Father of Lies

A Darkly Disturbing Occult Horror Trilogy Series, Book 1

By: S. E. England

Narrated by: Henrietta Meire

Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's Summary

Ruby is the most violently disturbed patient ever admitted to Drummersgate Asylum, high on the bleak moors of northern England. With no improvement after two years, Dr. Jack McGowan finally decides to take a risk and hypnotizes her - with terrifying consequences.

A horrific dark force is now unleashed on the entire medical team, as each in turn attempts to unlock Ruby's shocking and sinister past. Who is this girl? And how did she manage to survive such unimaginable evil? Set in a desolate ex-mining village, where secrets are tightly kept and intruders hounded out, their questions soon lead to a haunted mill, the heart of darkness, and the father of lies.

©2015 Sarah England (P)2016 Tantor

EXORCIST MEETS CYBIL

absolutely loved this story. scary as hell. had a very hard time sleeping after reading it. I'm a Texan and the English accent took a little while to get used to, but I found it made the story more evil and creepy. highly recommend. ready for book 2.

rdp

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Been a different book.

Would you ever listen to anything by S. E. England again?

No

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Revulsion.

Any additional comments?

Father of Lies is to occult horror as Twilight is to vampires.

Not scary, just unpleasant.

A merely 'ok' read

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I will start by saying that the authors style of writing was fantastic. I enjoyed the mental pictures she painted throughout the story. Having said that, I did not thoroughly enjoy the book. I am a HUGE horror book fan, and I did not find this story terrifying in the slightest. I felt only slightly entertained at most. The ending was a little hurried and sort of confusing almost forcing you to read the second book, which unfortunately, I will not be doing.

What was most disappointing about S. E. England’s story?

The most disappointing thing about this story was the inability to satisfy my twisted need for horror. She constantly moved from one character to the next, and after a while it left you wondering if the poor girl (Ruby) had actually been the one going through all of this.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The narrator was amazing. I did not find her narrating too fast or anything, and, I found her accent amazing. Her demon voice was definitely spooky haha

Was Father of Lies worth the listening time?

Overall, I don't think this is worth the listen. This book is mediocre at best.

Pass.

Any additional comments?

Story was all over the place and difficult to follow. Did not inspire me to read the next in the series.

The narrator is exceptional!

The plot is great and I loved loved the narrator. I will definitely want to finish this Trilogy. Not so much scary as it is suspenseful, but it is well written and the plot is great!

Incredibly Scary and Exquisitely Written

Father of Lies tells the story of Ruby, a deeply disturbed girl in her mid-twenties at a psychiatric hospital in northern England. She was brought in after trying to stab a man named Paul Dean and deemed unfit to stand trial; she is diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, because she exhibits signs of lost time and multiple personalities/identities. Her psychiatrist, Dr. Jack McGowan, has spent two years with Ruby and nothing has helped the young woman, so he decides to hypnotize her. Afterwards, an extreme evil that had lied in Ruby's head is unleashed to the room where Dr. McGowan and Nurse Becky are. From that moment on, everything for the team of individuals helping Ruby has changed, because they opened the door to something they don't understand and never would have believed in prior.

S.E. England is definitely one talented writer and she definitely has created a horrifying story that will stay with me. I love horror, but, with novels, it seems hard for writers to actually encapsulate fear. In film, it seems a little easier, because they can rely on jump scares, soundtrack, and visuals. 'Father of Lies,' however, is just as scary as any film I've ever read and even rivals the books about the true accounts of Ed and Lorraine Warren. It was so hard to leave this book to do other things, so I left things undone. Be prepared to stay put reading for hours on end.

As far as rating, I'm giving the book a solid A and the narration by Henrietta Meire an A-. For some reason, it took me an hour to get used to the voice. I'm not sure if it was the accent or if it was the narration in general, but Ms. Meire definitely grows on you. If, for some reason, you don't like the narration, give it some time. Most likely, you'll get to enjoy her narration.

Great Horror Story

Any additional comments?

