Lurk

By: Adam Vine

Narrated by: Kevin Meyer

Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

Some secrets should stay buried....

College student Drew Brady never wanted the power to spy on his friends. But late one night, he finds a box of old Polaroids buried under his house that can change to show him whatever he desires, and Drew finds himself with the power to watch the people around him without them ever knowing.

Yet as Drew falls deeper into the rabbit hole of jealousy and despair, he begins having strange visions of the students who lived at the house 20 years ago and the gruesome fates they met after moving out. He finds evidence of a stalker who may be living on the property. The line between reality and nightmare blurs. Drew realizes there is something under the house that is manipulating him through the pictures, an eldritch, not-quite-dead thing that will drive him to do unspeakable evil if he doesn't look away....

A blistering horror story, Lurk is unlike anything you've ever heard.

©2016 Adam Christopher Kennedy (P)2017 Adam Christopher Kennedy

Oddly paced unsatisfying story

What did you like best about Lurk? What did you like least?

It's a protagonist POV story, however the protagonist is extremely unlikable making the story a complete slog and ultimately not very interesting, even though some of the sci-fi/horror concepts were interesting.

Has Lurk turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

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

He has good energy, but again, he's "speaking for" an extremely lame protagonist so it's hard to like him.

Did Lurk inspire you to do anything?

Not buy any more books by this author

Really liked it.

Creepy and wierd, it was a blast of a read. Would recommend to just about anyone who is into horror.

Very different and interesting!

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

Yes, this book is refreshing and not just a haunted house story.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the descent into madness, you never knew who to trust.

Great debut novel!

Lately I've been trying to listen to several new audiobooks, but I eventually gave up on them due to poor narration or uninteresting plots. Thankfully, this didn't happen with Lurk!

I was hooked fairly early on and I enjoyed Drew's journey. It was nice to have the main character someone you may not necessarily like or enjoy, but his motivations and thought processes are well developed. The other core characters were also well written.

Now as a horror novel, is it actually worth it? Well it definitely creeped me out/unnerved me a good number of times. The vivid descriptions help and as an audiobook I think it's even better. Kevin Meyer's creepy as hell laugh/chuckle (you'll know it when you listen) was fantastic for example. Though his range isn't broad (female characters weren't distinct) and sometimes it was hard to figure out which character was speaking, I still enjoyed the narration overall.

I'm looking forward to see what Adam Vine writes next!

This one kept me awake at night...in the best way!

What did you love best about Lurk?

I’m usually not one for ‘horror’ novels (I find them to be too similar to one another and they’re usually predictable), but the synopsis intrigued me enough to give “Lurk” a chance. The characters were by far my favorite. The ‘Sunny Hill Crew’ were interesting, alive, and very much resembled people we’ve probably all known in our lives. I think that’s what made the events of this novel so chilling and unsettling; we know people like this and probably have been one of them to someone else. Now, the lack of ‘background’ provided for Carter, Natalia, Bea, and Jay might bother some people, but their pasts really weren’t relevant so I’m glad Mr. Vine didn’t take up page space with unnecessary details. Suffice it to say that, through the course of the story, the group evolves and reveal things about themselves that make them so, so relatable and sympathetic. It was impossible not to be drawn into their world. Drew’s struggles in particular were sadly reminiscent of far too many college-aged students I’ve known, and as personal as this is to admit, I was one of them for a time. Lonely, complacent, doubting my self-worth in the eyes of others, just to name a few. His growth was…not what I expected, but to say anymore would spoil it.

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

Admittedly, there were a couple of places when it got a little weird and started to lose me, but something always snapped me right back into the story. In the end, I’m really really hoping someone will make this into a movie because it was THAT good! Mr. Vine had just the right balance between violence and psychological shenanigans to keep either from ever becoming too much or too dramatic and overwhelming.

What about Kevin Meyer’s performance did you like?

