Dead Shift

By: John Llewellyn Probert

Narrated by: Chris Barnes

Length: 3 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

They thought the old man was harmless. Just another tramp found collapsed in an abandoned housing estate. At Northcote Hospital they put him in a bed and let him keep the strange old book he insisted on clutching.

Three friends working through the night at Northcote Hospital are about to experience the worst shift of their lives, trapped inside the building as creatures undreamed of in their worst nightmares begin to crawl from the walls in a bid to make the place their own.

Soon everyone and everything in Northcote Hospital will be changed. Will anyone be able to stop the evil worming its way through the building? Or will the horror escape to infect the planet?

John Llewellyn Probert's Dead Shift. Where the worst thing in this world is nothing compared to what's lurking just outside it.

©2016 John Llewellyn Probert (P)2016 Horrific Tales Publishing

Freaky!!

I have to say that I'm surprised with how much I ended up loving this and I think it was a combination of the authors imagination, enjoyable characters and narrator that made the book a 5 star read.

The plot of this was extremely fast paced and utterly freaky, but in a good way! ;) We start with seeing a homeless man going into an abandoned building with a book. This book has drawn him to this particular place in the hopes this man will unleash hell on earth. He has nothing to lose as he is at deaths door already. But before he can complete his ritual he is interrupted and ends up being rushed to the hospital. While there he knows he has very little time left and ends up doing the ritual in his hospital room. What he brings forth is something nightmarish and hungry.

Meanwhile, three friends working at the hospital at the time the homeless man comes in are in for the worst night of their lives!! Richard, Sandra and Dev think that the hospital can't get any worse than it already is, but when tentacles and other hideous things start appearing, they are the only ones able to figure out what is happening and why. Can they stop this evil from spreading??

This was a well written and quite entertaining read. We all probably have horror stories from hospitals but I think this one trumps them all!! This is a hospital that one won't return from and one where the bugs aren't on the inside, but are intent on killing you. We have some freaky ass stuff coming out of the woodwork, terrible tentacles, fatal fungi, disturbing dead people and other heinous things brought to this world by a cantankerous old man. This reminded me of one of those old horror movies that came on on a Sunday night or one of those Fright Night movies my parents watched. I could totally picture this as an episode of the twilight zone!! Lol.

Despite the gory and scary bits, there are moments of humour thrown in. The bond between the 3 friends was well done and I loved the banter between them. It's a fast paced, entertaining and scary read, perfect for Halloween ;) This is the first book I've read by this author but it won't be my last! I will definitely see what others, if any, he has written!! His imagination was astounding and totally fascinated me. Never in my wildest dreams could I come up with half the things he did.

I've listened to numerous books narrated by Chris Barnes and never once has he failed to deliver! He has such an array of accents and tones that no matter what he reads, he'd make it interesting!! He made for effortless listening and is a narrator I always recommend!

Doctors Vs. Cosmic Horror

What did you love best about Dead Shift?

I always enjoy Cthulthu/Lovecraft-style horror stories, and I especially love intelligent characters that actually learn from the experiences and refuse to keep making the same mistakes.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Dead Shift?

I think the first ordeal they ended up facing in the surgery room.

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

His Scottish (?) accent really made this story stand out more to me and made the characters more endearing.

If you could take any character from Dead Shift out to dinner, who would it be and why?

The mortician, as he seemed to be the one that would be the most fun to hang out with.

Any additional comments?

Really fun horror story.

A must listen to

The story was good and so was the characters development. I just wish the book was longer

The book is dark, gritty and incredibly satisfying

‘Lovecraftian’ is the word I’d use to describe this book.

I can also tick that off the list of 'Most Pretentious Things I've Ever Said'.

A homeless man is corrupted by a mysterious and evil book that he finds in suspicious circumstances, eventually convincing him to perform a ritual which allows a demon dimension to cross into ours.  Of course, nobody knows that when he arrives at the hospital and undergoes treatment for his broken shoulder otherwise they might have reconsidered their decision to be quite so hospitable.

During his stay at Northcote Hospital, the old man causes an ancient evil to begin infecting the building… it’s too late for most of the inhabitants of the hospital but a few of the staff realise early on that something untoward is going on and try their best to reverse the evil taking over.

The book is dark, gritty and incredibly satisfying.

Though none of the characters are particularly complex, it’s the way that they all work together that makes their journey satisfying. Adding to that Barnes' ambitious decision to give each character a different regional accent, the diversity of a hospital environment is really brought to life.

Chris Barnes did a really good job with this book, keeping the pace flowing and enhancing the overall experience. I was really impressed with the number of accents that he incorporated in this performance, though his attempt at a scouse (Liverpool) accent slightly missed the mark. It's nice to hear a British audiobook which has a bit of variety rather than just the standard BBC English voice.

The story itself isn’t an original premise but there’s a reason demon raising rituals are a classic, this book is well written and compelling which is what stands it apart from the other books in this genre.

Audiobook was provided for review by the narrator.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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Fun story

I always love stories like this...unsuspecting people get caught up in an H. P. Lovecraft type story.

A harmless looking old man shows up at a hospital clutching a strange book...what kind of problem could this be???

Fun story with great narration.

Don't go to the hospital!

This was a fun modern Lovecraftian tale. The characters and action was a lot of fun. I listened to the audio book which is read by Chris Barnes. He did a great job and I enjoyed listening to him.
I requested this audio book in exchange for a honest review.

sufficiently bizarre

I ttok a couple try to finish this book. I kept getting distracted and my attention drifted. but once I sat down and gave it a proper listen I very much enjoyed it. often with shorter stories Im left wanting more, but this was a perfect length. the story was well told and ended where it should. narration was excellent.