Fever House

A Novel

By: Keith Rosson

Narrated by: Xe Sands

Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

A small-time criminal. A has-been rock star. A shadowy government agency. And a severed hand whose dark powers threaten to destroy them all.

“Rosson’s novel plays out like a nightmare—one that’s nearly impossible to put down.”—Tor

“The unsettling darkness of Joe Hill meets the cryptic mystery of The X-Files.”—Delilah S. Dawson, New York Times bestselling author of The Violence

A WALL STREET JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

When leg-breaker Hutch Holtz rolls up to a rundown apartment complex in Portland, Oregon, to collect overdue drug money, a severed hand is the last thing he expects to find stashed in the client’s refrigerator. Hutch quickly realizes that the hand induces uncontrollable madness: Anyone in its proximity is overcome with a boundless compulsion for violence. Within hours, catastrophic forces are set into motion: Dark-op government agents who have been desperately hunting for the hand are on Hutch’s tail, more of the city’s residents fall under its brutal influence, and suddenly all of Portland stands at the precipice of disaster. . . .

But it’s all the same for Katherine Moriarty, a singer whose sudden fame and precipitous downfall were followed by the mysterious death of her estranged husband—suicide, allegedly. Her trauma has made her agoraphobic, shackled within the confines of her apartment. Her son, Nick, has moved home to care for her, quietly making his living working for Hutch’s boss.

When Hutch calls Nick in distress, looking for someone else to take the hand, Katherine and Nick are plunged into a global struggle that will decimate the walls of the carefully arranged life they’ve built. Mother and son must evade both crazed, bloodthirsty masses and deceitful government agents while exorcising family secrets that have risen from the dead—secrets, they soon discover, that might hold the very key to humanity’s survival.

Can you resist the hand? Find an excerpt from the next Fever House novel at the end of the book.

©2023 Keith Rosson (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Fever House subverts the ordinary devices of occult-themed fantasy and keeps readers in suspense until the last page—and primed for the next book.”—The Wall Street Journal

“[A] whirlwind mystery . . . that hurls [Rosson’s] genre-slashing ambition into the stratosphere.”—NPR

“A modern-meets-classic horror story that keeps the stakes high until the very last sentence.”—San Francisco Chronicle

Good story Bad narration

The narrator really detracts from the story. The narrator’s voice makes it hard to follow the story. I had to delisted in many places because the words were garbled.

the story was good so far...

I had to give up on this one because the narration was really bad. I'll just have to read this one instead.

Fun! Imaginative! Well written and well read!

In a sea of boring formulaic books, Fever House is what you are looking for!

It’s fast paced, bold and gritty, with intelligent and well developed characters who are each on their own exciting and well thought out journeys.

This is an ambitious, epic scale book that promises a lot and then delightfully delivers, each arc masterfully launched and surprisingly, satisfyingly landed.

This comes down to the writing itself, phrase to phrase and thought to thought stitched together in an engaging flow that exceeds even the plot or subject of the story.

Theme, too often ignored, is delicately laced throughout, and despite the fast action of the plot, evokes emotion and connection to the human story Rosson tells.

Rare as it is, this story is actually FUN!
I am already looking forward to the next book!

Thank you!

Also, Xe Sands can read all my books. I tend to listen at a higher speed, and Xe was clear and emotive, with well conceived and clearly thoughtful character renderings, and a strong grasp of this complex story with all of its emotion and movement. It wasn’t merely read, it was obviously felt and expertly performed!

Thank you!

It’s like the first season of your new favorite show

Fun and fast paced story.

Loved the narration although sometimes harder to listen to in the car. But otherwise great and perfectly matched the story.

Look forward to the next book.

Gruesome and Riveting

Top notch humanistic horror. Stellar storytelling. Colorful character development. Lurid tone and gritty drama. Quite an accomplishment. Loved it. Can't wait to experience more from the author and narrator.

Captivating

I was hooked and couldn’t stop reading Fever House. Amazing amazing amazing!!!!! One of my favorites

Bad narration.

Like many previous reviews, I throughly enjoyed the story and am looking forward to the next part. However, the narrator sounded like they were stoned and it definitely detracted from the experience. I even check my play speed several times while listening to ensure it wasn’t my mistake, but it was not. Still, entertaining story and I will certainly be listening to the next one, stoned narrator and all…..

Give Keith Rosson a hand for this one. An eye too,

There is a metric ton of stuff going on here. The concept of the Fever House, excellent. Michael’s narrative, Fantastic. The characters were great and the pacing was fast.

There was just a wee too much.

Still entertaining and a very good read. Very much looking forward to reading more from this author.

Keith Rosson does it again

Keith Rosson’s FEVER HOUSE was incredible. The prose, the voice, the characterization, the juxtaposition of so many unexpected things that just inexplicably work? Looking forward to the sequel.

Xe Sands usually does a much better job.

Not sure if she was recovering from a cold or what, but the narration for this was bad. I like Xe Sands, and have a lot of books read by her. Please don't let the bad narration in this one stop you from listening to one of her other books!


I'm inclined to give the story 3 stars, but am rounding up. I would have been a lot more interested if I could understand all of it. Not the author's fault. The plot twist in the end was pretty good!