Welcome to the Deep Estate

A Surreal Backrooms Comedy

De: Kevin Kane

Narrado por: Christopher Harbour

Here’s a little secret: Reality is insane.

A death cult led by a box of Kraft mac and cheese. The Bermuda Triangle. Lizard people walking among us. When every conspiracy theory, urban legend, and fever-dream headline is true, someone has to keep it all cataloged, contained, and out of sight. That someone is the Bureau of the Bizarre.

John Doe always thought his paranoid father was crazy, then the crazy showed up on his doorstep with a job offer. Now, he’s a Collector for the Bureau, partnered with Edith Sinner, a metanatural vampire with a murder glare and a past that refuses to stay buried. Their office is The Deep Estate, a liminal space carved out of The Backrooms, where nightmares take shape and reality bends to the collective unconscious. Their coworkers are anything but normal. Carrie is a stab-happy flying pencil. Marybeth is a Victorian doll with serious Devil Daddy issues. And then there is the Murder Clown...

But when John and Edie bump into a conspiracy the Bureau was never meant to see, reality itself is rewritten to frame them for murder. Hunted by their own and pursued through impossible corridors, they have to expose the truth before the Deep Estate’s secrets swallow them whole.

Equal parts cosmic horror and comic absurdity, Welcome to the Deep Estate is what happens when Men in Black stumbles into the Backrooms carrying a copy of Hitchhiker’s Guide.

Welcome to your new nine-to-five. Welcome to the Deep Estate.

©2025 Kevin Kane (P)2025 Kevin Kane

Had a blast listening to this

This book is definitely meant to be listened to! Amazing job with every single character, there was so much personality in this reading and it was just such a good time.

Bizarre and pretty fun

This review is for the audio version of the book, provided by NetGalley, and narrated by Christopher Harbour.

3.75/5

This was one of the most bizarre and a unique experiences I've had with a book, in a while.

Following John Doe, yes really, as he stumbles into the existence and employment of, the Bureau of the Bizarre (the Deep Estate), he finds himself in a world that he's, oddly, suited to be in (his dad is an extremely devoted conspiracy theorist, but like, for all of the conspiracies).

On his 1st day of work he finds himself in and out of pocket dimensions, with a "meta-vampire" partner and a sentient pencil.

And that's just where the story starts.

Once I managed to stop trying to figure how things got from one point to another realm with a possessed lawn ornament, it became much more enjoyable.

This is going to be a fun time for a lot of people, but be prepared to have some of your norms poked fun at. There is racism (feudal Japan? really?) and sexism, but it also calls itself out for making the jokes in the 1st place.

No title has the right to make you laugh out loud this much - it hurts

And yet, here we are. The most hilarious story I've listened to this year, and I'm over 160 titles so far. If you've been born in the last 80 years, you'll pickup at least some of the 728* pop culture, science, and literary references dropped into this non-stop mind-twisting alternate universe adventure. With every sentence overflowing with wit and disbelievability but set in a whacked out place where anything can and will happen, our main character, John Doe, must navigate his first day on the job at a secret agency where co-workers and supervisors seem mostly unfazed by the existence of lizard people and alternate realities. The hijinks span every conceivable sci-fi and fantasy reference while the conspiracy theories start proving themselves true. John Doe is extremely relatable, creative, damaged by trauma, and determined to finish what he starts. Christopher Harbour brings him and the rest of the cast to life with wildly varied and interesting voices, and enough tension to cut with a katana. A joyous and wacky good time. [Disclosure: I received this title for free and listened at 2.0x.] *There are probably more, I lost count.