Slade House

A Novel

By: David Mitchell

Narrated by: Thomas Judd, Tania Rodrigues

The New York Times bestseller by the author of The Bone Clocks and Cloud Atlas | Named One of the Best Books of the Year by San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, National Post, BookPage, and Kirkus Reviews

Keep your eyes peeled for a small black iron door.

Down the road from a working-class British pub, along the brick wall of a narrow alley, if the conditions are exactly right, you’ll find the entrance to Slade House. A stranger will greet you by name and invite you inside. At first, you won’t want to leave. Later, you’ll find that you can’t. Every nine years, the house’s residents—an odd brother and sister—extend a unique invitation to someone who’s different or lonely: a precocious teenager, a recently divorced policeman, a shy college student. But what really goes on inside Slade House? For those who find out, it’s already too late. . . .

Spanning five decades, from the last days of the 1970s to the present, leaping genres, and barreling toward an astonishing conclusion, this intricately woven novel will pull you into a reality-warping new vision of the haunted house story—as only David Mitchell could imagine it.

Praise for Slade House

“A fiendish delight . . . Mitchell is something of a magician.”—The Washington Post

“Entertainingly eerie . . . We turn to [Mitchell] for brain-tickling puzzle palaces, for character studies and for language.”—Chicago Tribune

“A ripping yarn . . . Like Shirley Jackson’s Hill House or the Overlook Hotel from Stephen King’s The Shining, [Slade House] is a thin sliver of hell designed to entrap the unwary. . . . As the Mitchellverse grows ever more expansive and connected, this short but powerful novel hints at still more marvels to come.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Like Stephen King in a fever . . . manically ingenious.”—The Guardian (U.K.)

“A haunted house story that savors of Dickens, Stephen King, J. K. Rowling and H. P. Lovecraft, but possesses more psychic voltage than any of them.”—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Tightly crafted and suspenseful yet warmly human . . . the ultimate spooky nursery tale for adults.”—The Huffington Post

A wonderful bit of fantasy!

David Mitchell is constantly toying with the scientific and metaphysical in a way that delights the imagination. This work followed Cloud Atlas for me in my journey through the writings of Mitchell, and I do believe will propel me into Bone Clocks, which I've heard this is meant to accompany. Bravo, David Mitchell!

thoroughly entertaining

a new author to add to my favorites. it was a fun and dreamlike novel.

Competent but clunky

An enjoyable listen. Nicely creepy, but not exactly horror. Mitchell is first and foremost a master of voice and this book is more evidence of that. Each voice presented is distinct and engaging.

But while the book presents an interesting mystery in the opening of the novel, the resolution of that mystery is handed to the reader in a way that is unsatisfying. The book just sort of explains what’s going on, there’s no reveal or satisfying moment of epiphany when the curtain is pulled back.

So while I liked this book and am interested in reading more of the “Mitchellverse” I’m also a little reluctant to do so for fear that those books will also end in a sort of flat, uninteresting way.

Good story and captivating

Good creepy ghost story with unexpected twists and turns that lays itself out throughout the story in bits and pieces. Fun to listen to.

Good read

I wish this was longer. Had so much potential to go so many places but it just kind of stopped. it was good, but i just wanted more.

Too weird for me

Well told but the story line was not the type of story I am interested in

Absorbing and fantastic ( literally ) read !

What did you love best about Slade House?

The story is all engrossing, the pace is great and the writing is eloquent, witty and clever.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Hard to make choices here. David Mitchell's descriptive powers wraps you up in each one.

Have you listened to any of Thomas Judd and Tania Rodrigues ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I haven't but I'll definitely seek them out in future. It couldn't have been a better performance.

Any additional comments?

Don't hesitate. This is a wonderfully written book and a thrilling ride. It's really not scary. More fresh, hip and intriguing. A great story.

Thoroughly Enjoyable

Loved it. Hard to put down and the narration was excellent. Hope there's more to come!

Ending Confused Me

I finished this book last night. Then, I listened to the last chapter again this morning, because I wasn't sure at all what was the conclusion. I still don't understand. A couple of times I thought, oh that's what's happening but then it would go onto something else. I found the ending very incoherent after I found the rest of the book interesting. I wish I could discuss the ending with someone.

Steven King ca. 1990

A fun, if unchallenging, horror story from Mr. Mitchell. Well written, but almost a novella in length.