Jason R. Davis

My original Rest Area audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

I am always impressed by the amount of short stories that are being turned into audiobooks. I know the creation process is not very cheap and I now that, even though it is a hugely growing market, many people do not want to spent money on and audiobook that is so short. So my hat is off to Jason Davis for making a handful of short original horror stories available for my listening pleasure.

The summary show more does a pretty good job summarizing but I will give it shot too. Randell and over the road truck driver was needing to poop very badly. So when he saw the sign for the rest area coming up he didn't hesitate in stopping for drop his load. Once in the stall he found that his insides were ready to evacuate much faster than here first thought. While sitting there is started to read the writing on the wall. He noticed that somebody had scribed a list of names under a heading "Has dies here". Then he saw that the last name on the list was dated with today's date. While thinking about how he would, if he had to, kill somebody he starts to get a eerie feeling. Somebody was watching him. That is as far as I am going to go because I probably already gave up too much.

As far as the performance by Dustin Davis, I wonder if there is a relation to the author. It wasn't the worst nor the best, defiantly still worth the listen. This was mostly due to the recording quality. There was just something off about it. While he has a handful of titles under his belt. His pacing was also just a bit too fast, the story could have benefited form a slower speed. I strongly believe that with an equipment upgrade he will find audiobook narrating quite successful.

This was a short and sweet little horror story that was well written, but just too short. It gave me chills and has an ending that I was not expecting. Go check out work by Jason Davis, he just might scare the pants off of you.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author. show less

This was an interesting book - much better than I expected. As the second book in the series, I fully expected to not understand characters and their relationships and grasp the current situation. I have to say, this is one of the few books that I've read as part of a series without reading the previous installments first that actually made sense. I don't feel like I was missed much by not having read the initial book though I would guess it's at least as interesting as this book. The show more 'zombies' were unusual from the typical zombie we're used to in current media. I liked it, it was a nice change. The story developed a good momentum and while many of the characters were certainly not likable, they were interesting. I'd definitely check out another book by this author.

The narrator did a great job giving the characters their own voice and feeling. I look forward to hearing more of his work in the future.

I received this book free of charge from the author, narrator or publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. show less

My original Inside the Mirrors audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

I'm not going to lie, this book didn't do it for me.

It seemed to be made up of all the bits I don't personally like of Stephen King's work. When it comes to ghost stories, especially ones using plot devices like evil entities stuck in mirrors, I love the symmetry of the cliche and the comfort of hearing a familiar story being retold. In this case though, it felt like 7 hours of narration show more leading up to a 'yeah, there's a ghost stuck in the mirror' which seemed a little unnecessary, given the title of the book.

The premise is that a family move from Chicago to a sleepy town in the Midwest, the father, Rob, is a police man and is recovering from injuries sustained in course of duty (cos, y'know, meth labs). Their idyllic new home isn't as wonderful as it first appeared, the men of the town are coming home from work and murdering their families before committing suicide.

Ok, there's no need to go into a huge amount of detail, I'm sure you can guess the whys and wherefores of this particular story.

The one thing that did particularly bother me about this story is that there was an enigmatic native American woman who appeared from time to time to delivery ominous warnings to the main character. It might just be my own personal sensitivity but it does get under my skin when native people are used as cheap stereotypes in stories.

On the positive side, the audio for this book was pretty good in both sound quality and choice of narrator. I'm not sure that I could have found the motivation to finish the book if it wasn't for Darren Marlar who kept the story flowing at a decent pace.

This isn't by any means to say that you shouldn't read or listen to this book, if you're a fan of American ghost stories and horror, this may very well be right up your street.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author. show less

ABR's full Hatched audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

Hatched is a horrifying book that will terrify most everyone. Small spiders that scurry around invisible to everyone - that is until you are infected then you see them. Then it is too late.

The thought of spiders crawling all over and in one's body is terrifying. Reading this book is like knowing that you sat next to someone with chickenpox or lice or some other itch inducing thing. You can't help but show more scratch - at first you don't notice it, but then you realize what you've been doing. Then you stop, take stock of what is around you and peer closely at the speck on your arm or on the floor next to your feet ---- is that a spider or a bump? Did my flesh just move? What is that by my feet? God forbid, is it a small mound of black ash????

One cannot read this book without experiencing some of these questions; sometimes repeatedly!

There are lots of terrifying things in our world but to imagine a world where spiders crawl or are absorbed whole into your body to multiply and procreate thousands upon thousands is horrifying on its own. By the time you see the spiders IT IS TOO LATE to do anything.

There is no clear answer where the spiders came from - outer space, government experiment gone awry or mother nature getting back at humans? Reminiscent of Return of the Living Dead there is a lone woman waiting in a room six hours a day, three days a week waiting on the phone to ring. It never rings .... until today.

The plot was well thought out - there are a few rough spots but nothing that will detract from the reading. There are a few additional story lines that the author spends time on but always comes back to the darn spiders.

The narrator was excellent. Spoke clearly and smoothly.

The audio production was excellent as well, no glitches.

Audiobook provided for review by the publisher. show less