The Haunting of Rookward House

By: Darcy Coates

Narrated by: Joe Hempel

Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's Summary

She's always watching....

When Guy finds the deeds to a house in his mother's attic, it seems like an incredible stroke of luck. Sure, the building hasn't been inhabited in 40 years and vines strangle the age-stained walls, but Guy is convinced he can clean it up and sell it. He'd be crazy to turn down free money. Right?

The house is hours from any other habitation, and Guy can't get phone reception in the old building. He decides to camp there while he does repairs. Surely nothing too bad can happen in the space of a week.

But there's a reason no one lives in Rookward House, and the dilapidated rooms aren't as empty as they seem....

A deranged woman tormented a family in Rookward 40 years before. Now her ghost clings to the building like rot. She's bitter, obsessive, and jealous...and once Guy has moved into her house, she has no intention of ever letting him leave.

©2017 Darcy Coates (P)2017 Darcy Coates

Not so scary, but still kept me up

I was expecting a scary story, I got the chills only once or twice. But that didn't stop me from really enjoying the whole experience.
The narrator was spot on and Darcy Coats' s story kept me listening until I realised I had to get up to go to work. Thanks for that sleepless night...

Not the author's best or scariest book

The narrator was okay. A bit bland with no real voice inflection. I liked how the author set up us learning about Thomas' life. I felt sorry for Thomas at the beginning. Then, later in the book, I felt that he deserved what he got. He certainly reaped what he sowed. Unfortunate that his actions affected his family. Guy seemed to be a "woe is me" type. He certainly had anger management issues even after the "incident". The ending, for me, was ridiculous and makes women look weak and pathetic. Finally, there was way to much detail about the renovations Guy was going to make. This book is certainly not the author's best.

great book

it was a bit hard to follow to start with but knocks your socks off before it is over

Violent and Deranged Ghost

This book had some elements that I really enjoyed and others that I really didn’t, I’ll get on to those in a bit.

The story covers a couple of timelines: the 1965 events leading up to the haunting of Rookward house and the present day. In 1965, a man called Thomas and his family move to Rookward house in the countryside to get away from the threatening presence of Amy, Thomas’ stalker.
In the present day, the ghost of Amy is still haunting the house and becomes obsessed with Guy, a man whose mother has inherited the home from a relative.

I did like how terrifying Amy was in her ghost form – doors creaking in the night and the creepy eyes and talon-like fingers scratching about the house. She’s the perfect ghost in terms of creepiness, but how she became that way bugged me. The men in this book are portrayed of victims of this woman but in actual fact… they’re just terrible people and bring all of the events on themselves.

The first half of this story was particularly difficult to get through for a couple of reasons: Guy has travelled out into the forest to renovate the abandoned haunted house which has been left derelict for 50 years, obviously it’s going to need some DIY and tidying up but there was a lot of detail about the clearing up of vines and refitting of window panes. A lot of detail.

The second reason was that I found it very hard to keep my attention on the Hempel’s words. The sound quality was excellent and it was well read, but I found my attention straying by his lack of intonation – particularly in the first half of the book when there wasn’t much in the way of character dialogue to break things up a bit. This is one of those unfortunate circumstances when you just can’t mesh with a voice, which is always frustrating.

At only 6 hours long, it’s not that long in the world of audiobooks and is a classic haunted house scenario that’s sure to appeal to many fans of the genre. The ghost is violent, deranged and brings a very claustrophobic feel to the atmosphere of the story.

This Audiobook was provided for review by the author/narrator/publisher.
Please find this complete review and many others on my review blog.
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hard to get tbrough

This book was hard to finish for me. The main character was hard to like.

Love a good spooky story!

Darcy Coates sure does know how to spin a good spooky story. I enjoyed learning about the characters as they go through their trials. I think I found my next favorite haunted story writer.

engaging read, well read, kind of want this house

Darcy Coates, as always, is an engaging read with honestly written characters that you start to love m in spite of their flaws. Joe Hempel is an excellent actor and I fall into a trance listening to him, becoming a watcher in the room with the main characters. Also, if Anna Hendrix doesn't play the woman in red when the movie comes out I'm going to riot.

Didn’t like the ending

The book was entertaining however I didn’t feel that it was one of Darcy Coates best. I really did not like the ending and felt I was left hanging.

Creep factor is a 10 in this book

I listened to the sample on Audible and had to hear the rest of the story. The Audiobook is about 6 1/2 hours long. It is written by Darcy Coates and Narrated by Joe Hempel. Both have done and awesome job with this book. it is a very creepy tale of an abandoned house. Ghosts are my favorite and this one is filled with them.

