Darlene's Book Nook: #Audiobook #Review: 2 out of 5 stars for The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay @HarperAudio

Thursday, July 26, 2018

#Audiobook #Review: 2 out of 5 stars for The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay @HarperAudio

TITLE: The Cabin at the End of the World

AUTHOR: Paul Tremblay

NARRATOR: Amy Landon

PUBLISHER: HarperAudio

PUBLICATION DATE: June 26, 2018

FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook

LENGTH: 9 hrs and 25 mins

GENRE: Horror

ISBN: 9780062849588

The Bram Stoker Award-winning author of A Head Full of Ghosts adds an inventive twist to the home invasion horror story in a heart-palpitating novel of psychological suspense that recalls Stephen King’s Misery, Ruth Ware’s In a Dark, Dark Wood, and Jack Ketchum’s cult hit The Girl Next Door.

Seven-year-old Wen and her parents, Eric and Andrew, are vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet New Hampshire lake. Their closest neighbors are more than two miles in either direction along a rutted dirt road.

One afternoon, as Wen catches grasshoppers in the front yard, a stranger unexpectedly appears in the driveway. Leonard is the largest man Wen has ever seen but he is young, friendly, and he wins her over almost instantly. Leonard and Wen talk and play until Leonard abruptly apologizes and tells Wen, "None of what’s going to happen is your fault". Three more strangers then arrive at the cabin carrying unidentifiable, menacing objects. As Wen sprints inside to warn her parents, Leonard calls out: "Your dads won’t want to let us in, Wen. But they have to. We need your help to save the world."

Thus begins an unbearably tense, gripping tale of paranoia, sacrifice, apocalypse, and survival that escalates to a shattering conclusion, one in which the fate of a loving family and quite possibly all of humanity are entwined. The Cabin at the End of the World is a masterpiece of terror and suspense from the fantastically fertile imagination of Paul Tremblay.

MY REVIEW:

When I read the synopsis for this book, it grabbed my attention right away. I've been pumped about this book since the Spring, and I even featured it on one of my "Can't-Wait Wednesday" posts. Stephen King also tweeted that it was terrifying! Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations.

Wen and her two dads are on holiday in Northern New Hampshire at a remote cabin. She is outside in the front yard playing alone, when she hears someone coming down the road. He introduces himself as Leonard and says that he wants to be her friend. He seems friendly enough, but Wen is wary. After Leonard's three friends arrive, they confront Wen's parents and tell them that they will have to make a sacrifice to save the world. If they fail, a series of cataclysmic events will be set in motion.

Okay, so let's talk about what worked: I love the isolated and remote setting. There's nothing creepier than being stranded in the middle of nowhere with no way to contact anyone else if something were to happen. I also love the doomsday prophecy.

What didn't work was that this book seemed to go nowhere for so long! I think half the book was talking about what was going to happen, and I kept thinking, "Okay, this is where it's going to get good!" but that never happened. For a book that was described as "heart-palpitating," I expected something more gripping but instead it was kind of boring.

If you look up the reviews on Audible, the narrator (Amy Landon) is criticized pretty harshly. In my opinion, she wasn't that bad. Maybe the narration was a bit lackluster and dull because the writing was? I do think that probably is the case. Here is a sample of the narration:

MY RATING: