The Dark Side of the Room: Extended Edition

By: Tyler Jones

Narrated by: Jennifer Pickens

Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

The Dark Side of the Room: Extended Edition includes an introduction by Philip Fracassi (author of Beneath a Pale Sky), and the novella Along the Shadow.

For years, Betsy Lupino has lived alone in a rundown apartment. Alone, except for the growing wall of darkness that slowly devours her thoughts and memories. When a mysterious stranger moves into the building, Betsy fears the worst: that all of the darkness inside her head has escaped into the real world.

©2021 Tyler Jones (P)2022 Tyler Jones

Critic reviews

"Genuinely unsettling and leaking of paranoid dread, The Dark Side of the Room is residential horror at its finest". (Max Booth III, author of We Need to Do Something)

"What struck me the hardest was the delicate beauty of the telling. There’s a tight-wired fragility to the prose, to the story, that creates a sense of both awe and uncertainty. A grisly tale, an ever-so-slow twisting of a knife. A triumphant piece of fiction". (Philip Fracassi, author of Beneath a Pale Sky and Behold the Void)

“I devoured this one. Holy hell. Tyler brings so much heart to the story…A lucid read which creeps low to the ground until it springs on an unknowing you. Heart. Blood. Grief. All the good stuff. I’ve said it before and know I’ll say it again: Tyler Jones is the real deal". (Scott J. Moses, author of Hunger Pangs)

Effectively Creepy Novella

This novella sets the tone and atmosphere swiftly, and does a fantastic job with building POV characters you care about. I especially enjoyed Betsy's chapters, and the allegory between this supernatural entity and her worsening dementia. This is also one of the very few stories where the monster reveal is much more horrifying than the ambiguity would have been. Fantastic performance by the narrator as well, she made it very easy to fall into the story. I'll definitely be reading more of Tyler Jones' work!

F#!

The Dark Side of the Room: Extended Edition by Tyler Jones was horrifying, sad, and left me with questions for life. A story about an older woman who maybe has some mental illness(es) she's battling, or maybe she knows things about this world we don't. This is definitely a story that is left up to interpretation in a good way. I'm unsure if all would enjoy this one, but I absolutely did. Getting the extended edition means I got some more insight into the universe, too, with Major/ Minor. While that answered zero questions, I may have had it definitely left more questions for life. You may have some second guesses of the darkness in life after this one. The Dark Side of the Room was yet another wonderfully unique story I've gotten to read this year. I'd love to see more in this universe.

The audible narration by Jennifer Pickens was well done. I never want to hear her voice before bed again, though. I mean that in the nicest way. But if she's narrating my dreams? I better freaking wake up cause I'm about to not have a good time. I appreciate any narrator who takes time to give voices to each character to help you keep up in audio format. It's something I've come to rely on so I don't get lost.

Thank you so much, Jennifer, for an audible copy in return for a review. I feel like this is a story I'll listen to again and come away feeling differently than I do now, and every time I choose to revisit it.

Scary stuff

Poor Betsy!! Her head is definitely in the Twilight Zone. very, very creepy. I hate rats!

Dark & creepy story

Wow. This story was much more complex than I had anticipated. The story is left open to interpretation, which I enjoyed. To me, this is a story about love, loss, grief, and regret. This story really packs a punch. It's dark and creepy while also being thoughtful and visceral. I was completely immersed in this story right up until the very end.
The narrator really knocked it out of the park with her character voices! Very enjoyable audiobook experience!

Holy Crap!!

This story was great. Narration was good, which is great because, as you know, bad narration will ruin an audiobook. I actually had to take a break because it was creeping me out so much. I look forward to seeing more from this author. If you love creepy the creepiness is off the charts can't recommend enough.

Still thinking about this one

Sometimes a writer teaches you about the characters, and sometimes you feel the characters, and sometimes, you experience the characters. This story was an experience.

Fiddlestix & C Minor

Fiddlestix & C Minor, this is a creepy tale. The build is nice and slow and becomes more horrific as we ride along with poor old Betsy. I had a hard time when the story shifted to the detectives POV. But, keep on going and you'll get the authors intent. Shivers!

The narrator did an excellent job in her performance and kept me engaged the entire time. 5 stars for the performance.

I recommend this psychological horror.

So good!

I loved this book! It kept me in suspense the whole way through. I listen to, watch, and read so many horror stories that it takes a lot to scare me at this point, but I found this story terrifying.
I believe that in order for a horror story to work well, it’s crucial that the reader/listener care about the characters. The characters were well written, and this along with Jennifer Pickens’ wonderful narration, made me really empathize with all the characters, and enabled me to visualize each character.