Holt House by L. G. Vey – An Audio Book Review

Blurb:

Some 40 years after they were originally first put to tape, the forgotten recordings of the Eden Book Society are finally being released to the public for the very first time. Established in 1919, the Eden Book Society was a private publisher of Horror for nearly 100 years, creating cult classics that have been lauded by writers such as Ramsey Campbell, Andrew Michael Hurley and Alicia Whitely.

Now, with the recent discovery of these long lost recordings, produced almost 40 years ago and hidden in the basement of the Eden Book Society’s home, W F Howes are finally giving listeners their chance to experience these recordings as they were originally produced all those years ago. Complete with extra bonus material derived from the Eden Book Society’s own records, as well as a Foreword from renowned comedian, actor and writer Charlie Higson (The Fast Show, Broadchurch), these audiobooks offer a fascinating insight into nearly a century of unseen horror.

This is the first book in the series – Holt House by L G Vey:

It’s a quiet house, sheltered, standing in a mass of tangled old trees called the Holtwood. Raymond watches it. He’s been watching it, through a gap in the fence at the bottom of the garden, for weeks. Thinking about the elderly owners, Mr and Mrs Latch, who took him in one night when he was a frightened boy caught up in an emergency. Mr Latch showed him something that was kept in a wardrobe in the spare room. He can’t remember what it was. He only knows how sick it made him feel. Raymond watches Holt House. He has to remember what he saw. He has to get inside.

Author: L. G. Vey
Narrator: Alan Turton
Running Time: 2 hrs 30 mins
Audio Release Date: 20/08/2020
Publisher: Whole Story QUEST
My Rating of ‘Holt House’: 5 out of 5
Purchase: Audible UK, Audible US, Amazon UK, Amazon US

Review:

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

It was a nice change of pace to go for a novella rather than a novel. The premise of the Eden Book Society (with both the foreword and the afterword playing beautifully into the mythos of this mysterious collection of horror novellas) made picking this up and easy choice.

The story itself is intriguing and never stops being so. Just when you think you’ve an idea of what’s going on, Holt House changes the script and keeps you wanting to plough on.

The idea of a mysterious house surrounded by the woods is the setting for many a horror story, none reach the uniqueness of Holt House. In all my time of reading horror, I don’t feel as though I’ve experienced a story that changed so much across so short amount of pages.

The audio book was recorded with that old style recording sound effect, so you get the lovely crackle that you might on an old tape recorder. It adds a certain charm to it that only adds to the uniqueness.

The character work feels simple and uninspired until you get through a bit of the book and realise how wrong you are in that thought. The simple character work is only a layer adding to the overall product and has a feel of being far more involved than the simple beginnings would have suggested.

All in all, I really enjoyed this audio book and look forward to more from the Eden Book Society.