The Birthing House
(Libby/OverDrive eAudiobook)

Conrad Harrison takes a wrong turn out of Chicago and winds up buying an old Victorian house in a small Wisconsin town just the thing for getting out of L.A., which Conrad hates because of his low-bucks fumbling and dependence on his high-bucks-salesperson wife. But they are no sooner relocated than Joanna flees to an eight-week training for a new job. While she is away, the neighbors befriend Conrad and ask him to keep an eye on their pregnant daughter (the boyfriend's a flake) while they're off recharging their marriage. Ad hoc guardianship first seems a good reason to get out of the house, which is getting to Conrad. He keeps hearing a newborn crying, glimpsing a dark figure, and after he sees Joanna in a photo album that goes with the house, he is seriously freaked, also occasionally unable to account for long periods of time. The house is haunted, of course, and Conrad's is just the kind of frustrated consciousness most susceptible to occupation by the spirit it contains. A lot of sex and climactic gore and a well-sustained ambiguity about how much a malevolent ghost and how much a progressively insane Conrad is to blame are balanced against weaknesses in characterization and choppy narrative flow, but this is a good-enough first horror outing. In any event, it's getting a big first printing and publicity to match.--Olson, Ray Copyright 2009 Booklist

A blend of supernatural horror and psychological thriller, Ransom's impressive debut chronicles a couple's descent into madness after they purchase a 140-year-old Victorian house in rural Wisconsin. Failed L.A. screenwriter Conrad Harrison, whose marriage is on the rocks and who's still coming to grips with the sudden death of his estranged father, decides it's time for a change and, on a whim, buys a turn-of-the-century birthing house he fatefully found after driving the wrong way out of Chicago. But the sprawling structure has a dark history, and after his wife lands a new job and leaves for a few weeks of training in Detroit, Harrison begins to unravel the house's bloody past, even as his own sanity is unraveling. Replete with subtle symbolism that supports the birthing motif (spiders with bulging egg sacs, a moist clutch of snake eggs, etc.), this addictively readable ghost story will keep readers up all night, with the lights on, of course. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Edward Herrmann reads this horror fiction debut; the St. Martin's hc received a starred review, LJ 4/15/09. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Herrmann captures every disturbing nuance in this evocative debut horror novel. Conrad believes he has found peace in a picturesque Victorian mansion in rural Wisconsin. There's only one problem: the house, once a home for unwed mothers and a mad doctor, is haunted. He and his ambitious wife move from California, but his skittish spouse quickly decamps for a job-training course, leaving unstable Conrad alone with haunting voices (crying babies) and images of a dark figure. Herrmann perfectly sets the stage, beginning with a pleasant, straightforward recounting of events, before projecting the burgeoning horror as Conrad's mental state deteriorates. He subtly depicts Conrad and a pregnant neighbor's growing terror as they witness increasingly disturbing events. Words and images that might be skimmed over in print reverberate in audio, thanks to Herrmann's capable reading. He draws listeners in as foreboding builds and clues are revealed. This is all about mood, and Herrmann expertly channels the nightmare. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

Edward Herrmann reads this horror fiction debut; the St. Martin's hc received a starred review, LJ 4/15/09. Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.