Shackled

By: Ray Garton

Narrated by: Seth Michael Donsky

Children disappear all the time. It's in the news every day. Where do they go? What happens to them? Who has taken them? While covering a story for his tabloid newspaper, reporter Bentley Noble accidentally stumbles onto something else entirely...a story about something so unspeakable, he doesn't know if anyone will believe it...a story that pulls him down into the depths of evil and depravity and threatens his very life. With the help of a best-selling true-crime writer, Noble descends into the dark world of human trafficking, where fear and pain are tools of control and innocence is sold to the highest bidder. As a handful of good and decent people try to combat a monstrously powerful and all too real evil, some lives will be shattered, others will be ended...but none will be the same.

©1997 Ray Garton (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Great story/Horrible narrator

This is my first time writing a review for a book despite several years of enjoying Audible’s content, and I’m only doing so to reiterate what seems to be the general consensus: This story is awesome! It’s dense, well-plotted, and well-developed. The pacing is fantastic, the characters are strong and relatable. It’s everything one could ask for in a taut horror story. HOWEVER, the narrator is total trash. Plain and simple. He almost managed to singlehandedly ruin all of the aforementioned qualities of this novel with his garbage character voices. I’m sure he’s a fine person, but his take on this narrative was abysmal. It’s really a shame, too, because I believe everyone who enjoys a solid horror novel should check this out without hesitation. But, be forewarned, should you decide to use a hard earned credit on this rendition, we are not exaggerating when we talk about just how bad this narrator is. I will never listen to anything read by him again.

Garton doesn't flinch...

Ray Garton always delivers, and SHACKLED is no exception.

A tabloid reporter uncovers a scheme where children are being kidnapped and brainwashed and forced into the sex/pornography industry, under the guise of what appears to be Satanism. A pastor's son is taken, and he teams up with the reporter and some others to get to the bottom of this nasty web of seediness and get his son back.

I've been trying to decide how I would classify this novel. Garton is likely most well known for his brilliant horror novels LIVE GIRLS and RAVENOUS, and he's pumped out several other gems like THE NEW NEIGHBOR and THE LOVELIEST DEAD. I've read the sequels to LIVE GIRLS and RAVENOUS, both of which are top quality as well. He also writes some thrillers, like TRAILER PARK NOIR (delightfully twisted little tale) and others, and while the story falls more in line with the thrillers in his bibliography, I've just about decided this one must be considered horror.

SHACKLED is brutal, unflinching, uncompromising, and devastating. Garton slaps you around for a while, knocks the wind out of you, and while you're on the ground trying to recover, he gives you a nice triple-kick to the gut to make sure you don't forget him. And it was absolutely perfectly executed. You get to know a young girl and a very young boy who've been abducted and not only do you begin to care for them, but you actually come to love them. The main character shifts to a supporting role in the final third and this transition not only worked but felt seamless and was a nice break from the norm of watching your MC make it out unscathed. This guy is VERY scathed by book's end.

There are several unexpected developments along the way, the cast of characters is large and diverse, and Garton's signature frankness when it comes to depravity is on full display here. All aspects of this book work very well. While it was first published in the late 90s, I actually didn't feel it was terribly dated, even with the now outdated state of the internet chatrooms and such that lead our characters to uncover the sinister goings-on. It is a novel of its time but transcends that time very well because the characters are so well drawn that it all rings true. Horrifyingly so.

There were parts of this book that were hard to read, not because they were poorly constructed, but because Garton was making sure you looked at what he was showing you, reminding you that this kind of thing DOES happen in the real world, and all too often. The mechanics of the baddies' cover story may vary, but unfortunately, this is an all-too-real situation for many victims in the world, and I feel like he wanted to make me look at it and get me angry. And it worked. You want to get your hands on these vile villains, wring their necks, pull out their tracheas, and THEN get nasty with them. The idea that there are people so soulless in the world is haunting, and that reality is still weighing on me since finishing the book.

If you've read Garton before, you're aware of his talent. I couldn't be more pleased with my latest read, and if you haven't read this one yet, I urge you to do so. You'll have to grit your teeth more than once, hold your rage in check, but the way it all pans out is glorious and masterfully written by a true great in the genre. I don't think anyone should miss this, but be warned: Ray Garton doesn't blink. So don't think you're going to stare him down, especially in this one.

Unfortunately, the narrator does ridiculous caricatures of many of the characters, making it sound completely silly, but Garton's writing pulls through anyway, making this an enjoyable listen, despite the sub-par narration.

5/5 Stars.

Horrible narration

I liked everything about this book except for the narrator’s voice.It was grating & forced sounding.

great story, horrible narrator!

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

I think I might recommend this book to a friend, but I would say that you can only enjoy it if you can get past the narration. If you can get past the cartoonish characterizations. Every character sounds russian, or sort of british. The laughs are all the same for every character, sort of maniacal!

Would you be willing to try another one of Seth Michael Donsky’s performances?

Only if it had another narrator.

great story, horrible reader.

the overall story was great, but it was extremely hard to get through with how the narrator read it. all the bad guys sound like old school vampires, and the laughing was terrible. just read. this book took place mostly in California. I've never heard people talk like this in California. all the characters sounded like they were over 75 years old.