Armitage

By: Atlas Creed

Narrated by: Aaron Smith, Aure Nash, Brandon Francis, Elise Hoffman

Grief brought her here. The truth might destroy her.

Rebekah can't move on. Not after her sister, Nicole, vanished from the Armitage Hotel. Desperate for closure—and haunted by the whispers of a god trapped within her mind—she returns to the place where her family fractured.

FBI special agent, Niko Ortez, chases a trail of disappearances spanning decades. The deeper he digs, the more twisted the trail becomes.

When a hurricane strikes and the power goes out, they find themselves trapped inside with more than just a killer. Within the walls of the Armitage, something ancient lurks.

...and it's been waiting.

What begins as a search for truth quickly unravels into a descent through grief, obsession, and a past that refuses to stay buried.

Some memories, like scars, linger even after healing.

Armitage is a tense paranormal thriller with a pulse-pounding mystery, dark fantasy undercurrents, and a heroine forced to confront the darkness inside and out.

©2023 Atlas Creed (P)2024 Atlas Creed

Dont listen in the dark ♡

This one is gritty, brutal, and intense. Creed’s writing kept me hooked, but I actually had to pause a few times to pull myself out of the story...it gets that heavy. Definitely not my usual kind of read, but I’m so glad I picked it up. (I'm a romantasy girlie through and through...life can be hard enough, and I typically read to escape.)

His writing is impressive. The way he delves into the minds of the unhinged and the grieving, and somehow gives voice to the dark is surreal. I dont know how else to say it, but it...lingers.

Armitage weaves multiple genres by mixing crime, thriller, paranormal, and horror. Check your triggers, grab your earbuds, and maybe keep a night light on…because this one will have you seeing things in the dark.

Its so freaking good & the narrators.... Spectacular!

wow, great story

absolutely love the story. I’m gonna be digesting this one for a while. I hope there’s more to come.

An Interesting Contemporary & Paranormal Mix

The audio version was fantastic. The mix of duo voice actors made this a very easy listen. This is a well developed story that intersects a modern setting with the mysterious paranormal. In the modern setting, the plot line is enhanced by the intertwining of a teenage girl who is struggling with the unexplained disappearance of her sister and the struggles of a young FBI agent who investigates the cold case of the sister’s case. The reader is emotionally drawn in to the struggles as the personal lives of these two characters are developed. The paranormal part of the story is progressively woven into the plot in unexpected, mysterious, and creative ways. Many scenes leave the reader with intriguing questions about the connections between these two worlds and the novel ends with subtle hints that entice the reader to stay tuned for what comes next.

My favorite part of the story was the connection between the teenage girl and the FBI agent and the family friendship that develops. The most endearing parts of the story are the family resolutions that emerge after much intense conflict.

Language alert: the F word is peppered quite frequently throughout the entire novel. It is used in a variety of ways from moments of flippant casualness all the way to life and death serious tension. Personally I loathe the F word, so I saw it as a great distraction and an immediate deterioration in the quality of writing. It corroded the dialogue; diluted the action; and confused the tension, especially when used for all extremes from casual to intense scenes.

Also, there is a graphic scene of an attempted rape that ends in violence and death. This too made me extremely uncomfortable and frustrated, especially knowing that the intensity of the plot could have still been accomplished without the graphic details. Choosing the graphic over the subtle underestimates the power of suggestive words and nuanced hints to depict sexually violent scenes. The power of suggestion in graphic scenes is actually much more effective when left to the reader’s imagination because it does not distract from the main plot of the story.

So much depth

You can check anytime you want…but this story will never leave your head. If you like your thrillers with a sharp, fantastical edge, or your murder-mystery with a dose of supernatural horror, AND you require characters with depth, this one’s for you. Creed weaves a beautiful narrative that feels deeply human, but also hints at a bigger, scarier world beyond the borders of its pages. I found this a refreshing and impactful standout in a day when so many books feel like their humanity has been stripped away for tropes and trends.

I want to know more

Possible spoilers:
This book is not a light fluffy read. It is very scary, suspenseful and heavy - tackles severe mental health, grief, and trauma (has on page disturbing events as well as processing of previous trauma.) proceed with caution. But, it’s phenomenal!
It very much reminds of detective film noir, with a paranormal twist. Initially the story gave me shutter island, turn of the screw, and the shining vibes - where as the reader you are questioning if the paranormal experiences of the main character, Rebekah, are actually happening or if this is all a trauma response symptom from profound grief or depression with psychotic features. And this is very intentional by the author as there are multiple other characters questioning Rebekah’s sanity and she is sent to a therapist to try to work through some of this. Very early on in the story there is an interaction with a therapist which was so hard to read being able to see into Rebekah’s thoughts and hear the therapists invalidating responses. But I found it so realistic, as it illustrates the frustration of the therapist with Rebekah for not healing on the therapist’s timeline and Rebekah’s frustration that her therapist for not understanding her. This was so well done, because it mentions that she had been in therapy for 3 years and hasn’t made progress, and in my head I was like ‘girlfriend, how have you not recommended a different therapist to this kid at this point. Clearly the therapeutic rapport here has crumbled.’ Anyway, the story also follows Nico who is a special agent with the FBI who has his own proverbial demons, and is assigned to look into and close out the cold case of Rebekah’s sister’s disappearance. The two character’s stories intersect at the Armitage hotel, a once popular beach vacation spot, which time has not been good too. The hotel itself is kind of like a character, again, gives shining vibes, but different. This is not my typical genre, but I highly recommend this book. It was creepy, and suspenseful and made me feel very deeply for these characters in the best way.