Dead of Night

Tales of the Supernatural and the Macabre

De: William R Todd

Narrado por: Ben Werling

Dead of Night is a compilation of turn-of-the-century-era horror stories with a Victorian flair and traditional horror story plots with unexpected endings. If you like ghosts and ghouls and demons and werewolves, these stories are for you.

©2016 William Todd (P)2018 William Todd

Don't listen in the dark, alone...

Holy sh*t, most of the stories in this collection scared the bejeezus out of me! As in, I had to stop listening once it got dark and I was alone, because I'm an enormous fraidy-cat and couldn't handle it. But, since I'm one of those fraidy-cats who love being scared….

WHITAKER HOUSE CURSE: Is it ever a good idea to make a deal with the devil or sign a contract you can't/didn't read? (2/5 stars)
A priest, a nosy neighbor, and the devil walk into a bar—well, it was a house, but you get the idea. Ok, so maybe it wasn’t QUITE that bad, but this was my least favorite of the bunch. It had promise but turned out to be utterly predictable and even a little dull. I actually found the introductory and closing diary entries to be more interesting and creepy/chilling than the story they were telling.

I'M STILL ALIVE: Murder is never the solution, and one man finds out why. Guilty conscience, anyone? (5/5 stars)
So, this one scared me pretty badly, and only part of it was the creepy sound-effect voices. It was the one that had me fighting the urge to lock myself in the bathroom with all the lights on and huddle in a safe corner till my husband got home from work. It was the one that lurked in my mind when I was trying to fall asleep and had me avoiding making eye contact with myself in the mirror at 2 a.m. While the terror came from what a lot of people would likely deem ‘jump scares’, I’m one of those wimps who is susceptible to that kind of thing. I could feel, in my gut and bones, the main character’s feat, anxiety, and growing sense of insanity. I’ve also always been both fascinated and completely freaked out by the whole dead-ringer thing, so even though it didn’t pan out like I expected, the concept still added another level of discomfort.

JACK: A tale about Jack the Ripper with an unexpected twist (5/5 stars)
“Jack” was definitely my favorite, even though it wasn’t scary. Intense, thought-provoking, and really interesting, but not scary. Being more a psychological thriller than a horror story, it brought the sinister and macabre into the mix and was a nice follow-up to the terror that preceded it. Mr. Todd used a subtle brush when painting the imagery and descriptions of Jack, and the twist at the end was one I never saw coming. It was so surprising that I wanted to go back and listen again, to see what I missed that might have tipped me off to the revelation. What foreshadowing did I miss under all the grittiness of London and emotional stream-of-consciousness? This one will be a re-read for sure.

THE THING IN THE SHADOWS: And you thought you were the only one who could sell your soul…. (3.5/5)
This story was mediocre, and I found that my appreciation was related more to the craft skill of the author than any visceral, emotional connection to the story. Sure, a lot of really messed-up events unfold, and the idea of a parent being able to sell the soul of their child is freaking terrifying, but the pace was slow enough that it sapped some of the intensity. There were enough breaks in the demon-main interactions to let the tension taper off a bit. On the other hand, Mr. Todd’s ability to paint vivid descriptions really shone here, and he also proved himself able to create a fairly complex main character—one who was able to grow and make hard decisions despite the shortness of his story.

BUMPS IN THE NIGHT: Werewolves (4/5)
This was another story that was only a little scary, though there’s a much more noticeable ramp-up in the dread and dawning horror than in the others. I enjoyed the child’s POV and Mr. Todd wrote her very convincingly. It was easy to feel the story she was telling, and I wanted to just pick her up and hug her until it was all better. Enough scene-setting was done to give a good sense of her father’s desperation and the world they lived in, which for me at least, added an air of almost forlornness to the narrative. The ending may perhaps have been a little predictable, but that didn’t stop me from whispering “Oh, hell no!” once I realized what was happening…and all it took was one brief, almost in-passing observation from our main character.

IT'S JUST JOHNNY: What happens when the monster under the bed isn’t what you think. (5/5)
This one was so short, and that’s part of what made it the creepiest of the whole collection. Creepy enough to make me REALLY happy that my bed doesn’t have an ‘under’. The lack of character development, world-building, or backstory left us with just the bare-bones, need-to-know details, inducing a much sharper fear, at least for me. There wasn’t anything to get in the way of what unfolded. Thanks for the nightmares, Mr. Todd.

Ben Werling was the perfect narrator for this collection. His voice had the right tone, pitch, and gravity to convey the mood of the stories, the emotions of the characters, and the intended pace of the various plots. His use of sound effects only enhanced his performance. They were particularly well-used in “I’m Still Alive”; that wife’s voice still gives me the shivers. The audio quality was clean and professional, with only the intended background noises audible to the reader.

Bottom line: While this tour would have felt more appropriate in October rather than July, I’m beyond glad I participated. If you like being scared and are looking for a variety of ways to get there, then I can’t recommend this collection of shorts enough. Oh, and get the audio version; it has a life and ambience you’ll never get with the print copy.

