The Withering

House of Souls, Book 3

By: Ambrose Ibsen

Narrated by: Joe Hempel

Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

A string of kidnappings has the village of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, on edge.
Longtime resident Edgar August thinks he knows who's behind them.

Edgar has a secret. In his spare time, he enjoys looking into his neighbors' windows, observing their private lives and spreading gossip. The old doctor who lives behind him has been acting strangely as of late, and witnessing his erratic behaviors over the course of weeks, Edgar begins to suspect that the retired physician, Marcel Dubois, is the kidnapper.

As his snooping gets more invasive, Edgar becomes convinced that his neighbor is up to something.

But that something, it turns out, is more horrifying than a mere kidnapping.

The Withering is the third novel in the House of Souls series.

©2019 Ambrose Ibsen (P)2021 Ambrose Ibsen

A satisfying conclusion...

The Withering is Book 3 in the House of Souls series by Ambrose Ibsen. The stories do have a tie-in, but I honestly think that you'd be okay listening to them independently, though I definitely recommend the other books in the series! Out of all three, I found this one the least captivating, though I really enjoyed the tie-in with the other books later in this story. These are good, spooky stories, and while not terrifying, etc. they are entertaining and classic. Edgar is a busybody with binoculars. He gets it in his mind that Marcel, his elderly neighbor, is responsible for a string of murders that have been occurring around town. Edgar gets caught up in things and while I won't give anything away, I'll say that he gets in way over his head and lives to regret it. It's definitely worth listening to!

Joe Hempel is one of my favorite narrators. It just is what it is. I know that any time I start a book narrated by Joe, I'll enjoy the listen and the characters will have depth and character as long as the writing is good. Seriously, you can't go wrong with Joe. Add in Ambrose's writing talent and you have such a great combination! I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher for an honest review. Did you find this review helpful? If so, would you please take a moment and select the 'helpful' button below? Thanks so much!

Loved all 3!

I’ve really enjoyed listening to all three of his books in this series. The narrator, Joey, is easy on the ears and the books keep you drew in from “page” one. Can’t wait to hear more!

Enjoyable.

I have now listening to all 3books, and have enjoyed them all. This was a good story. Ambrose really has a talent for creating horror stories. I have two little complaints, I wish it had been more of a extremely scary story, the kind of story that you couldn't listen to it with your lights off.. I could.. I think Joe Hempel and his narration of bringing characters to life, awesome. The next little complaint is it takes entirely to long for his next books to become available to us adubile listener. Seems like to me this book took forever to come to adubile. Saying this, I still recommend you listen to all books.. I'm keeping my fingers crossed 🤞🏽that this is not the end of this series, and that we get it soon!🙂

Creepy and intriguing

Edgar August has too much time in his hands thanks to having quite some money set aside. Equipped with a pair of binoculars, and with the excuse of watching birds, he knows all the ins and outs of his neighborhood. His girlfriend doesn’t understand this obsession, but Edgar must know all that happens in Buffalo Grove, as there have been some kidnappings in the last weeks and something tells him that his neighbor Marcel Dubois has something to do with it.

I enjoyed books one and two in this series, so I was curious what Ibsen had in store for us in this third book. We are already familiar with Marcel Dubois, but the story is from a completely different perspective. The book is connected with the previous ones, but it could be definitely read as a standalone. I think I expected a story that was a bit more related to the previous two books, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The oppressing and intriguing atmosphere made this book impossible to put down, as Edgar gets closer and closer to his goal and his damnation.

I found the book well written and absorbing but I didn’t especially like Edgar. I think I would have enjoyed it more were I able to relate to him, but it didn’t happen. I’m not sure if this was because he’s a middle-aged man with a very different life from mine, or just because I was not sure of his motivations to find out about what was going on with Marcel Dubois. I guess he was just nosy and didn’t have better things to do with his life. I think I would have liked a character with some clearer goals in life and moral principles. This is just my personal opinion and it might differ from someone else’s.

Joe Hempel’s narration was absolutely sublime, as always. This is one of the cases where I would choose a book for his narrator, more than the story itself. I enjoy horror, but with the many books I have in my TBR pile, I wouldn’t probably have chosen this book if it weren’t narrated by Hempel. He delivered great character interpretations, steady rhythm, and a spotless audio production. Listening to a book narrated by Joe Hempel is always a great experience.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Really

so women are disappearing and you go into a neighbors house to where you hear a women crying and he's acting extremely weird and his house is in disarray. Yet you don't suspect him because he's a old nice man.

Another Winner!

I can’t think of a better combination in audiobook horror than Ambrose Ibsen and Joe Hempel.

I’ve been waiting a long time for this audiobook and it did not disappoint. There are some very scary moments. I was so drawn in with the narration that I had to stop listening end get back into reality from time to time.

You could listen to this book and understand what’s going on even if you haven’t listened to the first two, but it is better if you have.

I had a great ending that I did not see coming!

This book ruined my day.

Today I expected to spend the day listening to this book and cleaning my storage shed. However, I am 2 hours into this book and I've needed to pause it already because it's too creepy. I can't work today because it's dimly lit in the shed and this book has made me so paranoid I swear I am hearing things. That yawning open maw of a mouth in the shadows, the draping billowing curtain......Ugh! Instead of cleaning today and tomorrow, I am likely going to be listening to this book inside of my house with all the lights on. Thanks Ambrose.


I love Ambrose's books so much when will he go viral so that I can read these with people instead of alone in the semi dark....

Well Written!

Book was a breeze to listen to. Joe hemple, as usual, does a masterful job at bringing the the voices of each character to life. in regards to the story, I feel this was a easy to digest work without becoming too simple. The story moves at a good pace, offers a multitude of twists and turns to keep the intrigue, and wraps it all up "neatly" upon its edifice. Well done gentlemen. I look forward to listening to more of your works.

Ibsen and Hempel deliver the terror yet again

The combination of Ibsen’s writing and Hempel’s narration pack an amazing combo in the terror department. I have listened to many of Ibsen’s novels and find them to be thrillingly terrifying. Hempel’s voice sets the mood and the insidious effects of Ibsen’s writing deep into your mind and leave you not wanting to turn out the light and go to sleep. This 3rd in a series (can be read alone but many nuances will be lost) delivers more On the terror that we have come to Loathe and fear from the prior novels. It has crept into yet another string
Of lives ending many of them and leaving others gibberish terrors. It creeps
Into the lives of those it comes in contact with driving them mad and taking them for it’s own. If you like horror this is for you. I love all of Ibsen’s work and having it narrated by Hempel just makes it that much better. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator or publisher

Great third part!

I loved it! I couldn't wait to find out what would happen. I was hooked and finished it in a day!

Lackluster in comparison to previous entries

I enjoyed the first two books in the series but this third unfortunately failed to hit home, the main character has much less personality than previous iterations, and is inspires less empathy (a rich loner who seems to take little interest in his partner and spies on his neighbours?). The story itself is also less robust than previous entries and I felt some important events seemed rushed or had little explanation or follow up by characters or story. *SPOLIERS* The ending also lacked impact for me, and seemed to rely on mere chance, the spirits presumably not having arranged the final event, it making no sense to put its target out of its own reach (would have been an interesting plot if the spirit was already in the victim and started working its way through a prison though).

Book 3

The story was almost a stand alone story, not the final book in the trilogy. It didn’t connect for me.

Not pleasant

Sorry but I found this book very tedious.
and an unrealistic story that wasn't very captivating