Benighted

By: J. B. Priestley

Narrated by: Brian Clarke

Philip and Margaret Waverton and their friend Roger Penderel are driving through the mountains of Wales when a torrential downpour washes away the road and forces them to seek shelter for the night. They take refuge in an ancient, crumbling mansion inhabited by the strange and sinister Femm family and their brutish servant Morgan. Determined to make the best of the circumstances, the benighted travelers drink, talk, and play games to pass the time while the storm rages outside. But as the night progresses and tensions rise, dangerous and unexpected secrets emerge. On the house's top floor are two locked doors; behind one of them lies the mysterious, unseen Sir Roderick Femm, and behind the other lurks an unspeakable terror. Which is more deadly: the apocalyptic storm outside the house or the unknown horrors that await within? And will any of them survive the night?

Benighted (1927), a classic 'old dark house' novel of psychological terror, was the second novel by J. B. Priestley (1894-1984), better known for his classics The Good Companions (1929), Angel Pavement (1930), and Bright Day (1946). The basis for James Whale's 1932 film The Old Dark House, Benighted returns for the first time in 50 years.

©1927, 1955, 2018 The Estate of J. B. Priestley (P)2018 Valancourt Books, LLC

Sounds like it was home-recorded, but not bad

The narrator's voice is elderly, patrician, and mostly appropriate, but there are many obvious edits and glitches. I think this recording was made a long time ago.

I have long adored the 1932 film "The Old Dark House" and thank Audible for making the source novel available for free to members. It's not a perfect rendition, but the novel is eerie and erudite, stirring and appalling, in ways a movie can never be. A gem.

Same voice for all characters ruins this

I agree with the rest, the voice is so monotonous it’s extremely difficult to keep listening to. Please someone redo it. Nonetheless I’ve pushed on through many tried to hear it all because I love the movie the Old Dark House 1932. The book would be better if it had more character details written yes, but most of the details done in the writing are ironically dedicated to describing everything happening thrice times overdone. Having the voice drone on reading those overdone details is so difficult not to fall asleep to or throw the headphone from my head it’s just awful. On and on and on with the same voice for every single character of this multi-character novel. The Brian Clarke has a good voice but not for this book. Surely this is ripe for a do-over.

Haunting!

Perfect story for a dark and stormy night. J.B. priestly appears to be underrated in British literature.
Great performance/audio by Brian Clarke.

Take a second take

The guy reading fumbles on a few words and needs to learn some pacing. some of it was read well, some parts he went too fast on or too slow on. He should've taken a few extra takes on the read.

Great period piece

Enjoyed The Old Dark House movie based on this. The novel gives a deeper look into the people.

I wanted to love this more

The opening is excellent. Love the snappy pacing of the first couple chapters and all the details of early motoring. There’s also a very effective—almost cinematic--use of light and dark throughout the book. Also the introduction of the looming butler who lurches was delightful! There are straight lines that can be drawn between this and the Addams Family. And then Addams apparently drew and animated the title sequence for the remake of The Old Dark House in the 60’s.

Priestley again delivers a parable exploring the collapse of the British gentry with a dash of the rise of the lower and middle classes (with the lower classes making the greatest sacrifices.)

Now, mood happens and happens well. But there is a lack of events – there’s a synopsis of what actually happened in Chapter 14 that sucks all the tension out by showing how thin the menace actually was. There’s an awful lot of page-count spent on philosophy and shopgirl romance, none of which contribute to the tension and cause the middle to drag. Also, Chapter 14 was a decision – portraying the climax from the perspective of the two girls locked up in a separate room for their own good might be forgivable in a film, but I am struggling to find a good reason in a book. Also their handwringing made me desiring a feminist take on this whole chapter and the decisions that were made. The saggy middle knocked off a star for me, and Chapter 14 knocked off another. Chapter 15 was the unsatisfying denouement and conclusion.

While the book is –for the most part -- a nicely crafted gothic, I have to give the edge to the film. The movie adaptation does an excellent job of portraying all the character development in the book, while keeping the pacing snappy and tension high. Quite an accomplishment to do everything effective in a more compact space.

Mediocre at best, needs re-edited.

The story is pretty much verbatim what is in the original 1930 something movie "The Old Dark House" (except for the ending) and that's part of the problem, there was so much more that could have gone into this book, the history of the Fems and the "curse" etc.
The narrator is okay and does a good job, but he fumbles a lot and THEY LEFT IT IN. This is not the reader's fault. It is the editor's. (unless they are the same person, in which case Valancourt books needed to fix it)
I think this would definitely benefit from a redo. A more versatile narrator, and good editing. won't improve the story. But great performance and help a middling story.

A Great Book Ruined by the Wrong Narrator

There are so many different characters, and so much dialogue, and the narrator uses the same voice for them all. He has turned a great story into boring dross.

Didn’t the J.B. Priestley estate listen to a sample chapter before settling on this narrator? He has a nice voice, but not for fiction. I can imagine him doing the Mr. Kipling ads on television, but for this he’s hopeless.

Dreadfully Depressing...

I got this cause I love the old movie " old dark house" so much. one of the rare time I can say the movie is better than the book. It was very depressing and coming from me that's saying something. It drolled on so slow for a relatively short novel. Didn't delve into the Femms much more at all like I had hoped and character development was terrible. It didn't have a happy ending which is probably one of the reasons I liked the movie better. Normally that would not bother me at all but with a with such a depressing vibe it really needed one to be bearable.