Keep The Lights On!

If you love things that go bump in the night, then this is definitely the audiobook for you. These tales are well written with fantastic characters, and they are dark and twisted. The narrator's voice is perfect for telling the tales as his voice has a melancholy tone which enhanced the creepy factors of these tales. You'll get the chance to meet a despicable husband, and even a vampire so come and get lost in the darkness of these macabre tales and don't forget to keep a light on.

A wonderfully spooky read!

Each of the six tails are unique and intriguing in their own way, full of rich detail and realistic renderings of the time period they represent. The narration of each of these stories is crisp and exciting- a wonderful performance! I highly recommend to anyone looking for an enjoyable short read. Perfect for history lovers, and fans of gothic fiction!

Unique Gothic horror

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by William Todd. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Dead of Night is a collection of six short horror stories, all very Gothic or Victorian-eque, if you will. Each story has its own unique brand of horror, from a pact with the Devil to Jack the Ripper and more.
The stories are interesting, although I didn't find any of them to be too scary or spooky. But if you enjoy Gothic horror, then you'll definitely like these stories.
I've always had a fascination with Jack the Ripper for as long as I can remember, and I think the story titled Jack is my favorite. There's a bit of a twist with that one, and I rather liked the direction it went. I wasn't expecting that.
The narrator, Ben, does a good job bringing each story to life, and each character. He's easy to listen to, and whenever an accent is needed, he does it perfectly. Like in the first story, there's a man with a Scottish accent. Ben really brought that character to life. Plus, there were sound effects and bits of background "music" if you will that added in making the stories feel a bit creepier.
All in all, it's a good collection of stories, and I enjoyed listening to each one. I'd give Dead of Night 4 stars.

Perfect Quick Hit of Horror

4.5 STARS. Audio Book Review. It’s always difficult to review a book of short stories, but for Dead of Night, I can categorically say that it was good spooky fun. Of course, I have my favorite of the six stories (which was titled “Jack.” Oooooh, that TWIST!), but every story was thought provoking and creepy in its own disturbing way. DELICIOUS. I like the Victorian vibe to them all that allowed for significant chills without making me too uncomfortable in the safety of modern times. (I know, what safety? Don’t burst my bubble). Readers will enjoy stories that include a variety of narrators, subtle little hints of things to come, and interesting and unique premises that enrich the stories and set them apart from standard horror.

"I must confess that for someone who is about to die,
writing in my diary is a most odd notion."

From one of the earliest lines in the first story, “Whittaker House,” the reader is drawn in with the dread, doom, and heaviness surrounding the story. Author William Todd masterfully works his words so that the reader is right there with the characters, a fly on the wall that can see something terrible is coming but can’t do a thing about it. The pictures he paints are vivid and range from the most picturesque to the most macabre. Todd’s use of figurative language and non-standard words adds extra impact and raises the writing a literary notch.

"The sky was bathed in blue -- a sea in the heavens that matched any on earth…The serried tops of beech, oak, and elm trees swooned like sozzled sentries between all the properties.

Since I read Dead of Night with my ears, I cannot speak to the quality of the editing, but the sentences flow from narrator Ben Werling’s mouth, and the writing is top-notch. I cannot imagine that someone who writes like William Todd doesn’t take care to make his sentences clean in print. I am likely to buy this book so that I can re-read the stories, so we will see if I’m mistaken.

Speaking of the audio book, I listened at regular speed for a bit, which is best to feel the real gloom of the stories. However, as usual, I am too impatient, so I sped it up to 1.25x, which still worked very well and added anxiety to the mix of feelings listeners experience. There are some sound effects added in, and they were fun but somewhat random. I’m not sure if they added anything, but they didn’t really detract or distract. There is some background noise, a clicking/crackling that starts about seven minutes in and then can be heard sporadically for the rest of the book, but that is really the only technical issue with the audio.

Narrator Ben Werling does a great job in matching the moods of each story and voicing the wide variety of characters and accents. There aren’t many female characters, but those few are important, and Werling (thankfully) doesn’t make much effort to distinguish between the voices of males and females. The result is just right and is never confusing or cringe-worthy (there is nothing worse than all the women sounding Monty-Pythonesque). Werling’s delivery was mostly even, though there are times when the volume of his voice isn’t consistent. His emotion and expressiveness were excellent, and his pacing perfect. My only complaint were the numerous mispronounced words (particularly in “I’m Still Alive”); those were distracting to me and took me out of the story a time or two.

My nitpicking aside, I highly recommend the audio book of Dead of Night for fans of classic scary stories in the style of Edgar Allen Poe. At just four hours in length, it’s perfect for a short little road trip or to listen during the daily commute. And as I said, I plan on buying it in print so I can get a quick hit of horror any time. Thank you to Audiobookworm Productions and the author for the free audio download in exchange for my honest opinion – the only kind I give.