Grandfather's House

By: Jon Athan

Narrated by: Harry Roger Williams III

Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

After a prank lands him in serious trouble, Malcolm Hernandez, a 16-year-old boy, is shipped off to live with his grandparents while his mother attempts to save him from expulsion and criminal charges. Malcolm believes the stay will be easy - a vacation with milk and cookies and tales from the past. His hopes, however, are shattered when he bumps heads with his grandfather, Ronald O'Donnell - a stern, violent man with a sinister past.

Ronald plans on disciplining his grandson in order to "save" him from himself. He is not afraid of abusing him, either. He will physically, emotionally, and mentally break him.

Jon Athan, the author of The Abuse of Ashley Collins, invites you to stay at grandfather's house to witness true human horror.

Warning: This book contains scenes of graphic violence, including violence towards children. This book is about abuse - emotional, physical, and mental. This book does not contain any explicit sex scenes, but it does discuss sexual abuse. This book is not intended for those easily offended or appalled.

©2018 Jonathan Sixtos (P)2019 Jonathan Sixtos

John Athan never lets me down!

At my request, I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Once again, I am satisfyingly entertained, disgusted, and horrified by another of John Athan’s books. This guy isn’t afraid to take a story over the edge. Even his milder tales could make a grown man blush. A+

If you’re into sadism and gory disgust, look no further; this is your book. Everything that happens could totally happen in real life. Athan isn’t afraid to cook up the most uncomfortable of scenarios.

Gripping from the very beginning. A little lull about 20 min or so in, but it picks up nicely and just keeps getting better until the very end.

About the details.. Malcom is a kid who likes the attention that comes with being a trouble maker. When his hardworking single mom is out of options, she drops him off at her parent’s house. Parents she hasn’t associated or spoken with for years. Malcom’s nerve and endurance are put to the test when his grandfather, with the help of his crazed obedient wife, decides to “make a man out of him” to correct his troublemaking ways.

My advice? Listen to this book alone or put in some headphones unless you’re prepared to have an awkward conversation with the people around you. I myself have a high tolerance for disgust and even I cringed a few times with this one. It’s that good.

If you’re a sicko who loves an outrageously horrific story, jump right in. This one will not disappoint!

As expected from Jon

Enjoyed it as I do all of Jon's books. Definitely not for the easily shocked or offended but for fans of extreme stories it is a must.

Psychological, physical, emotional abuse and triumph

I will be honest this book made me cringe, angry, cry but most of all root for the underdog. This book is well written but fair warning the words are graphic and the abuse traumatic. I received this audio book upon my request and I am voluntarily leaving my honest review.

WOW!!

First off, I must say that the narrator helped make this book, a movie in my head. His voice was easy on the ears and I loved how he changed his voice to fit each character. The book was a very good listen. If you're into Jon Athan books then, this one is a must listen. The book was great and well written.

Crazy Evil Grandparents

This was a deeply disturbing book about Malcolm Hernandez who got into trouble in school by using a squint gun on teacher and Mother sends him to his grandparents Ronald and Barbara O’Donnell to avoid him from going to juvie or expelled. She warns him her parents are racist and strict disciplined and was disowned by them from marrying a Mexican and to follow their rules and would be back to get him in 2 weeks. Malcolm never expected how crazy and tortuous they could be, you have to listen so you know what happens. Author is one very sick puppy with a vivid wild imagination but great with disgusting/twisted/repulsive writing. . Recommend to those who like offensive horror as well as his books Dr Sadist and Lovesick. I received a free review audiobook and voluntarily left this review Thank you

Loved it

Jon athan is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to extream horror
A war veteran grandfather uses military style torture to break his trouble making grandson
Not only are the characters disturbing so are their backstories
Great narration and a nice nod to my favorite Ketchum novel the girl next door highly recommended
I received a free review audiobook and voluntarily left this review

Equal parts shocking, disturbing, crass, and crude

As advertised, this is a story chock full of disturbing material not appropriate for younger, or otherwise sensitive, readers. But for me it seemed aimed more toward disgust and shock value than true horror.

It is definitely true that the quality of the narrator will make or break an audiobook, and unfortunately that is one area where this book could have been a lot better.

