A Child Alone with Strangers

A Novel

By: Philip Fracassi

Narrated by: Sterling Boyns

When young Henry Thorne is kidnapped and held prisoner in a remote farmhouse surrounded by miles of forest, he finds himself connecting with a strange force living in the woods—using that bond to wreak havoc against his captors. Unknown to the boy, however, is that this ancient being has its own reasons for wanting the interlopers gone—there is something hidden beneath the house, tucked away in the dark, damp root cellar . . . waiting for its return.

©2022 Philip Fracassi (P)2024 Vibrance Press

Critic reviews

"A Child Alone with Strangers starts out as a slow burn procedural with supernatural elements and inexorably cranks itself into a pulse-pounding symphony of eldritch horrors and all-too-human violence. Philip Fracassi is the best sort of horror writer--one who is unafraid to hunt for light in even the darkest places." —Shaun Hamill, author of A Cosmology of Monsters

"... a perfectly pitched horror novel, visceral and terrifying, delving deep into an eldritch world that sits alongside our own. It reminds me of early Stephen King—It; Firestarter; The Shining—but Fracassi also brings a depth of understanding to his monsters, human and otherwise, that makes A Child Alone with Strangers deeply moving. . . . I am now forcing it on everyone I know. Highly recommended." —Alison Flood, The Guardian

“An instant horror classic and my favorite read of the year. Every character is humanized with compelling depth. Every chapter is a study in tension and craft. Fracassi seamlessly weaves together so many horror sub-genres while organically rooting them all in a propulsive character-driven narrative that puts heart above all else. I really can't say enough good things about this one. A towering achievement.” —Brian McAuley, author of Curse of the Reaper

Great Story

This was a case of great story, poor narration. I liked the characters, the story line, and plot. The narration on the other hand was so bad. If the other parts of the story were not as good as they were I would have returned it.

Pretty good

compelling story, but none of the characters were especially likeable, and I noticed contradicting details and descriptions more than once. The narrator also mispronounced several words. But overall, this book definitely kept me entertained.

Ugh

I chose this book after finishing another of the author’s novels, which I had enjoyed. This sounded interesting
and had a 5-star rating, but I really wish I had listened to a sample before wasting a credit. The narrator sounds like a young man reading to a kindergarten class. His voice is pleasant enough, but he’s not cut out for this kind of story. Way too much child-like emoting during descriptive passages, and way too many instances of emphasizing the wrong word or phrase—like he’s just reading the words instead of actually paying attention to what he’s saying. Also a LOT of mispronunciation. It’s “sedative,” not “se-DAY-tive,” man. The car radio sounds “tinny,” not “tiny.” I’m not even going to get into that terrible Australian accent. Yikes. I can’t bring myself to stop a book before it’s done, and this is a looonngg book, much longer than it needed to be, so it was rough. The story wasn’t bad, but some editing would have improved it—it’s like a short story swelled up into a huge novel for no good reason. I also wonder if the author actually knows any 10-year-olds, since the kid comes off more like a first grader. I hate leaving a bad review, but I chose this book in part because of the 5-star rating, so I feel kind of obligated.

A Unique Story

Great story but a bit drawn out. The characters are really well done. I'd love to have a sequel....

amazing book. Great if you like Chbosky's imaginary friend

amazing book. Great if you like Chbosky's imaginary friend. The plot was easy to follow and had you guessing the whole time

Great Story

Narrator was inconsistent with pacing, especially in the beginning, but makes some improvements. Initially he sounded like he was reading the script for the first time.

Great story, hard to listen to narrator

I loved the story. I didn’t like the dozens of mispronunciations. I need to read my hard copy.

Great story, a little long.

Loved the story, and the narrator but there were definitely moments that dragged on a bit.

Awkwardly forced liberal narrative...

Look... I absolutely loved Boys in the Valley, but Fracassi felt a weird, desperate need to let his liberal light shine in this one. The entire story talks about how straight, white men are just terrible people that bang their sisters and have ego problems. He talks about Jim's (the lead character, a black man) strong sinuous arms with veins sticking out. Literally every white man in the story is a piece of trash and black men are strong, brilliant and perfect. This, all written by a white man. I have no problem with all of these things happening in a story, but it's weird when it's written by a clearly liberal white man. We get it, Phil, you're a proud liberal and have a desperate need to please black and gay men... Weird.

The narrator can't pronounce half of the words in the book correctly. If it's not a common use, layman, everyday word, this guy just can't get it right.