The Shuddering

By: Ania Ahlborn

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

They only come when it snows, and nobody ever gets away.

A group of close friends gathers at a secluded cabin in the wintry mountains of Colorado for a final holiday hurrah. Instead, it may be their last stand. First a massive blizzard leaves them marooned. Then the more chilling realization: Something is lurking in the woods, watching them, waiting....

Now a weekend of family, friends, and fun has turned into a test of love and loyalty in the face of inhuman horrors. The only hope for those huddled inside is to fight - tooth and nail, bullet and blade - for their lives. Otherwise, they’ll end up like the monsters’ other victims: bright pools of blood on glittering snow, screams lost in the vast mountains.

©2013 Ania Ahlborn (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

This was some scarey shit!

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

I'd recommend to any horror fans, it was really scarey and suspenseful.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

From start to finish, because it never got predictable or boring.

Which scene was your favorite?

The couple skiing.

Any additional comments?

Twins Ryan and Jane Adler are heading to their family cabin in the Colorado mountains, trying to escape for a few days from life and their parents impending divorce. The cabin had been put up for sale, but Ryan hopes for one last hurrah with his sister and some friends to revel in all the happy memories they had at the cabin, as a family.
But something is lurking in the mountains, hiding in the shadows, and unbeknownst to the twins, someone has gone missing.
The tension in the cabin is stifling. Ryan is enamoured with his sister’s best friend, Lauren. And Jane who was hoping to reconcile with her ex, Ryan’s best friend, is devastated when he shows up with his fiancé in tow. Tempers are flaring and everyone is hyper aware of what’s going on around them. Except for what’s going on right under their noses, outside, in the woods.
A woman goes searching for her husband who never came home, following his trail what she finds just might kill her.
Ryan and Jane are starting to take notice to something that’s just not right in the woods that surround the cabin. As well, two of their guests see shadows outside their bedroom window at night, and hear strange noises. The tension in the house is almost to the breaking point. Snowed in and running out of food and patience, they have to decide to wait out the storm, or try to get back down the mountain.
A couple get into an arguement on the ski slopes, and take a dangerously wrong turn that has deadly consequences.
What the HELL are these things?! When Ryan, Jane and their group of friends attempts to make it down the mountain they are finally confronted with the danger they didn’t fully comprehend they were in. The monsters aren’t hiding anymore, and if they can’t make it back to the safety of the cabin, they are all as good as dead.
Two roommates who work the snow plow are up in the wee hours of the morning, getting coffee and getting ready for work. Let’s just say, the roads shant be plowed today!
I absolutely loved this story! The mystery and suspense at the start with the random side stories of people going missing, then tying those stories into to Ryan and Janes story. The tension building in the cabin all the while they are clueless to what’s happening outside, I was standing on my head screaming, “LOOK OUT THE WINDOW!” and, “ DON’T GO OUT THERE!” Yes, on the edge of my seat from start to finish.
And you never do quite fully recognize the creatures, or monsters or what they truly are. But that is just one more thing that adds to the suspense. And the narrator was fantastic, capturing the perfect voice and shriek for a teenage girl scared out of her mind, watching her friends fall around her.
This is a must read for hard core horror fans. I have a friend that doesn’t do audio, she got a paperback copy and thoroughly enjoyed reading it as well.

Great performance but poorly written book

The voice performance was excellent. The story, however, was not. It was unoriginal and felt like I was watching a terribly written horror movie. There were moments that read like a bad harlequin romance novel and a couple of gaps that were unnecessarily long. Also, there was far too much descriptive "prose" used, repeatedly. As an example, "her gaze" and "his gaze fell" was repeated so often that it became annoying to hear. Also, I started laughing at how many times I heard the phrase "emaciated stomach" was written/said. If this was a drinking game, I would have been wasted halfway through the book. The ending was fairly predictable and this turned out to be nothing more than a "cabin in the woods" story, yet again. It was a great reading and good voices with a subpar story. I would look up the voice actor before I looked up this author again.

Not to shabby

I thought it was a good suspenseful story, some of it was predictable but overall it kept my attention. Enough for me to stay up late and finish listening to it.

great story

i was on the edge of my seat for the whole story. the ending was sad and didn't agree with it, but who knows what i would do in a situation like that.

I’m far from an author but...

I can’t help but wonder where so many authors of this genre go wrong..they have a storyline with so much potential & depending on their execution, it can either be an absolute hit with most fans of this genre, fall a bit short or be a total fail & more often then not it’s one of the latter two which is so disappointing. I’m not saying that The Shuddering is a fail but I do feel as though the fear factor & suspense was greatly watered down by the unnecessary drawn out drama; which I appreciate to a certain extent..enough to get to know & relate to the characters but not excessive! So overall this was ok, it had a few suspenseful moments but like most reviewers stated, it didn’t meet its full potential.

awesome

loved the story, the writer makes you care for the characters and then all hell breaks loose .

Just OK

I kept reading mainly to see who if anyone survives. This book was just ok, if probably recommend it but not a MUST READ for sure.

worth your time.ania ahlborn books are always, to me, worth the read.

well written, ending was predictable though. but all in all, still entertaining. give it a try.

Typical Werewolf book

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No. Read one werewolf book, read them all

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The whole story. Werewolf books are all the same. With all the vampire/ werewolf movies that are out at the moment ...

Any additional comments?

Please. Enough with the were wolves and vampires. I used to read them when I was 13.

Things that go bump in the cold night!

The story overall was pretty good. I wasn't drawn in by the characters as much as I was the monsters. Less relationship drama would have made it a better book because a lot of it was superficial. I loved a couple of scenes, but that was due to the monsters cunning. I do recommend the book as a lighter read. Another reviewer described it well by saying it's very much like a summer teen slasher movie. If you like those movies (Friday the 13th especially) you will enjoy this book more than most!