It's Only Funny If You Laugh

The Haunting of the Midlands Amusement Park

By: Kevin Candela

Narrated by: Gary Bennett

Length: 2 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

In 1972, the Red Bozos were the friendliest faces in frenetic Midlands Amusement Park: security personnel, yes, but they were more than that, for lost children seeing one of those garish outfits and the sympathetic smile on the painted face atop it knew they would soon be reunited with their parents. Except once in a while...

Flash forward four and a half decades: Midlands is a ghost park. Closed long ago and nearly forgotten, even by the locals, it sits shrouded in undergrowth and hill-topping forest surrounded by upscale new homes. Ringed with a decaying fence, hidden from sight, it presents a huge temptation to a group of bored, thrill-seeking youths who are about to learn that terror is, in fact, immortal.

(Strong language, adult content, graphic violence, sexual situations. Not suited for younger listeners or sensitive types.)

©2018 Kevin Candela (P)2018 Kevin Candela

Great book, just wish it was longer

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

This was a fantastic and creepy book. It was short, but I loved it. The narration is done well and for such a short story, it really kept my interest well and didn't feel rushed or unfinished. I'll definitely look for more from this author.

Great Book

Trespassing into an abandoned amusement park that is rumored to be haunted. What could go wrong? Anything and definitely everything. I found this book to be creepy and quite entertaining, especially the fact that I hate clowns. I received this book for free upon my request. I am voluntarily leaving my honest and unbiased review here of my own volition.

A very good story

An entertaining horror/ghost story about a group of teens who trespass into a long closed amusement park and what (or who) they encounter. This book goes a little deeper than the typical teen horror story. It is told from each perspective, with each person revealing a unique personality and perspective. Candela also gives us a stronger background to what is, or was, going on in the park. A very good story.

Pick this up for a spooky night!

"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.”

This was a treat to listen! I’ve enjoyed the partnership between author Kevin and narrator Gary.

This was a quick almost-slasher listen. If it was a movie, it’s definitely a B movie; as an audio, it was a lot of fun/thrill/shrill. It wasn’t too deep, the reasoning was mediocre, the ways-to-die were interesting.
I liked the characters, even though they were only surface deep.

I would definitely recommend it to those who want a “quickie horror” and not mind boggling. I’m definitely looking forward to more from this duo.

Not terrible

This just wasn't for me. It started off promising, with a haunted, abandoned amusement park, but it takes a weird turn in the middle that I just didn't enjoy. I also felt that the narrator was kind of emotionally flat.

Its only funny if you laugh

I enjoyed this twist on haunted amusement parks and clowns.It was a well thought out,satisfying story.Gary Bennett was a fine narrator.I was given this book by the narrator,author or publisher free for an honest review.

Good Read

It's Only Funny If You Laugh: The Haunting of the Midlands Amusement Park by Kevin Candela was a good quick read. Midlands Amusement Park is an overgrown shut down park. People go to check the place out and things don't go as they think.

4 stars

I went into this story blind, purely off the title. I was expecting something funny, but it was a serious story. Amusement parks make for great haunted places right? There's so many fun places and rides and attractions for the events to take place, so that was pretty kewl. I recieved a free audio code in exvhange for the review. The voice was good, but with the same as majority of listens, when there's a male narator, it's sometimes hard to tell the sex of a character if it's a unisex name. Or maybe I wasn't paying enough attention. It didn't really affect the story much and I still enjoyed the listen.

Scary rollercoaster horror with hidden secrets

It’s Only Funny If You Laugh, The Haunting of the Midlands Amusement Park written by Kevin Candela. The narration is provided by Gary Bennett. The running time is 2 hours and 36 minutes. During that time the listener is taken on a wild ride from the mind of the author. According to the publishers summary a group of bored, thrill-seeking youths who are about to learn that terror is, in fact, immortal. That is just the tip of the iceberg of this unique horror, time travel, and clown filled story.

The groups of youth’s breaks in with the intent of having some fun in the old haunted Amusement Park until things start to go wrong. This at first appears to be your standard B-type horror story as the character start to get picked off one by one. Then things are changed up and the story really got interesting and unique. The surviving characters all shared a dark secret.

This story does a fair job of hold the listener’s attention. Then action does start quickly early on with some quick and shocking deaths in standard horror fashion. As the story slows down to develop the time travel plot is where this listener’s attention started to wander. I enjoyed the aspect of the story just felt it was a bit and understood the need to develop the plotline but it just made the story drag. The overall story is really good. The ending actually had me rolling with the Sheriff talking to one of the Youths and his mention of the FBI Agents they had called. I laughed and had a huge grin on my face.

The narration by Gary Bennett was simply amazing in the audio performance. Mr. Bennett brought something unique to each character in this story. This was a large cast of male and female characters voices and the narrator made sure this was a truly enjoyable audio performance. The characters were memorable and I enjoyed the production to a greater level due to the narration. The production quality of this audiobook is also the highest quality. I heard no problems during the entire performance. There were not any detectable flaws that I was able to hear during the entire performance such as loops, breaks, or buzzing. The production was crisp and clear. Fire Dragon Publishing delivered an excellent audiobook production.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author/narrator/publisher.
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Chilling Haunted Amusement Park story

This book had everything I look for in a haunted house/haunted amusement park story plus a little more (the ending was quite surprising, which I like, hate predictable endings).

A group of teenagers go to a haunted amusement park for fun (to their credit, they didn't know it was haunted) and discover not just a haunting but killer clowns. The situation can't get much worse than that. As the death count ranks up, we discover the chilling truth behind the haunting.

With lots of unexpected twists in the story and a little humor thrown in occasionally, this was a very satisfying and entertaining read.