The Chrysalis

By: Brendan Deneen

Narrated by: Will Damron

Spawned by Brendan Deneen’s own experiences relocating to a New Jersey suburb with his young family, The Chrysalis combines chills, thrills, and a literal monster in the basement with commentary on love, marriage, and impending parenthood.

Welcome to the dark side of suburbia.

Barely employed millennials Tom and Jenny Decker have to grow up fast when they lose their cheap Manhattan apartment. Leaving “the city” is hard, but the blow is softened when they stumble upon a surprisingly affordable house in the suburbs.

For Tom, the bills, the mortgage, and Jenny's unexpected pregnancy add up to terror. He's not ready for this kind of responsibility.

Then he finds the thing in the basement. It makes him feel like a winner even as it scrambles his senses. A new job soon has him raking in the big bucks—enough that Jenny can start making her entrepreneurial dreams come true.

The Deckers' dream home conceals more than one deadly secret. As Tom's obsession with the basement grows, Jenny realizes that to save her family, she must expose everything. Before it destroys them all.

No one ever really wants to grow up…but sometimes behaving like an adult is the only way to survive.

"Creepy, powerful, wonderfully twisted."--New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry

©2018 Brendan Deneen (P)2018 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“Deneen's latest book catapults him to the front ranks of today's most exciting new genre writers. An old-school homage to genre classics, The Chrysalis uses themes of family responsibility and substance abuse, madness and artistic vision to create an unsettling mood that builds to a horrifying crescendo. This is a must-read.”—Nate Kenyon, Bram Stoker Award finalist, author of Day One

"All the more frightening because Deneen makes you care before he starts the scares. A powerful, engrossing, and relentless book.”—Chet Williamson, author of Robert Bloch’s Psycho: Sanitarium

“Deneen wonderfully concentrates the anxiety and emotional strain of trying to live up to the responsibility that comes with a growing family. The problem here is, part of that family is growing behind the spare fridge in the cellar. Deneen hatches all the darkest fears of having ‘one on the way.’”—Bracken MacLeod, author of Stranded

Ho-ly shit

The narration was incredible, the voice and background really helped sell the dread of the novel!

Sucked me in

I enjoyed the interesting premise (I mean... basements will ALWAYS be creepy to me) and a broad cast of characters - together, kept me curious and invested. Will keep on eye on what else Deneen writes in the future!

Beautiful Writing and Fast-paced Plot

"The Chrysalis has a Gone Girl meets Prometheus kind of feel with uniquely familiar characters. The combination of beautiful writing and pacing is spot on. I was at the edge of my seat listening to this book. If you're looking for a fall read just in time for Halloween, this is it." Stephanie Hansen ~ Metamorphosis Literary Agency

Endin

I feel like the ending could have been a little better. The whole story was great until then. Maybe there is a sequel?

A page turner!

Although I found the narrator a little stuffy the storyline and character development kept me completely focused. The story is written in a way that helped me see the setting (primarily a big old house) and the characters very clearly. This is a fun read for people who enjoy horror or psychological thrillers. I highly recommend it.

Payoff wasn't there

This was a breezy but unsettling read that kept me interested for the majority of the runtime. However, like most other reviews I can't help but agree that the horror elements were extremely lacking. The book conveys a good sense of unease throughout, but it never really builds to anything that could be set apart from your standard run-of-the-mill ending to one of these "monster in the basement" type stories.

Really wish more exposition could have been given about the chrysalis itself, as well as the previous homeowners and the effect it had on them. I feel like I blew through the book hoping for that payoff and it never came, just sort of fizzled out unceremoniously. Narrator did an excellent job, but couldn't save this one from a bummer ending. If I hadn't gotten this at a huge discount I would be deeply disappointed.