Family Business

By: Jonathan Sims

Narrated by: Jonathan Sims, Rachel Petladwala

A bone-chilling horror from the acclaimed writer of THIRTEEN STOREYS and hit horror podcast THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES

JUST ANOTHER DEAD-END JOB.

DEATH. IT'S A DIRTY BUSINESS.

When Diya Burman's best friend Angie dies, it feels like her own life is falling apart. Wanting a fresh start, she joins Slough & Sons - a family firm that cleans up after the recently deceased.

Old love letters. Porcelain dolls. Broken trinkets. Clearing away the remnants of other people's lives, Diya begins to see things. Horrible things. Things that get harder and harder to write off as merely her grieving imagination. All is not as it seems with the Slough family. Why won't they speak about their own recent loss? And who is the strange man that keeps turning up at their jobs?

If Diya's not careful, she might just end up getting buried under the family tree. . .

©2022 Jonathan Sims (P)2022 Gollancz

Critic reviews

"Combines a creeping sense of unease with all-out gore... Nerve-jangling." (Guardian)

"A wonderfully creepy climax, hitting that perfect spot of uncanny horror." (Grimdark Magazine)

Another Knockout

Jonathan Sims is possibly the freshest breath of air on the horror scene I've found in some time. A skilled hand at atmospheric tension and an increasingly well-honed political and social commentary meeting lively and diverse characters.

Absolutely Delightful

I thoroughly appreciate Johnathan Sims’ particular style of storytelling. The growing unease and horror of the narrative is greatly enhanced by the quality of the narrator.

This book made me cry once and almost 2 more times.

I don't know if I'm just very emotional or unstable, but this book made me want to cry multiple times. It is so good. I would listen to this again.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

Admittedly a slow burn at first but the pay off was a wonderfully horror-filled delight!

This is the second audiobook I have ever heard with multiple voices. The first being Jonathan Sims' "13 Storeys" (another excellent title). Jonny, if you see this review, please keep doing this. It's new and fresh and I love it. If I had to add anything, I would have added sound effects like you did in "13 Storeys" but regardless, I will listen to this again and again. Guaranteed!

Great

I love horror & Jonathan Sims so this was great. Thirteen Storeys is still my favourite from him but this was great too. Great narration but a lot slower to start than Thirteen Storeys. It was worth it though.

Delicious, if you like quiet gloom.

First, I cannot emphasis how refreshing it is to find LGBT protagonists in stories where the focus is not on a manufactured sense of novelty and queerness (whether presented in the positive or the negative.) This is one of the very few stories out there that allows a cast of marginalised people be the heroes of a struggle any ordinary people in an extraordinary world could face. This, of course, in the book goes much deeper than just the cast's LGBT identities, and spans from the primary focus group to those around them, who are all in their own ways people society often... forgets.

Delightful October experience, with lovingly crafted characters you can't dislike and who bring their own warmth and colour into what could otherwise be a very bleak world. I don't know who I wouldn't recommend this book to.

Bonus points for the calming presence of a domestic feline!

Excellent!

A masterclass of existential dread and eldritch horror. Mr. Sims delivers another excellent story in his second book. The characters are charming and compelling. They mystery is expertly constructed. I look forward to the next one.

Interesting concept, okay execution

In general I like Jonny's work a lot, but this story was a bit slow. It felt like he knew the beginning, the end, and scenes in the middle, but struggled to weave the pieces together in a way that really drove the story forward.

Most of the book was things happening TO the main character, which made her feel rather undynamic and passive. And in the end the good guys won mostly out of luck, which never feels very rewarding.

The message Jonny was trying to communicate through the story was clear and meaningful though.

Interesting story

The premise here is so interesting, and I really like how it goes about creating the settings (all the different homes they clean and the people they once housed shown through possessions and order). The choice to have Jonny Sims play one character in contrast to Rachel Petladwala's performance as the rest is SUCH an excellent way to set him apart as unnerving and concerning before we even know why. This book is also one of the only ones (maybe only the second) to include a queerplatonic relationship which runs central to the story though it is past, which makes me very happy to see as an aromantic person.

Sims Strikes Back

I’ve been following Sims’ work since the beginning of The Magnus Archives and I have to say — having read his other novel, Thirteen Storeys — that he has done it again. A bold proclamation to be sure, but as a lifelong horror fan I think it’s safe to say.
Sims does a great job of weaving mythology and narrative, prose and dialogue. His characters, par for the course, feel real and not simply one-note write offs.
Family Business is a slow burn, but one with a creeping sensation that stays with you after putting down the headphones or book if you managed to get one.
10/10.