Twisted Reunion

By: Mark Tullius

Narrated by: Tee Quillin

Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Plunge deep into darkness with 28 terrifying tales. Explore heartache, happiness, and horror in this collection of short stories by Mark Tullius, the author of 25 Perfect Days, named one of IndieReader's Best Indie Books for 2013.

This collection is composed of all the stories in Each Dawn I Die, Every One's Lethal, and Repackaged Presents, plus two bonus stories.

Experience chills as you hear these stories and more:

• A pornographer's horrific early morning ritual.
• A beautiful baby boy who knows what he wants.
• An engineer sees life on the other side of the tracks.
• A drug run goes awry.
• A family's unique Christmas tradition.
• An artist whose paintings become reality.
• A man who longs to rid himself of an annoying companion.
• A child terrified by things that slither and ooze in the night.
• Come join a soldier on the run in the jungle.
• An old man's quest for the perfect photo.
• A woman who sniffs out killers.
• A life coach whose own brand of "therapy" goes way beyond cruel and unusual.
• A young man who can't let go of the past.

©2015 Mark Tullius (P)2016 Mark Tullius

Inspirational... but not in a good way

As a modestly talented writer, I draw inspiration from two kinds of storytelling: the kind that's so good it shows me exactly what to emulate, and the kind that's so bad it makes me think, "If that kind of tripe can get published, then I have no excuse to fail." With its wink-and-nudge plots whose reveals are only shocking because they are actually as predictable as they appear, this collection falls soundly into the latter camp.

From one story to the next, I kept hoping that each obvious piece of foreshadowing was misleading me and setting up an engaging reversal, only to be freshly disappointed by another freshman-level denouement. Each time the author resorted to masking the banality of his work with gruesome imagery, I found myself reflecting on how much better the reversal I'd imagined and written off as being too predictable was than the actual conclusion.

So yeah, I found this collection inspiring, but not in a way that's particularly flattering to the author.

Creepy Stories!

Overall - 4.5 stars rounded up to 5
Story - 4.5 stars
Narration - 5 stars

Most of the stories herein are pretty good. I'd say they're creepy but not terrifying. There's something for everyone. My favorite story was "Book of Revelation" and it involves a Stephen King novel.

The narrator was <b>very</b> good. His character voices weren't overdone and they fit well into the stories.

Disclaimer - This audiobook was given by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review.

Good

Good narration. Some stories were better than others. A couple of the stories were scary.

Not what I expected

I was hoping for a shocker, or a creepy listen based on the reviews. That is not what I got. It was really predictable and mostly ho-um, not moving at all.

More Creeped out than Scared!

I enjoyed the different stories in this audiobook. Each chapter was a different story and I liked it being set up like that. I didn't really have a favorite, and none really stood out to me but it was enjoyable. I didn't have any jump scares but I was definitely creeped out. I would recommend this to readers who are not really into horror but don't mind some creepiness.🙂

Great audio adaptaion

What does Tee Quillin bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I have heard Tee read a few of Mark's books and I love the way he presents the characters. He does a wonderful job bringing the stories and characters to life.

Any additional comments?

I like short stories now and then, these are wonderful snippets of well written creepy stories. They are the right size to sink your teeth into. Mark's writing is varied and can take ordinary situations and make them scary. Some of the stories remind me of Stephen King in his younger years.