So I got the kindle edition of this and decided to buy the audio and give it a try. I honestly wasn't expecting much from this book. Their wasn't many reviews and I picked it up for cheap. I am very happy that I decided to buy this book. It was fantastic and I will be buying the rest of the series to see where this all ends up. One warning to those who are thinking about buying this, there is some extremely dark scenes and subject matter which I guess you should expect when reading books about satanism.
The narrator did a good job. I am glad I decided to buy the audiobook and I will be buying the rest of the series in audio format as well.

Very Disturbing Tale to Hear at SLOW SPEED

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. It's a different take on the scary story. Occult thriller that gave me the chills.

What did you like best about this story?

Kept me guessing.

What three words best describe Henrietta Meire’s performance?

annoying Scottish accents

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The visit of Jack and Ruby when he hypnotizes her. Freaked me out.

Any additional comments?

If you're bothered by bad things that happen to people, this isn't for you. It is quite disturbing without being graphic. But it is an interesting story, with lots of plot turns and occult twists. The worst thing about this is that it is supposed to be set in England, but everyone save one seems to have an extreme Scottish accent. There are so many people and the story is told from the first person in many cases, I had trouble figuring out who I was listening to. Oh, and she speaks so damn fast I had to listen at a slower speed than normal. It was ridiculous, like she was on a timer. But at .75x things were ok.

Missed The markark

The narrator...well I couldn't decide who was the was. The book jumped aaround too much too much in the most peculiar sections of books.

good, narrator spoke a little fast.

I would recommend it. scary. I liked it very much. didnt want it to end.

story bad, narration even worse

If this book wasn’t for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?

I have rarely written a bad review but felt so disappointed after purchasing this audio.

What could S. E. England have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

I only listened half way before giving up.
The narration was so bad, I couldn't be sure which accent she was doing.

Any additional comments?

avoid.

This is my idea of scary!

I adore the kind of horrors that I can believe are possible. This was one such tale and I'm keenly awaiting the release of the second in the series; so much so, I've pre-ordered it. Not something I do often.

Accent issues

I've just given up on this partway through after struggling on listening to the narrator's attempts at accents. She has a lovely voice to listen to, and the sections which don't require regional accents are just fine, but listening to the "northern" accents is excruciating, they are inconsistent and a blend of Yorkshire, Liverpool, Scottish and .. Irish? I never write negative reviews on here, but the total misfire here is so distracting that I've lost track of the actual story now!

Avoid

Couldn't listen to this as the narrators accents are truly abysmal. Turned it off after a few mins. Can I have my money back please?

story excellent, story teller dreadful accents!

the story is twisting and turning but the awful accents detract from the main plot.

Absolutely riveting.

I dare you to listen to this book, without wanting to put all the lights on.

Worst narrator ever

Could not enjoy this audio experience as the narrator had an annoying voice whenever she tried to put on an accent not could she envoke any atmosphere she couldn't do anything more than make me feel annoyance towards each character

Really very good.

Started this trilogy with average hopes as the "darkly disturbing occult horror " title felt that it might've been more of a suggestion than a description. But I was wrong wrong wrong. I honestly believe that this would translate well onto the screen .. some of the notions are disturbing and the horror is very well done. It's a good story, well written and well performed ( some of the accents are a bit dodgy but you get used to them so that's fine. ) I binged listened ... well worth it !!

Ok but not great

I find this book confusing, particularly in the choice of scenes the writer uses. Near the end of the book, one of the characters is warned to be careful as the knowledge she has is dangerous. In the next scene, another character refers to her as dead, her heart having given out for some unknown reason. I went back and relistened to the two scenes, thinking I'd missed something, but I hadn't. Whether the character's death scene was written earlier, or just omitted I can't figure out, and honestly am not invested in the book enough to try and track it down. If it was omitted - why? That just seems perverse. The perspective shifts from character to character and between time frames, and I have trouble keeping up - mostly I think because I'm not really connecting to the story and the characters enough to care about what happens. The ending also annoys me - the book more or less just cuts off mid story. I know it's part of a trilogy, but I'd still expect it to be contained enough for each part to contain one story as part of a bigger story, not just chunks of one story. A trilogy isn't the same thing as serial, at least not for me.

It's not badly written, and the performance is ok, but I've little to no interest in following the trilogy further.

Great story, shame about the narration.

Quite possibly the worst performance in my audible library. No reflection on the story however.