Last Request

A Victorian Gothic

By: Jeff Chapman

Narrated by: Caprisha Page

"For the love of God, cut off my head." The last request in Uncle Silas's will shocks everyone speechless, everyone except his favorite niece, Anna. More than death itself, the claustrophobic Silas fears a premature burial. Will her elders carry out his request? Anna is certain they will not. It's up to her to do the right thing, even if it is a bit grisly. Armed with butcher knife and candle, Anna heads for the crypt underneath the church in the dead of night. All does not go according to Anna's careful planning.

Step inside a dark story in the tradition of the penny dreadful, at times humorous and horrifying, but don't close the door behind you. Someone might lock you in.

©2014 Jeff Chapman (P)2014 Jeff Chapman

A great short read

I was listening to this book on the way to go get my haircut and when it ended I was sitting in the parking lot 30 minutes late for my appointment. I really enjoyed this book Ian‘s great uncle Silas had a fear of small spaces due to a woodshed collapsing on him in a storm and pinning him to the dirt floor. So when he passed his last request was the Heaven’s head cut off a request the rest of the family found deplorable, But Ian knew why he made this request and felt it should be carried out. She also felt it was up to her to do it but will she do it? I really enjoyed this book as I said and highly recommend it if you need a test read and a wonderful story with an awesome narrator get this book.

Loved it

I enjoyed this book, and the accents of the characters displayed by the narrator. Wonderful indeed.

Great period story

The story’s time and setting was well placed. I think all that was written could truly have happened at one time. The characters were believable, and the main character Anna was endearing. All she wants to do is fulfill the last wish of a beloved uncle despite the difficulties.

This is the first book I’ve read/listened to by this author and I would listen to another.

This is the first book I’ve listened to by this narrator and I would listen to another.

There are no explicit sex scenes, excessive violence or swearing.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and voluntarily left this unbiased review

Short Ghost Story

I enjoyed this short Victorian Gothic style ghost story. It was creepy and Caprisha Page's narration with her accent made it even better.

Perfect for a shorter trip

Anna is seventeen years old and absolutely stifled by her guardian Aunt Rachel. There are so many things proper ladies do not do. Anna repeatedly gets herself in trouble due to natural intelligence and curiosity. She has, fortunately, had her Uncle Silas, a co-conspirator in bending Aunt Rachel’s rules. Due to the time they spent together, Anna knew him better than anyone else in the family. When Silas died after an illness, Anna was not the least bit surprised that the last request of his will was to have his head cut off from his body. Silas had a horrible fear of claustrophobia due to a traumatic experience. He often told Anna if his head was cut off there would be no doubt he was dead and have nothing to fear.

Anna’s family wail and scream at the family lawyer until he calmly tells them the request is not legally binding but it is considered something the family should do. As Anna’s family rages around her, she realizes the reason for the request and also realizes her family will not honor it. What is a well-bred young woman to do? Let her favorite uncle down and follow the strict etiquette of the time? Or maybe handle the last request herself without letting the family know but risk a world of trouble if they find out?

Last Request is a short listen. Perfect for a shorter trip or sitting in a waiting room. The story is very well done. Short stories are difficult to write, more difficult than a novel. In a limited space, the author must tell his story, invest us in his characters, and ultimately fulfill our need for a good story with a satisfactory ending. Mr. Chapman does it so well I would like to read more stories involving Anna and the trouble she finds. The narration by Caprisha Page was excellent. She handled the different accents from Anna’s educated one to the sexton’s lower class words equally well. The male versus female characters was also well done. I highly recommend Last Request as an enjoyable yet thrilling story, perfect for Halloween moods.

There were no issues with the audio quality or production of this audiobook.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog.

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A creepy last request.

The reading of the will. A last request. Chop off the deceased's head!?! Who will grant his wish? His young niece, Anna using a butcher knife. Creepy. Scary. Claustrophobic. Funny!
I listened to Audible. The narrator's accent took a little getting use to, but it was perfect for this novel. Very entertaining.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book from Story Origin.

Fun and Somewhat Creepy Gothic Story

If you could sum up Last Request in three words, what would they be?

Fun, Creepy, Gothic. Kind of taking the easy way out here but those do compose nearly the entire story.

What did you like best about this story?

I really liked the writing in general, behind the plot and everything that happened there was a level of writing that fit perfectly with the gothic theme and the masterpiece works of that genre from a century ago. With that done so well, the rest of it was just that much better.

What about Caprisha Page’s performance did you like?

I really appreciated how understandable she was throughout, and how she seemed to accentuate the positive points of the work. The fact that her voice is pleasant and has just enough personality to keep it from being ordinary didn't hurt either.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

It's Bad Luck Not To Honor a Last Request

Any additional comments?

I received this for free in exchange for an honest review and would honestly recommend it to anyone remotely interested in the genre or just in attempting to be exposed to different literature. I know that personally I'll be looking at other works by Chapman and Page as well.

Good tale!

I'm late in writing this review because I wanted to take a little time and go back and listen a second time. Having done that, I can honestly say I enjoyed "Last Request" even more the second time than I did the first. It's a good story, with little details I missed picking up on the first time, but caught on the second listen. And on the first listen, it took me a bit to decide whether I liked the narrator or not -- but I do. Her voice matches the story pretty well. My only complaint (if you want to call it that) is that I wish "Last Request" was longer. Maybe the author will take us back to the Victorian era with another gothic tale.

Scary Good!

If you are in the mood for dark suspense then this novella is the answer! The story focuses on a young woman's quest to behead her dead uncle. It's weird and original and icky. Her travails will keep you on the edge. I won't give anything away but the amount of scary is intense.

The narrator was great. It was hard to nail gothic and Victorian but Page managed it.

This listen isn't for everyone but for those of us for whom the macabre is palatable, then go forth and enjoy.

Plays upon the fears of being entombed alive

So this story starts with an interesting macabre premise. An uncle of the protagonist, a teenage Victorian lady, has an unusual request after he dies. He wants his head cut off, for reasons related to a trauma in his youth. None of the family seem eager to carry out the request, so it falls to our young heroine to do the honorable thing! But of course, things do not go as planned, (btw I love the heroine's, and by proxy the author's) commitment to planning this task out.

The last 40 minutes are pure suspense. I couldn't put the story down at that point, and had to listen through to the end. The narrator does an excellent job of building upon the text and really bringing out its creepiness.

I think my only quibble is that this short story is too short. I know how that sounds, but I wanted a little more of the aftermath with Anne and her potential parallels to Uncle Silas. But for what this story is, it's delightfully creepy.