The Family Plot

By: Cherie Priest

Narrated by: Kate Udall

Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Chuck Dutton built Music City Salvage with patience and expertise, stripping historic properties and reselling their bones. Inventory is running low, so he's thrilled when Augusta Withrow appears in his office offering salvage rights to her entire property. This could be a gold mine, so he assigns his daughter, Dahlia, to personally oversee the project.

The crew finds a handful of surprises right away. Firstly, the place is in unexpectedly good shape. And then there's the cemetery, about 30 fallen and overgrown graves dating to the early 1900s. Augusta insists that the cemetery is just a fake, a Halloween prank, so the city gives the go-ahead, the bulldozer revs up - and it turns up human remains. Augusta says she doesn't know whose body it is or how many others might be present and refuses to answer any more questions. Then she stops answering the phone.

But Dahlia's concerns about the corpse and Augusta's disappearance are overshadowed when she begins to realize that she and her crew are not alone, and they're not welcome at the Withrow estate. They have no idea how much danger they're in, but they're starting to get an idea. On the crew's third night in the house, a storm shuts down the only road to the property. The power goes out. Cell signals are iffy. There's nowhere to go and no one Dahlia can call for help, even if anyone would believe that she and her crew are being stalked by a murderous phantom. Something at the Withrow mansion is angry and lost, and this is its last chance to raise hell before the house is gone forever. And it seems to be seeking permanent company.

The Family Plot is a haunted house story for the ages - atmospheric, scary, and strange, with a modern Gothic sensibility to keep it fresh and interesting - from Cherie Priest, a modern master of supernatural fiction.

©2016 Cherie Priest (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Huge Waste of time

I couldn't wait for this book to end. I want a refund on this book.

Great ghost story!

I listened to this as an audible book and couldn't wait to make up times to listen! it hooked me from the begining and I still want to know,,,, did she, could she IS SHE!??.

great ghost story

I enjoyed this audio book. the story was compelling enough to keep me interested and just creepy enough for my tastes.

Are you afraid of ghosts?

Any additional comments?

NUMBER OF HEARTS: 4
Another great and disturbing story from Ms. Priest. I am very happy that I picked up a copy of The Family Plot. I was not 100% sure what to expect when I started this book except for the fact that Ms. Priest will give us a great story. I really enjoyed not only the humans but the ghost too.
After a bit of a slow start to the story the twists and turns that Ms. Priest put into this story kept me on the edge of my seat. And the ending!!! OMG!!! The ending!!!!
If you are a fan of horror or ghost or Ms. Priest I would encourage you to pick up a copy of The Family Plot and find out why no one wants to live at the Withrow Estate.
This was my first book narrated by Kate Udall. Ms. Udall did a good job with this story. I will be looking for more books narrated by her in the future.


Disclaimer:
I purchased this book from Audible.com this is my honest review. This review is my own opinion and not a paid review.

Good book.

This had been sitting in my wish list for awhile and I decided to go ahead and get it. Im glad I did it was very enjoyable. The only problem I have with it was it seemed like they said GD after every breath. Im not squeamish about language but it was like the author went out of their way to insert it into a sentence. All in all it was a nice creepy story.

Trying something new

I bought this book for, quite literally, no real reason. I hadn't heard of the author or the narrator and it had no reviews to guide my purchase... it was a whim. I was quite pleased to soon learn the story was set very near where I live; an area tucked in the valleys of Southeastern Tennessee in the shade of the historic Lookout Mountain. I'm not anti-ghost stories but it takes a lot to impress me (I started reading Stephen King in 3rd grade, after all) and I need a story to envelop me with its reality. The author had a good context (historic property salvagers) and the motives weren't too far fetched for any of the characters. The author does a decent job with helping the reader visualize the creepy aspects.

Overall it was a decent purchase. While The Family Plot won't make it to my "repeat listen" collection, it provided a good backdrop for my daily commute. I may give the author another shot in the future. The narration was also decent; I didn't dislike it or love it, but it was solid.

if you're looking for paranormal fiction, a genre I don't do often, this one will entertain you for a few hours and the author's view of the location is spot on.

Freaking Awesome Ghost Story

Any additional comments?

I haven't read a ghost story in a very long time. This was a such a great ghost story with some fabulous characters.

Chuck has owned Music City Salvage for years, but now the company is hanging by a string...that is until one day when Mrs Withrow came in and offered her estate to be stripped for all it's valuables before it was demolished. She was willing to sell the estate to him for $40,0000.00. Chuck couldn't pass it up. He had to use all his money to purchase this property, but was hoping that they would get enough out of the house to fix their money problems.

Being on a very shoe string budget, Chuck asks his daughter Dahlia to take the very few workers they have to go to this estate and strip it of all it's valuables.

Dahlia and her nephew and a few other workers take on the task at hand, and this is when everything starts to fall apart.

Day times seems to be just fine, but when the sun goes down strange things start happening in the Withrow Estate.

Dahlia seems to think that the house is sometimes talking to her. Or at least responding to her. There is a door that only unlocks certain parts of the day or night.

As, the crew starts to notice more and more weird and strange things happening they all come together and decide to sleep in the same room. The shower seems to be the most dangerous part of the house.

There is so much to this story. I could keep going on, but I am afraid I will give everything away. I LOVE ghost stories. I love it even more when there are multiple ghosts. This has all of that. Good ones, bad ones, and just plain strange things are happening to this crew.

I think if you enjoy a good ghost story you will really enjoy this one. The narrator was awesome, which made the story that much better.

Source: I bought this book for myself to listen to. I was not compensated in any way for this review. These are my own PERSONAL thoughts on the book.

Solid Ghost Story But A Little Lacking

3.75/5

Overall, it was a solid, effectively creepy ghost story. The narrator was pretty good, she had a lot of characters to voice and her delivery during the creepier moments got me to jump once or twice. I like the characters and felt invested in what happened to them. I also didn’t mind hearing about the deconstruction of the old house, it allowed me to have a very clear mental picture of the place. My biggest criticisms were 1) the scares didn’t start until the last third. The first two parts had a few moments, but nothing to make you jump. I felt a lot more could have been done to let the tension rise slowly. 2) I wished there was more of a mystery associated with the ghosts. I won’t give spoilers away, but there wasn’t anything shocking revealed (at least nothing *that* shocking, more me going ‘oh ok that’s an extra detail, but doesn’t really change anything.’) once the main character learned the whole story. I wanted something to figure out I suppose.

SPOILER HERE
The epilogue felt a bit…cheap. Like trying for a jump scare at the end of a movie. There was a lot that could have been done with it, but that felt out of touch with the rest of the tone of the book.

Cherie Priest conquers another genre!

I am a Cheri Priest fan from her steampunk and vampire series' so was excited to see she had something new out. This story is a great listen, with Ms. Priest's usual attention to detail and strong character development. Kate Udall is a pleasure to listen to and does an excellent job of capturing the voice of each player. I hope there are more like this in the future.

Great ghost story

If you like ghost stories, you'll love this. Don't listen to it in the dark.