House of Dark Shadows by Robert Liparulo (Audiobook Review)

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Title: House of Dark shadows
Series: The Dreamhouse Kings, Book 1
Author: Robert Liparulo
Narrator: Joshua Swanson
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Duration: 6 hours, 50 minutes
Copyright: 2010
Genres: horror, paranormal, juvenile
Filed in: Audiobook Reviews
Review copy provided by Blackstone Audio.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Dream house… or bad dream?
When the Kings move from L.A. to a secluded small town, 15-year-old Xander is beyond disappointed. He and his friends loved to create amateur films… but the tiny town of Pinedale is the last place a movie buff and future filmmaker wants to land.
Xander, David, and Toria are, however, captivated by the many rooms in the old Victorian fixer-upper they moved into—as well as by the heavy woods that surround it. They soon discover there’s something odd about the house. Sounds come from the wrong direction. Prints of giant, bare feet appear in the dust. And when David tries to hide in the linen closet, he winds up in locker 119 at his new school.
Then the really weird stuff kicks in. They find a hidden hallway with portals leading to far-off places—in long-ago times. Xander is starting to wonder if this kind of travel is a teen’s dream come true - or his worst nightmare.
Robert Liparulo is an award-winning author of over a thousand published articles and short stories, and he has written and sold the rights to several motion pictures. Currently a contributing editor for New Man magazine, his work has appeared in Reader’s Digest, Travel & Leisure, Self, and more. In addition, he previously worked as a celebrity journalist, interviewing Stephen King, Tom Clancy, Charlton Heston, and others.
©2008 Robert Liparulo (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

MY TAKE ON IT: I think Robert Liparulo is really on to something here. A creepy old Victorian style house with lots of rooms and closets and passages, surrounded by deep, dark woods. It’s the perfect setting for a horror story. But that’s not all. Behind a secret doorway inside the house is a long hallway with several doors along each side. Each door is a portal to another….time? place? Dimension? Who knows! And on top of that, the doors never lead to the same place twice, they keep changing. This is an interesting technique that has almost limitless sequel potential.
Thirty years ago, the owner of the house was rumoured to have killed his wife and son, and then vanished. Of course, we know that the man’s wife vanished through one of the portals, then the man and his son left, having been consumed by grief. Now the King family is moving in, and it takes their three inquisitive children almost no time at all to discover that something is not right about this house. It is not until a similar tragedy strikes the King family, that the children’s father finally reveals the secret he has been hiding all along. That was a pretty tense moment, and I can honestly say that I never guessed that was coming. Liparulo does a nice job of dropping in the clues one by one, as the tension mounts.
Our main character is Xander King, eldest of the three children. Xander is a budding film-maker, and I like how his interest in film influences his perception of the world around him. He is always equating his situation with scenes from the various horror films he has seen, and comparing the people he meets with the stars of those films. It adds an interesting perspective to the story.
The ending of House of Dark Shadows was really not an ending at all, but the beginning of a quest. The stage has been set, and the King family knows what they have to do. So far there are six books in the Dreamhouse Kings series, and I’m looking forward to reading more.

NARRATOR: Joshua Swanson did a good job with the narration of House of Dark Shadows. His voices for the characters were good, as well as his inflection. I would like to hear him read with a little more intensity in the climactic moments of the story, but overall I enjoyed his performance.

CHECK OUT THESE OTHER AUDIOBOOK REVIEWS:
House of Dark Shadows by Robert Liparulo (Audiobook Review)
Watcher in the Woods by Robert Liparulo (Audiobook Review)
Gatekeepers by Robert Liparulo
Timescape by Robert Liparulo
Whirlwind by Robert Liparulo
Frenzy by Robert Liparulo

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If you liked this audiobook review, you can purchase the audiobook here:
Get “House of Dark Shadows”, The Dreamhouse Kings Book 1, by Robert Liparulo (Unabridged Audiobook) from Blackstone Audio.

This audiobook review is based on the unabridged audiobook.
Audiobook review by Steven Brandt
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