Random story threads. [Audiobook Listen // Nightmare House by Douglas Clegg]

In Harrow House, no one rests in peace.

Returning to claim an inheritance, Ethan Gravesend inadvertently unlocks the long-buried secrets of a sinister mansion. 

Nightmare House is the first book in the chilling gothic horror Harrow Series, from Bram Stoker Award-winning novelist, Douglas Clegg.

This is one of the few audiobooks where I can confidently say the narrator did a superb job. The gothic horror thriller is fantastically read by Gary Tiedemann. Character transitions and vocalizations were clean and distinct, with accent appropriate for the fantastical landscape. Where Douglas Clegg's Nightmare House goes wrong for me is with the original 1998 publication. It just wasn't that clear.

And that's saying a lot for any type of gothic story. Stories about houses and their hauntings generally bank on a high degree of obfuscation when it comes to the supernatural mechanics driving the plot. But there was a lot attempted that didn't land for me. The story shifts between the future present, where the narrator is looking back on the bulk of the story, and the past present, where most of the story takes place and what is recollecting. Why we needed so many time shifts isn't clear because the gravitas of the truth of the narrator's identity doesn't come off as serious as it means to. At the end we're meant to question the truth of it all, but very little makes me question the veracity of the accounting. Instead of some terrible crime delineated and a given link established between it and given consequences, we're given probabilities and nothing concrete. Nightmare House being the first in the Harrow House series, it sets up well for future books but is weak as a standalone title. 

A little over six hours, this was a quick and pleasant audiobook listen, bingeable in a day, or several as was my case. I'd be lying if I said I'm not interested to hear (or read) what happens in the series, but I'm still giving this audiobook 3 stars. Not for the narration, but for the story. I'd hope the overall story of Harrow House built successfully from here on out, but only continuing in the decades only series would tell.

Orangesky Audio's Nightmare House audiobook (ISBN:9781662257513) is set for publication February 23, 2021.