• The Amityville Horror

  • By: Jay Anson
  • Narrated by: Ray Porter
  • Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (8,340 ratings)

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The Amityville Horror

By: Jay Anson
Narrated by: Ray Porter
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Publisher's summary

In December 1975, the Lutz family moved into their new home on suburban Long Island. George and Kathleen Lutz knew that, one year earlier, Ronald DeFeo had murdered his parents, brothers, and sisters in the house, but the property - complete with boathouse and swimming pool - and the price were too good to pass up.

Twenty-eight days later, the entire Lutz family fled in terror.

This is the spellbinding, best-selling, true story that gripped the nation - the story of a house possessed by evil spirits, haunted by psychic phenomena almost too terrible to describe.

Jay Anson began as a copy boy on the New York Evening Journal in 1937 and later worked in advertising and publicity. With more than 500 documentary scripts for television to his credit, he was associated with Professional Films, Inc. He died in 1980.

©1977 Jay Anson; published in arrangement with Lesia Anson (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A fascinating and frightening book." ( Los Angeles Times)
"This book will scare the hell out of you." ( Kansas City Times)

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What listeners say about The Amityville Horror

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4,946
  • 4 Stars
    2,049
  • 3 Stars
    1,010
  • 2 Stars
    238
  • 1 Stars
    96
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    4,872
  • 4 Stars
    1,595
  • 3 Stars
    731
  • 2 Stars
    161
  • 1 Stars
    65
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4,415
  • 4 Stars
    1,665
  • 3 Stars
    927
  • 2 Stars
    274
  • 1 Stars
    114

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

So good, it’s scary.

I was never a big fan of the movie but I have to admit, this book scared the hell out of me. Very intense and spooky. In addition, the narrator keeps the listener on the edge of their seat with every word. If looking for a horror book, look no further! Great stuff….

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46 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Winning author and narrator pair!

Not at all comfortable with horror but decided to give this book a listen even if I had to stop and delete it because I became terrified.
Well-researched book read by a perfect narrator. If I could, I'd abduct this narrator and drop him into nearly every book I've ever read.
HIGHLY, HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

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45 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Maybe, Maybe Not

Where does The Amityville Horror rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It was a fast, creepy read. The happenings at the Amityville house have been hotly debated for many years, but I couldn't care less. I loved it.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Amityville Horror?

The sick priest and all that befell the colleagues who tried to help him.

What does Ray Porter bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Absolutely. The narrator brings you into the events like reading alone never could.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, and I think I managed it in 4 or 5.

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24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Ditto, Flavius

If it was true, it would be scary. It is written as if it is true, yet you know it is not. I have read plenty of made up stories that were scary, see: J.A. Konrath, Stephen King, Blake Crouch or Dean Koontz.
How many times do you have to find your wife floating out the window before you leave the house? For this guy it was more then once. It was very convenient that no one had to go work. Are all priests this big of a coward? What kind of parent subjects their three kids to this for so long?

You want scary seek out the authors listed above.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

True story? Fiction? Whatever, it's awesome.

Where does The Amityville Horror rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's not the best but it's somewhere between the middle and the best. It's a very well done book.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Amityville Horror?

Probably the general existence of the red room. I want to know more about that!

What about Ray Porter’s performance did you like?

There wasn't anything I didn't like. For some reason I feel like whenever he read the new chapter titles he sounded really creepy. Maybe it had to do with me being caught up in the story, but either way I loved it.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

That pigs can be creepy? I'm not sure if that counts.

Any additional comments?

I know that this story is a controversial one, and that people will probably be debating whether it's true or not forever. Personally, I don't care. Enough of it rings of truth that I could believe it, even though at times I found myself thinking that little parts just seemed way too weird. (Hoof prints in the snow? That's bizarre, but it creeped me out.) Overall I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good horror story. Don't get hung up on whether it's true or not.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Silliest thing I ever heard

This story is absolute Dixon (admitted by DeFeo's lawyer who was hoping for a retrial when he helped come up with it).The language is passive and the premise is just silly.
The house was built on an unconsecrated Indian burial ground... Which was also where they put their mentally ill and terminally ill... Oh! And a Satanist from Salem lived there and was buried in the lit. Oh! And the wife is clairvoyant. OH! The catholic church supports science and never sends out exorcists. I forget what all else. None of the "facts" presented were accurate (the tribe mentioned want even from that area and no confirmed satanic activity was ever performed in the historical Salem).

Reading between the lines, you see a dysfunctional family that bought a house the couldn't afford and started falling apart conveniently when the IRS looked at George's business...which he sold off as soon as he could given that he was running it into the ground.

It's just silly that anyone buys into this story.

The reader was fairly good but seemed bored by the whole thing...i don't blame him. I zoned out several times.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Surprisingly Disappointing

I was excited to listen to "Amityville" because I'd read a small portion of the book as a child, and seen enough of the movies to know what kind of haunted house book this would be--much more "active" than the classic haunted house. In this, the book does not disappoint--there's a good deal of creepy, even scary stuff. I enjoyed that aspect of the book, and there is a great deal of it.

However, the book suffers from trying to portray itself as "true." The writing is detached and investigatory, which would work better if were truly reporting, but as some of the subject matter deals with intimate or personal events which do not bear directly on the ostensibly documentary elements of the story, it doesn't work. Partly because of this "distant" style, the individual members of the Lutz Family aren't remotely realized as characters. Moreover, there's something 'wrong' about them, something that not only doesn't ring true in their characterization, but also in their basic humanity. There's very little likable about these characters beyond that they are also of our species.

The book has a few high points, but I left feeling a bit cheated.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • CC
  • 03-29-11

The Amityville Yawn...

I was surprised at how much I didn't like listening to this book. At first I thought that it was because I didn't like the narrator, whose voice barely fluctuated throughout the book, but digging deeper, I truly feel that the writing itself lacked something. It seemed to me that it was just a mere telling of the story that never brought the reader/listener into the world that the Lutz family was living in.

Normally when I read/listen to a book I am drawn into that world and hate to stop reading/listening. When I do stop, I count the minutes until I can once again enter that world. In this case I mostly thought to myself, "How much longer before this book is over?"

Disappointed.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Solid and unsettling

It's hard to say for certain since I never read the text myself, but I felt like the writing was a bit dry.

That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the narration here. It gave me a sense of the steady escalation of horror experienced by those in the house. It was eerie in the methodical terrorizing of family and visitors. Like they must have, I felt like maybe it wasn't really happening -- as if maybe it was all just a misinterpretation of events as they slowly unfolded.

"The devil's best trick is to persuade you that he doesn't exist!" - Baudelaire

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

A bore.

I thought this book would be scary, or at least a little creepy since all I've ever heard about the series was good things, and the movies were also good. But I don't know if it was the narrator or the book itself, I just couldn't get into it. It seems to me to be more of a drama than something that's meant to shock or scare. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who was looking for a good scare.

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12 people found this helpful