Usher's Passing

By: Robert R. McCammon

Narrated by: Scott Aiello

Length: 16 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Poe's classic tale lives on in this Gothic novel of ancestral madness in the mountains of modern-day North Carolina, from a New York Times best-selling author.

Ever since Edgar Allan Poe looted a family's ignoble secret history for his classic story "The Fall of the House of Usher", living in the shadow of that sick dynasty has been an inescapable scourge for generations of Usher descendants. But not for horror novelist Rix Usher. Years ago he fled the isolated family estate of Usherland in the menacing North Carolina hills to pursue his writing career. He promised never to return. But his father's impending death has brought Rix back home to assume the role of Usher patriarch - and face his worst fears.

His arrival forces him to confront a devious and impassive family and his vulnerable sister's slow descent into insanity. Stirring memories of the grim folktales born out of the surrounding Briartop Mountains and the terrifying legends of missing children, Rix knows that in the dark, twisted corridors of Usherland, that dreadful something he saw as a young boy is still there. It's waiting for him, as decayed and undying as the Usher heritage and more depraved than anything Poe could have imagined.

This eerie novel by the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Swan Song and Boy's Life is "a frightening pleasure" and a worthy tribute to the master who inspired it (St. Louis Post-Dispatch).

©1984 Robert R. McCammon (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Horribly Magnificent

I haven’t read a horror story in decades, but the connection with Poe ‘s story sounded interesting to me. I have read McCammon’s Matthew Corbet series and enjoyed it very much. I wanted to see if I would like any of McCammon’s other books.

Usher’s Passing fleshes out Poe’s original story with details that are as wonderful as they are horrifying. It was so intense that at least twice I put it down and decided I couldn’t take it any more. The last and strongest feeling of intensity came at the end, when the denouement came just in time to get me through to a very satisfying finish. And yes, at the end, of course there was a hint that the evil may not have been completely vanquished. The subject for a sequel perhaps.

Good story

It took a while to get into the story but when I did I did life the book. Give it a try.

Good story, bad reader

I've always loved McCammon and this book is no exception, but their choice of a narrator was a poor one.

Another Great McCammon

Once again McCammon presents the reader with rich, well rounded characters. The story revolves around the Ushers,’ the family introduced to us by Edgar Allen Poe. Their financial success has grown through the sale of armaments. Sadly their family tragedies have grown along with their wealth.

Great Book McCammon Again!

Narrator had so many different voices it was hard to believe Scott Aiello was the only one ! You didn’t want to stop listening !!!!

Reminiscent of other stories

It wasn’t a bad book but I felt like it reminded me of stories from other authors. Still entertaining.

Pretty good

Narrator is awesome. This is not my favorite genre, but this is a really good story. Held my attention well developed characters, places, buildings, etc.

Beyond Poe

It’s easy to forget that Edgar Allan Poe’s classic “The Fall of the House of Usher” was a compact short story, just over 7000 words. This 17-hour novel is not so much a retelling as a sequel, set generations later and moved from somewhere around Boston to North Carolina. Have no fear: the family is as weird as ever. And the house itself—The Lodge—is a massive, ominous place, a living thing that is clearly evil with its powerful smell of rot and decay. It’s the stench of death.

Other than a historical appearance by Poe himself in the early going (and a fissure down the side of The Lodge, and the patriarch’s hypersensitivity to light and sound), this bears little resemblance to the original. It is all new and imaginative, featuring the likes of the Pumpkin Man, the Mountain King, and a hideous black panther known by the locals as Greedy Guts. But there are worse things. Far worse.

Mystery piles upon mystery, spreading to the Usher family, its lineage, and the hillbillies who populate the surrounding mountains—and whose superstitions are revealed to be based on something more than folklore. Children disappear. There are monsters, and monstrous people. Characters are like shape-shifters who are never what they appear to be for long.

The story steadily gains momentum from a deceptively slow-ish start, moving from the merely peculiar to the abjectly supernatural and terrifying.

McCammon employs a neat trick, used sparingly, where present-day events give way to vivid flashbacks, outside the observations and dialogue of contemporary characters. You barely realize it’s happening, but it serves to reinforce the history of this bizarre family and its impact on their present tribulations.

Scott Aiello delivers an energetic reading, handling many voices with alacrity. He has a habit of dropping odd pauses in mid-sentence, but makes up for it with a lively rendering of a tale that Poe would approve.

reminded me of stephen king

if you like Stephen king you might like this book. it's worth a listen. it has historical references, old money, old southern culture and there is the classic malevolent horror.

McCammon never fails

Never fails to impress
Never fails to amaze
Never fails to keep me wanting more
Never fails to make me want to read or listen to more of his work

Can't wait for the next Matthew Corbin book.