BY DAVID VORHEES
Narrated by Victor Warren
Length: 4 hours 18 minutes
Publisher: David C Vorhees
Released: Jun. 30, 2020
Sub-Genre: Horror
The Feast is a collection of short stories that take place on different holidays over the course of the year. The collection opens with "A New Year, a New Day, a New Life." Grant Curtis is arrested on New Year’s Day and charged with the murder of his wife Carla.In "Easter: The Resurrection," a resurrected Kyle Gardner seeks vengeance on Pastor Brian."The Vengeance of Cassidy Clay" is a narrative poem that takes place on Halloween. The poem tells the story of a slave-hunter who haunts the woods long after his death. Plus many more spine-chilling tales.
HALL WAYS REVIEW. AUDIO BOOK
REVIEW. In The Feast: And Other Horrifying Tales, author
David Vorhees takes readers through seven short stories themed around the year’s
major holidays, telling stories of the most macabre nature. The word “horrifying” in the title is apropos;
these stories go for the shock factor with some prompting an “oh-no-he-didn’t-go-there”
response from this reader.
Most of the tales are deeply
disturbing and be warned: you won’t be able to unsee them. This is a nod to the
effectiveness of the author’s storytelling ability and gift for description. Mercifully,
Vorhees chose to tell, not show readers what was happening, and I thank him for
that. My imagination fleshed-out (pun intended) the rest. Narrator Victor Warren’s
performance perfectly complements each story, making them more memorable – even
when you want to forget.
Going through the calendar
year of stories loosely centered around major holidays gives structure to the
collection, the stories varying in length from as short as eight minutes to as long as nearly
an hour and a half. The variety in story
lengths is a plus because it keeps the listening from being monotonous. And
since the whole book comes in at just under four and half hours, I listened
straight through and was never close to being bored.
Three of the stories are top
notch. “A New Year, A New Day, A New Life” (about 20 minutes) brings to mind
Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart. The main character’s transition from
control to madness is palpable. Halloween’s “The Vengeance of Cassidy Clay,”
the shortest story at only 8 minutes, is told in verse, and is probably my
favorite (and least graphic). It’s reminiscent of Washington Irving’s The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and it would lend itself nicely to being told
around a campfire. “Thanksgiving” (around an hour long) could have come
straight out of a Tales from the Crypt episode, with the dread and
tension masterfully building to the big, horrifying reveal. Yeah, we know what’s
coming, but we can’t stop it. A fourth story, “Easter: The Resurrection,” the
longest story in the collection, also deserves mention for the intricacies of
the plot and how the need for revenge can motivate and twist the brain.
Two of the stories crossed
the line for me, and several of the stories included sickening details that
felt gratuitous. Overall, the stories in
the collection seem frighteningly realistic in this often-perverse world we
live in. Readers who enjoy horror and have strong stomachs for gore and violence will find
lots to like in The Feast: And Other Horrifying Tales. For those who are
nitpicky (like me) about cleanly edited books, I recommend this one for reading
with your ears instead of your eyes as the print version needs a heavy proofreading.
ABOUT THE NARRATOR & AUDIO
PRODUCTION: As mentioned, narrator
Victor Warren’s performances of the many characters in The Feast are
well-done and the perfect complement to Vorhees’s writing. He tackled a wide
range of emotions and accents and convincingly voiced the females. His pace was a
bit slow for me, so about an hour in, I bumped the speed to 1.25x, and that was
perfect. I would absolutely seek out other titles he narrates. Production wise,
the audio book is mostly clean and professionally recorded, though there was a
big glitch in “Fourth of July” where an entire chapter was repeated.
Thank you to the author and
to Audiobookworm Productions for providing me an audio download in exchange for
my honest opinion – the only kind I give.
I received this audio book as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by David Vorhees. The gifting of this audio book did not affect my opinion of it.
David Vorhees joined the U.S. Navy after graduating Lima Central Catholic. He is a veteran of the United States Navy. Following his military service, he attended the University of Northwestern Ohio for automotive business and worked various factory jobs and attended the University of Phoenix online for a degree in arts with a focus in journalism. He recently worked for the Wapakoneta Daily News as a reporter/photographer/paginator. He is the father of five and grandfather of five. He has always been interested in the occult and the scarier side of life. He loves history and the supernatural and truly believes there is nothing better than a good story.
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A native Californian, Victor Warren has been acting since the age of ten. He is a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University where he majored in acting and directing. After graduation, Victor worked in California for over fifteen years for Universal Studios as a director, camera operator, technical director, announcer, and stunt show performer. Victor then moved to the east coast where he works successfully as a director, actor, writer and producer. He is currently living on Cape Cod and is bi-coastal flying in where the work leads him. He is an award-winning director/writer and with the creation of his production company Glydascope, he plans to continue to expand his creative properties. Recently The Feast is his very first audio book, which he narrated and produced through Glydascope. He recently (2018) can be seen as the irritated police Sergeant O'Connor in My Daddy's in Heaven and as Stephen Smith in Chappaquiddick. He is currently working on his fourth book for Audible, and working on a short film that he is producing and acting in called Another Life.
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Thank you for the wonderful review. I can speak for me an Victor when i say I am glad you enjoyed our work we are working on that glitch, it doesn't teem to be affecting everyone and we don't know why, it's random. As far as the proofreadingngoes I am hiring someone to do just that. I had the book edited but not done welland god knows that is not in my wheelhouse. Lol. Again thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou are most welcome. I enjoyed the creepy audio escape! Glad you're working out the bugs.
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