In fairness, Harry Roger Williams III has a good array of voices, a number of which feel genuine. Unfortunately, the main character sounds about 11 rather than 16 and not one of the female voices is remotely believable.

The larger issue, though, is the narrator's tempo. His reading was extremely slow while also being clipped and full of random pauses that forced me to listen at double speed to even make it tolerable.

I'm afraid I might not be giving the story a fair rating, as the narrator did sour the experience somewhat.

However, let's start with what the story does well.

While generally sparse on details, the book gives a good sense of atmosphere and most of the characters behave consistently with their backgrounds, though I have to admit to some disbelief on the part of the main character.

Probably the main thing this book does exceedingly well is shock. Within a few minutes the events depicted enter into shocking territory and it rarely lets up throughout, all the way to the end.

Although sparse, the character development is strong. Each of the major characters (sans Claire, who we know literally nothing of) has a clearly defined personality and back story that, while unbelievable at times, is well formed and consistent.

That said, there are a number of problems here.

First, let's talk about point of view.
The author is clearly trying to write an omniscient POV story, but it reads like a third person limited narrative that does a lot of head hopping. It was a jarring read for that reason.

Inconsistent language.
I'm not talking about dialogue here, but narration. Large chunks of the narrative use proper (if not formal) language. Which is fine. But then there are occasional spurts of crass and crude language. That too would be fine, if it was consistent. The occasions don't seem to be related to POV, there are just random moments where crude words are used instead of more proper ones and it's jarring to read.

The "love" story.
Let me just get this out of the way. It's completely unbelievable. I'm sorry, but love at first sight does not exist. That's lust. The fact that the narrative draws a distinction and tries to convince me that two 16-year-olds who've known each other for less than 2 hours are beyond lust and actually in love doesn't just smack of nonsense. It feels like being blatantly lied to. I rolled my eyes so hard it hurt.

The torture/motivations.
I don't have a problem with torture scenes in books. I don't mind graphic violence. It doesn't offend me. However, I do need believable motivations. And while I can get behind a certain amount of what "Grandpa" does, it progresses to a point that defies belief without major signs of insanity. Similarly, I can get behind a certain amount of "Grandma's" actions as well. There is suitable explanation for a lot of it. However, she too progresses to a point that just doesn't work for me. Not with the stated motivations.

Depictions of pain.
These are, in the main, not the least bit believable. The descriptions are much too vague and too distant from the characters. There's nothing here that feels real, or visceral. And there's far too much coherent thought taking place with the amount of pain that should be involved.

Procedural.
Not all of this is a problem. Some of it is very realistic. But some of the police procedure details don't remotely resemble anything that would really happen.

Finally, the ending.
As always, I will endeavor to keep this spoiler-free.
I can definitely see ways this could have worked. Particularly since the author delves into other POVs anyway. But as it's written, the ending is practically the very epitome of Deus Ex Machina. There's no real explanation about how it comes out the way it does, nothing about how or why the situation occurs when it does. And even worse is that there are characters managing physical actions that there is no way they could achieve with the wounds they have suffered. Not without some serious drugs.

Wow

Good story, wasn't a fan or the narrator though.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Hurting at grandfather's house.

Soooo. Let's load up the car and go to grandfather's house! Check out his attic. Check out his dungeon. Play with his tools. Get locked up in his cage. Eat his rotten chicken soup. Play with his rats. Yell. Scream. Sweat. HURT.......
I listened to Audible version. This narrator was excellent. Very nice voice. Very easy to listen to.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

Maybe better to read than listen to

I saw some reviews on this book and was really interested in reading it. Well, I honestly don’t read many books because I am so busy… so 95% of my books are through audible.

I’m not trying to dog the narrator at all, but maybe this isn’t the book for him. Idk… but during some of the sick twisted stuff between the first “almost” sexual encounter between the grandmother and Malcolm, I found myself laughing, not just laughing, I was in hysterics…tears and almost peeing type of hysterics. I can’t imagine this was the expected reaction. But the narrator was so nonchalant… Maybe it has to do with my past trauma and that I laugh at the most uncomfortable situations as well…ugh…

Anyway, my thought… read this one instead of listen… I think it would be much more gruesome!

I do, however, think this story could have had a lot more added to it and would have been just as good…But I did really enjoy the story. My first book by this author and I listened to it in one sitting….