The Loveliest Dead

By: Ray Garton

Narrated by: Brian Eslick

Horror master Garton delivers his usual ironic and macabre touches as the dead, who are, in fact, pretty ugly, make life a hell for the living. Following a sequence of increasingly dire personal tragedies, culminating in the unexplained death of their four-year-old son, Josh, Jenna and David Kella plan to make a new start of their lives on the old family homestead they've inherited just outside Eureka, Calif., with their surviving son, Miles. What they discover, though, is a nightmare.

©2006 Ray Garton (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Awesome ghost story!!

Loved the story, but not the reader. He was too slow and sounded like he was fumbling with his words. It helped when I sped it up a little. The story was top notch! I love ghost stories and haunted houses. This was one of the best I've heard in a while.

interesting story

the story kept my interest, although a little predictable. the character of Lily was very good. However, the reader was terrible! mispronounced words abound! Cup board, very very stilted reading. had story not kept my interest I would have stopped listening. almost did several times. will never listen to another book narrated by him.

A little distracted with mispronounced words.

I felt it difficult to get comfortable with hearing the word "demonic" being repeatedly mispronounced. I enjoyed the story though!

A solid winner

This book is different than Garton’s other novels. By this I mean the tone and ending. I can’t say more than that.
It’s not a flat out scary book, nor is it easy to put down. Like his other works he takes a subject that’s been done a million times and puts a new spin on it, so it’s told differently than other ghost stories. It’s not a horror novel, more of a story with supernatural beings. By horror I mean it never tries to be scary but succeeds by being character driven and fun to read. I would easily put this book in the same category as any Ira Levin’s novels.

Brian Eslick is horrible at narrating!

narrator made it almost impossible to listen to!Mispronounced & over pronounced so many words! very angry

Horrible Narration

I was recommended this book by an article on The Lineup, and I very much regret taking their advice. The plot is dull and cluttered with unnecessary information that does nothing to enhance the story. The characters are forgettable, poorly developed, and predictable.
If the narrator had mispronounced one more word (demonic, gnat, writhed) I would have lost my mind. The awkward pauses he inserts disrupt the flow of the story. Managed to stagger through the listening, but very disappointed overall.

I feel bad, but here's the scoop.

What would have made The Loveliest Dead better?

A different narrator.

Would you ever listen to anything by Ray Garton again?

Sure! I'd give him another try. Problem is, I'm not even sure if The Lovliest Dead is a good book or not. I made it through approx. 20 minutes before I had to quit. The narrator was the worst I've ever heard. And check out my history; I'm not new to audiobooks.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Brian Eslick?

He seems to be trying out a weird parody of what people think William Shatner sounds like: long pauses in the middle of sentances, odd pronounciations, etc. WS is actually a great narrator, so I say go with the real thing.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I have no idea.

Any additional comments?

I'm dissapointed.

The story sounds good but….

The narrator was so bad that I just couldn’t get into the story. Re-record with another narrator and it may be great

painful!

the narration was horrible! sounded like he was literally reading the words (some phonetically) one at a time.

Narrator ruined any potential the book had.

Waste of money! Mispronounced words, halting speech... ugh!! Predicable storyline could have been tolerated but the narrator was horrible! If I could rate a zero I would.