Kevin Meyer was born to narrate this novel. Seriously, there could not have been a better choice. I never once felt like he was just reading or going through the motions, and while “Lurk” didn’t have a full soundtrack of effects, Mr. Meyer didn’t need them. He became the characters in a way that’s indicative of a true master. If there were typos in the manuscript, he handled them flawlessly, because not once did he stutter or stumble. His articulation and tone were great and he injected enough emotion into the narrative to make it believable. I will be watching for more of his work!

Who was the most memorable character of Lurk and why?

I'm sure most people would say Drew, and he was very memorable, but Andy was it for me. He was such a creep and on so many levels!

Any additional comments?

This would make an amazing movie!

Love the premise and twists

This is a book that hooked me from the get-go...I am a Stephen King fan and this felt like it had some vague nuances similar to that style but more so it was a very interesting story to me.

I never go into details about books in my reviews as I do not do spoilers...

This was entertaining, interesting and a bit creepy (hard to do for me with books so that impressed me). The first 60% of the book was awesome and the last 40% was good. There were some parts that felt as though it was filler but I thinking back, it was for a reason and necessary. You'll understand when you listen to it or read it.

Some things that the author seems to cover that feel realistic to me...bouts of depression, suicidal thoughts and other similar themes. Don't get me wrong or misinterpret, this book isn't some completely dark one but it does feel like it gets into the mind of someone who has experienced some of those things before.

This was a very good book; almost an awesome one! I will absolutely look for this author's next effort and recommend checking t out of you like the horror genre!

Things Aren't Always Tied Up in a Nice Bow

Partying college kids living in a party house. Until things aren't so fun. Pictures changing as they are looked at, an unknown threat stalking around in the dark, a twist that is as rare as a dog eaten raw on the hood of a car. Sometimes evil wins.

love this book!!

this was my first audible... I'm hooked. great story. suspenseful and thrilling. I hope the author writes more!!

started good

The beginning was pretty good. Writer is a great story teller and narrator did a great job. Got a bit gruesome at the end. Didn't like that part too much.

A story that goes beyond action

[I have received an audio version of this book for free, in exchange for a review. This has in no way altered my opinion.]

I must confess since the beginning that I am not a such a fan of horror books. Having this one in the audio format was a very good thing, as I enjoyed the story very much!

As the description says, a group of college students notice someone has been spending nights in their basement and also a bunch of Polaroids showing the old gang that used to live in the same house. All is nice and well until Drew Brady discovers that the Polaroids can show much more than that and have the power to spy on their subjects also. The story gets even creepier when he starts having visions of old people and Bea (his all-time crush) is stalked by someone.

A bit of a trigger warning: we have a main character which is fat and has a history for mental illness. There is also a suicide which is described (with a fair amount of accuracy) in the book. So if you are not comfortable with these, you have been warned.

I wouldn’t say this was a scarry, scarry book. For someone not used to reading horror books, this is a decent one. The author manages to align the words with the emotions of our main character, whose point of view we have. Narrated from his point of view, Drew feels alone, even if surrounded by his friends. All the other characters have a typical teenage behavior: drink, smoke, party, repeat. But Drew is far more complex.

This character opens up a door to some other problems that young people may face these days. With a history of mental illness and a weight complex, Drew becomes jealous of his best friend Jay when he starts dating Bea. Even if the girl of his dreams never showed an interest beyond friendship, he starts hating them for this relationship. I believe he is the best example of a person who understands he has issues, but doesn’t do anything to overcome his insecurities. He starts hating others, instead of trying to improve his own attitude towards life. The author did a great job creating this complex character, which, if analyzed in detail, can become a great study case J

The narrator did a good job wen telling this story, even if the voice acting was not that good. Sometimes I was a little confused because I did not realize who was speaking, but that was ok. I had no problems, however, to understand the message and that’s more important.

Ok, rating time. I would go with a 3.5 stars for the narration and 4.5 for the book. I loved the main character, I love having things to analyze in a book outside of the story. Somehow I would have wanted more… horror. So a total of 4 stars for the complete audio version of this book, with my congratulations to the author and narrator for a great work!