The Damaged

By: Simon Law

Narrated by: Rob Goll

The storm of '87 had been the greatest, most ferocious storm to have hit Britain in centuries. The suffering that ensued was plentiful, but none more so than that of little Matthew Mason, whose parents were brutally murdered in the midst of the storm by a homeless man desperate to find shelter.

After 25 years of torment, Matthew is released from a mental institute under the watchful eye and care of Tammy Atkins, a care worker with a secret history of alcohol abuse and self-harm. As Matthew struggles to adapt to his new found liberty, he finds himself continuously plagued by the demons of his past. Haunted by strange and ghastly images and urges, Matthew sets himself upon a path of vengeance; determined to seek out his parents' killer and put his demons to rest once and for all. The Damaged is a disturbing psychological thriller, delving deep into the darkest depths of the human psyche.

©2015 Simon Law (P)2016 Simon Law

Deeply disturbing, utterly brilliant horror story

Matthew Mason's troubles started with the Great Storm of 1987, which hit the UK in October of that year. 25 years later, the listener meets up with Matthew again as his home carer, Tammy, is sent to see him twice daily to assist with his medication. Both, Tammy and Matthew, are deeply damaged souls albeit for completely different reasons. Initially thinking, this may be a story of loss and grief and two broken people finding each other, I kind of settled in for an emotional psychological suspense story, but author Simon Law took this to places I never expected. It veered right off into seriously dark, twisted and very disturbing territory. I loved it!
The audio version is just over 12 hours. I finished it in 2 days. I literally listened whenever I had a chance to do so.
The writing is fluid and very vivid, and there were passages where I really considered pausing the audio, which so far has only ever happened while listening to the Smoky Barrett books by Cody McFadyen. However, I think the most unnerving part of this was the fact how utterly realistic the characters were. It was truly scary.
Trigger warning: this contains scenes of self-harm.
If you're like me and you struggle with anything involving harm to animals, some of this will be uncomfortable. Parts of this are extremely graphic and gory.

If you enjoy horror and extremely intense explorations into very fragile minds, listen to this! It was brilliant. If you're squeamish, you may find this difficult.

As far as the narration is concerned, I enjoyed it for the most part. The narrator has a very clear, pleasant voice, great pacing and was good at getting the emotions across and voicing the male characters. As with many male narrators, his female voices took some time to get used to, though.

I was gifted a copy of the audio book by the author in exchange for an honest review. My sincere thanks to Simon Law. Can't wait to see what comes next!

Great story, okay narration

From reading the description of this book, it seemed like a perfect book to me. I absolutely LOVE dark, psychological thrillers. And as suspected, the story was great. My problem came in with the Audible narration of the book. Though the narrator, Rob Goll, had a really nice voice (pretty sexy), the performance was lacking. I thought the narration was a bit flat. I think I would have enjoyed this book more on the Kindle. I found that I was noticing a pattern in the inflection that was actually distracting me from the story as I would predict which tone of voice (I think that's it) the narrator would use. It was strange. I've never had the experience before. Aside from the that, the story was great, had lots of twists and turns, kept me engaged and on the edge of my seat. I don't usually reread books, but I would be tempted to read a physical copy of this book, rather than listen to it, again because I know I would enjoy this book even more.

The Damaged

This was a book I could hardly put down,even through the gorey bits.Rob Goll does a fine job with character voices.When Matthew was a child he saw his parents murdered by a tramp.He is released 25 years later from a mental institution with instructions for home care personnel to make sure he takes his pills.Through his masterful deceit he forgoes them causing a lengthy breakdown that takes its toll on his care workers,vagrants and anyone that gets in his way.
I was given this book for an honest review.

Great Story/If you like graphic even better

The story could stand alone. Then the supernatural is blended in nicely. It will leave you guessing what is their reality and what is damage

A Fascinating and Disturbingly Dark Read

Where does The Damaged rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Wow! It is fairly high!

What did you like best about this story?

The deep look into the human psyche. Overall? It is really good.

Have you listened to any of Rob Goll’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

First time I have heard him. He did an Awesome Job!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes! Unfortunately, life does not agree at times.

Any additional comments?

Rating
5 out of 5 Hearts

A Fascinating and Disturbingly Dark Read!!

Simon Law is a New to me author.I found this book to be both Fascinating and Disturbingly Dark. Fascinating because it does look pretty deep into the human psyche and how events in our lives can affect us, even years down the road.

Well written, multi layered, and packed with characters that are very well developed and believable, I had to walk away a time or two, set my tablet down, and process what was happening. This story has some serious triggers in it and may not be for everyone.The world is dark, consistent, and well developed, downright even scary at times. 25 years in a mental institution is not an easy pill to swallow.

Both Matthew and Tammy have some deep seated issues they are dealing with too. I don't use spoilers in my reviews, as they may ruin a read for someone.

The narrator did an amazing job of presenting each of the chararafters, there is no way I could not keep them consistent. Great Job!

I was gifted an audio book version of this story by the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review. No renumeration was involved.