Night Things

By: Michael Talbot

Narrated by: Eric Bryan Moore

Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's Summary

Built by a madwoman during the Victorian era, Lake House is a 160-room mansion in the Adirondacks with stairways that lead nowhere, bizarre rooms designed to distort the senses, endless series of mazelike halls - and a century-long history of violent deaths.

Lauren Montgomery, her son Garrett, and her new rock star husband Stephen Ransom have just arrived at Lake House, anticipating a long and relaxing summer. But what they don't know is that their rental home is actually a labyrinthine puzzle at whose center lurks something unspeakably evil....

An inventive and chilling haunted house story in the vein of Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves, Michael Talbot's Night Things (1988) is a mixture of horror and fantasy from the author of The Delicate Dependency.

©2017 Michael Talbot (P)2017 Valancourt Books, LLC

thought it would be more scary.

First I have that Eric Moore did a fine job with this story. He had an excellent voice for the subject matter.

Now on to the book; it starts ok, then the pace slows down. I thought more would happen. but really not much did. I mean the house was cool. but I wish they explored it more. The mothers choice in men.. was awful, and her husband... well He was a jerk.
The kid " be friends" the monster thingy but, the last few chapters had me very lost. and when i was done with the book, I closed it, and thought, what? what just happened?


I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Highly Entertaining

What a fun listen! Starting with a real life conundrum (a boy and his step father do not get along) that satisfyingly grows into something much bigger and more sinister; this story was similar to House of Leaves, but better, I think. Three compelling characters drive this story, all of which I despised and felt for, at times. This story had a fascinating and believable relationship between mother and young son, who happens to be quite brilliant. I won't say much about the paranormal element for fear of spoilers but I will say that the 'monster' was a delicious change of pace that took me by surprise. Some paranormal stories these days are weak on plot. This one has a strong plot, great characters and awesome scares. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a paranormal thriller.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Hauntingly Good!

Super creepy haunted house story! Grabbed me from the beginning and loved it from beginning to end. Perfect for those who love paranormal, isolation, creepy mansion stories. Similar to the Rose Red style, Winchester house mansions this story is about a mother and son and a new husband/father who head to the mountains to rent a mansion for the summer. Not everything or everyone is who they appear and the build up and twists and turns are wonderful. The narrator Eric Moore does a fabulous job with every character. A definite must listen!!! I look forward to more listens from the author and narrator! I received a free review copy of this book at my request in exchange for an honest review.

Nothing Short of Clever

Night Things is the second book by Michael Talbot I've picked up (the first being The Bog). While I initially didn't think Night Things would be my cup of tea, I was so impressed with The Bog that I was curious enough about Talbot's other works to give this one a try. While I definitely don't think Night Things is as strong or deep a story as The Bog was, it is still excellent in its own right. What started out as a rudimentary haunted house story grew into so much more as the unpredictable story unfolded. Once again Talbot's prowess in mingling history and science with mythology is demonstrated in this work. I absolutely love stuff like that, so again while I personally liked The Bog better, Night Things was still nothing short of clever.

Instant mashed potatoes and french toast

Any additional comments?

I loved that line in the book so much, I needed it as a title.I enjoyed the idea of the book more than the execution in most of it. The writing was good, but I didn't really like most of the characters. I even went back and forth on the protagonists. But maybe that is the point. I cannot imagine a real-life scenario where I like everyone and/or everyone's decisions all the time either.I would have liked to have had some of the creepier venues and situations built out more. To me, this could have been a really good short story. The audio version was performed well by Eric Bryan Moore. This book was given to me for free at my request for my voluntary and unbiased review.

Entertaining

This was my first Michael Talbot, but not my first Eric Moore book. The story was an engaging 3.5 star listen. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be from the cover, title, and synopsis. But, it was still fun.

Eric brought the characters to life and, not to give anything away, was really impressive with his incantations. He delivered the quality performance I've come to expect, and still surprised me with the way he adapts and performs new scenes that are different than anything I've heard before. Overall a fun, fast listen.

An Awesome 80s Spookdown!

The narrator sounds a bit like he's caressing or lathering something. But if you can get beyond that mental image, he does a great job. I really like when a story involves a unique supernatural situation. There are no werewolves or vampires, there is something else. I would almost call it Lovecraftian Christianity. But it's not Christianity to the point of annoyance. Have yourself a listen!

An uneven but enjoyable listen.

It switches tones wildly in a way that cheapens the overall effect, oscillating between horror and relationship drama before veering suddenly into fantasy. An enjoyable listen though with a great pair of main characters in Lauren and Garrett. Great performance from the narrator as well.

Original stuff

I’ve come to enjoy this author’s original story lines and also his characters who have a thirst for knowledge. His interest in mysticism, science and history are just another bonus.

very entertaining!

this book was brilliant! I really enjoyed the narrator, he did a great job on the characters brought them to life made me feel like I was there , it was a very good book.

Another great Talbot story!

Another great example of Michael Talbot fantastic writing. Any faults in the story are helped by an exellent narration!

traditional haunted house

traditional haunted house tale. very 80s in style and perhaps a little dated. few surprises but having said that, very well written and performed.