Author: Joe Hill
Instant. Total. Gratification. Horrifying gratification. Best horror audiobook I've listened to in quite awhile.
Not only did the story instantly have my attention....but the narrator of the audio book is Kate Mulgrew (she played Captain Janeway on Voyager). I knew right away that I would not be wasting almost 20 hours of my life listening to Mulgrew read this tale to me. :) As a narrator, Mulgrew is superb. I have partial hearing loss and at times female narrators can be difficult for me to understand. But Mulgrew's voice is a bit lower than most women's voices, so I had no problems whatsoever. It's not just that though.....her performance is excellent! The voices she does for the characters....the expressiveness.....just PERFECT!!! I will definitely be looking for other audiobooks she has narrated.
The story itself is incredibly creative and viciously horrifying. Charles Manx. Murderer. Sadist. Kidnapper. He lures children into his Rolls Royce Wraith, a magical car that takes the kiddies to Christmasland. In Christmasland, it's always snowing....bright, fluffy holiday snow. The kind Bing Crosby sang about. Holiday music is always playing and kiddos can have all the candy, popcorn, cotton candy and goodies that they want. But....they can never leave. And they really aren't children anymore. While Manx doesn't kill or molest the children, he loves to torture, kill and otherwise completely ruin the day for adults. Or he has his murderous lackey do it for him. There are a few other people who can travel into this other dimension. They all have something that allows them to enter....an object that catapults them from the real world into Manx's horrible other dimension. For Victoria McQueen it's her bicycle. As a child she discovered she could ride across a nonexistent bridge and find lost things.....but she learned there was much more to that other place than just finding things. It cost her dearly. Later in life she tells herself that she was crazy, mentally ill, that none of it ever happened. But it did. Years later she learns it was all real......and Manx is much, much more than just a murderer who drives a magic Wraith to Christmasland.
Listening to this book just before Thanksgiving was perfect timing. I don't think I will be able to listen to carols or look at holiday decorations this year without thinking about Charles Manx and his sleek Rolls Royce. And the horrors of Christmasland.
This book had great suspense, real horrors and moved along at a nice pace. The audiobook is 20 hours long, so it took me 2 weeks to finish it.....totally worth the time! I definitely recommend it for anyone who likes a bloody dose of holiday horror!
Happy Holidays! If you see a Rolls Royce Wraith driving slowly through your neighborhood this holiday season.....bring the kiddos inside and lock the door! :)
For more information about the author and his other books (which I plan to read, and hope that they are just as grisly and demented as this one!), check out Joe Hill's website: https://www.joehillfiction.com/
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