Guy is helping his mom go through the attic when he stumbles across a deed to a house. When he asks about it she doesn't remember the house which was part of her inheritance. Guy decides to go look at the house thinking that maybe they could sell it and be able to move from the town they live in, and be able to get away from some bad memories and start over.

When Guy gets to the house he looks it over and thinks it is worth fixing up, and that they will get more money out of it if it is livable. The house even has a name Rookward House. It is about 3 hours from home so Guy decides it would be better to camp out in the house while working on it.

Strange things start to happen almost immediately but Guy chocks the noises up to settling, and the shadows up to the darkness. One night a couple of teenagers come around. Guy invites them in and they tell him about the horrible murders that happened in the house and the legend of it being haunted.

The strange things really amp up after this. Guy has to figure out how to get away from Rookward house with his life since the ghost has decided to make him her own.

I personally really enjoyed this book and cannot wait to listen to more books by Darcy Coates.

A Good Read

I enjoyed the book.

Guy is dealing with a situation involving the love his life and discovers his mother owns a home that could potential help him start a new life elsewhere. Somewhere where he won't run into Savannah, and somewhere where he can escape what he did to her and the Rookward House help him. If he can survive Amy.

There were a few chilling moments, a few moments that startled me, but for the most part I felt it was tamed. A lot more tamed when you compare this to other Darcy Coates novellas like - The Haunting of Ashburn House, The Hauntiinf of Blackwood House, Dead Lake, and Ghost Camera- all stories that had me sleeping with lights on.

This story is still entertaining and I found myself thinking of ways Guy could escape the strangling and supermarket hold of Amy. I wish certain things were answered, things such as: how did Guy's grandpa come to own Rookward House? why couldn't he burn it down like Sophie did in House of Shadows? why didn't Thomas or the police thoroughly search the house to ensure his family was really safe from Amy?

Good solid listen

Well written scary story, kept me interested all the way, although there was a loss of pace two thirds of way in, for couple of chapters .

Fantastic

If you could sum up The Haunting of Rookward House in three words, what would they be?

Unexpected, gripping, enjoyable

What other book might you compare The Haunting of Rookward House to, and why?

Any of Darcy Coats works

Any additional comments?

A gripping tale that has an unusual turn. I thought it was going to be a straight forward haunting but I was surprised. By the middle of the story I was hooked and couldn't wait to listen on.

Not one of her best

Pretty awful story line and appalling acting on the voiceover. Disappointed really as I enjoy Darcey Coates books in general. One to avoid!

Gripping for the most part

I really enjoyed the first part of the book, and the plot was quite gripping. Being a paranormal investigator myself though I was quite disappointed in the way that it changed from being a very plausible haunting scenario to a horror story. Having said that, it was well written and I liked the narrator, and it was gripping enough to make you want to know what happened to the main character. I'd recommend this if you like a good horror book.

Don’t bother

Persevered up to chapter 13 but couldn’t do anymore, the narrator is dreadful, no emotion just a dead pan voice which I couldn’t stand any longer. Shame because I like Darcy Coates books, but he was so boring I can’t even remember what the story is about !

Terrible narrator!

I can’t finish this book. The narrator sounds like he’s half asleep and has no enthusiasm to read the book. His monotone drone makes it barely possible to follow what’s going on let along enjoy it.

a fine piece of implausibility

Well, there’s plenty of action and the narration isn’t bad either. The problem is, it’s entirely implausible. There are thoughts that are never completely finished off and explanations lacking. A distortion of reality gives one the impression that it’s one of those dream coma states from which Guy will wake up in a few minutes. It’s readable but it’s not great. For one thing, between 1985 and 2015 unless I miss my guess there are thirty years not twenty. Ah well, I wasn’t all that good at maths either at school.

A good story but not one of her best

I've listened to a couple of Darcy Coates audiobook before now and have really liked them. While this was a decent story and was pretty creepy in parts I wasn't as gripped as I have been with other stories from her.
I found Guy, the protagonist, not a very strong or developed character to maintaim interest in him and his plight. I also struggled with the narrator being a little bland and lacking depth and emotion.
I listened to this after a similar story about a girl moving in to a run down house that was haunted so that may not have helped the story be as rivetting for me.
I would say its the creepiest story I have listened to so far but it could have been more chilling with better narration.

Another Darcy Coates gem.

Really enjoyed this.. So many twists and turns. Creepily scarcely and keeps you wanting more.