Audiobook Review: Chasing the Dead by Joe Schreiber

TITLE: Chasing the Dead
AUTHOR: Joe Schreiber
NARRATOR: Renée Raudman
PUBLISHER: Tantor Media
PUBLICATION DATE: November 1, 2006
FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook
LENGTH: 6 hrs and 14 mins
GENRE: Horror
ISBN: 9781400102969

A stranger has kidnapped her daughter, Veda. But he doesn't want Sue's money, only her suffering -- and he will kill Veda if Sue doesn't follow his every command. With detailed instructions, the faceless abductor leads Sue into a blinding snowstorm on the longest night of the year, to a place she has not traveled to since childhood. The voice on the other end of the line somehow knows Sue's deepest, most chilling secret, an ominous incident from her past, buried long ago.

Across the loneliest back roads of Massachusetts, in the black expanse of a New England winter, Sue is forced to confront her most awful fears. She is met at each step by ever-increasing horrors created by a monster who is surely something less than human. In the hope of saving her daughter from a kidnapper whose origin seems darker than anything she could ever have imagined, Sue will discover just how much trauma and fright the human body is capable of absorbing.

Set over the course of a single night, Chasing the Dead is a fast-paced, ferociously tense supernatural thriller. With skill reminiscent of masters like Dean Koontz and David Morrell, Joe Schreiber has created a tableau of shock and horror, death and destruction, that will draw you in and never let you go.

MY REVIEW: 

This book was not at all what I expected. My local library categorized this is a mystery, but it actually falls into the horror genre. I picked it up because the synopsis was about a mom whose daughter was kidnapped, which is every mom’s worst nightmare. I was looking for a mystery, so I was a bit disappointed when the story played out with paranormal themes. Now, I love the horror and paranormal genres as well, so the book still ended up working for me.

The protagonist, Susan Young, receives a mysterious telephone call from a stranger, who claims to have her young daughter. The infant, Veda, was supposed to be in the care of her nanny. The caller gives Susan very specific instructions on what to take with her and sends her on a road trip, and she must do exactly as he says if she ever wants to see Veda again.

The pace of the book was quick, and the story takes place during a single night and Susan has 12 hours to complete the mission. Schreiber did develop an interesting paranormal element to the story, which I thought was unique. Even though it wasn’t the mystery that I was expecting, I still enjoyed the book. Schreiber is a new-to-me author and this is his debut novel. I intend to check out more of his work.

Renée Raudman is a new-to-me narrator, and I thought she was just “okay.” If I was Susan and my daughter had been kidnapped, I would have been much more frantic and I wish that Raudman would have conveyed that in her voice.

MY RATING:

3 stars!! It was good, and I enjoyed it.

This book qualifies as:
#7 for my 2016 You Read How Many Books? Challenge
#7 for my 2016 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge
#1 for my New Author Challenge 2016
#1 for my 2016 New Narrator Reading Challenge
#1 for my 2016 New To You Reading Challenge
#7 for my Backlist Books Reading Challenge
#7 for my 2016 Audiobook Challenge
#7 for my 2016 I Love Libraries Reading Challenge
#4A for my The Reporters Challenge 2016
#7 for my 2016 Full House Reading Challenge
#3 for my 2016 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge
#1 for my 2016 Horror Reading Challenge

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