brian Keene comes this quiet, chilling, supernatural short tale.

©2012 Brian Keene (P)2019 David N. Wilson

Hello Darkness My Old Friend

I really enjoyed this short story. I enjoyed it even more after listening to the explanation of how the story came to be. Made it more interesting and I enjoyed hearing the authors thoughts and thought he was quite funny. While brief, the story is powerful and I think the author was successful in that I didn’t predict the ending until I was there.

I wasn’t overly impressed by the narration, but I didn’t dislike it. Weinberg stumbled over a few words and you can tell when pieces were spliced together as his voice changed a bit throughout. I think he conveyed Daniel’s emotions and helped to give the feeling of solitude.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

This narrator ... Why??

The story was O.K. Plot line more than a little familiar (Sixth Sense?), but different enough to hold your interest for the brief duration. I have no idea why anyone would choose Scott Weinberg to narrate an audiobook. Lispy, mush-mouthed reading - moderately to severely annoying. This is not the first "vocally challenged" narrator I've encountered, but I'm hoping he's the last. I'll definitely avoid his "work" in the future. If it's a technical issue with the recording, the author/publisher should demand a refund from the studio & engineer and re-record. If Weinberg was wearing some kind of dental appliance during the reading, he should offer to redo this project gratis.

Loved it

Excellent short story of loss and acceptance
I really enjoyed the softer side of Keene highly recommended
I received a free review audiobook and voluntarily left this review

Where the hell is everybody??

A very good and well narrated short tale from Brian Keene. I pretty much could see this one coming, but the ride was worth it.

Wow!

Maybe I am slow but OMG I did not see the end coming what a freaking twist. I thought maybe this wouldn’t be that good as a horror story because it was so short, but I was wrong. I loved it and it was totally worth the time and credit. I recommend it to all of those who love trying to figure out a story you’ll never guess this ending. It’s awesome!

Keene always delivers

Enjoyable novella. Great narrator--I felt like we were sitting in the same room and he was telling me the story over a late-night coffee. I will say that I guessed the ending early on, but I've been reading horror for 50+ years. It's all about the ride, and I enjoyed getting to The End.

Easy listen

I was hoping for something different than what the ending gave us but it’s not a bad ending. All in all it is an easy listen and a decent story.

-*Honest Reviews*- ruined this for me.

Thanks for ruining the story by dropping your quick spoiler that removed all tension and tipped me off on the twist before I even started it.

This was an Amazing story indeed

Clocking in at under 2hrs this novella packed a powerful punch. The twist although fairly predictable still left me with chills. The only complaint I have with this was with the narrator chosen. There was a very distinctive lisp that took almost the entire runtime to get use to. But the bad choice in narrator aside the story was impactful and did what it was intended to and did it very well. Brian Keene has quickly become one of my if not my favorite author of all time. I highly recommend this novella.

Voice Talent matters

I like the story, Brian Keene is great. With this medium however, voice talent matters. The narrator speaks like he is talking to a child. poor inflection, terrible character changes. His lisp isn't even the bad part. it's just hard to listen too.

Good, short listen!

Dan Miller wakes up one morning to find his partner and daughter missing from their home. A short tale from Brian Keene; my first read of his and won’t be the last. I’m a sucker for these “people have up and gone” stories and this is no exception.

Excellent Short Story From a Master of Horror

Alone is a fantastic short story from one of the best writers working in horror today. Brian Keene really deserves to be a household name like Stephen King or Clive Barker.
The story is well written with great characterization. Keene really knows how to create engaging and well rounded protagonists.
The narration by Scott Weinberg is generally very strong.
This is another winner from the folks at Crossroad Press.
Highly recommended.

I am alone

Dan Miller wakes up one morning to find himself alone. His partner, Gerry, is nowhere to be found and neither is their adopted daughter, Danielle. At first annoyed that he'd been left to sleep and then worried that they are actually missing, Dan finds that the power is off, too. The growing sense of alarm, then fear, generated in this short story is admirable: not the sharp thrust of adrenaline horror but the slow eradication of of hope.

This idea is not totally original and at least one other something very similar has preceded it. But this story is well presented and well worth the read. Especially this version, read by Scott Weinberg, who plays with verbal displays of emotion as he relates his story. Great pacing, good inflection and traces of humour make this a fine performance of a tale worthy of the Twilight Zone.

I was very fortunate in being freely gifted with a complimentary copy via Freeaudiobookcodes, at my request. Thank you. It was a good read and definitely recommended.

Enjoyable

A slow-burner of a long short story.

A man wakes alone in his bed and irritation and annoyance at his partner for not waking him, soon turns to puzzlement - the house is empty, the power is out, the cell phone doesn't work, he can't pee. This puzzlement escalates to fear and despair over the next few days - or is it days? How can he tell? The clocks have stopped. His food has no taste. The neighbours are missing. Dropped things make no noise.

A hopeful encounter with his adopted daughter sows further confusion, as he can't connect with her. Eventually all is revealed through a conversation with a neighbour's troubled child.

I really enjoyed this one, maybe because it was so different from my staple reading preferences of the past 30 years or so. I don't honestly know whether I tried to solve the mystery of what was happening or whether I didn't bother to try, just content to follow Daniel's efforts to discover what had happened to him and the world he knew. What sort of post-apocalyptic nightmare he had woken from?

In hindsight the ending was all so obvious and fitting.

Great writing, an interesting story, one with ever-increasing tension as Daniel learns his fate.

4 from 5

I've a couple more from Brian Keene in the Audible library which I will look forward to in future.

Read - October, 2020
Published - 2011
Page count - 54 (1 hr 20 mins)
Source - Audible purchase
Format - Audible