In the Shadow of Spindrift House by Mira Grant Narrator: Jesse Vilinsky
Published by Tantor Audio on June 30, 2019
Genres: Horror
Length: 4 hours and 15 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
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Nature abhors a straight line. The natural world is a place of curves and softened edges, of gentle mists and welcoming spirals. Nature remembers deviation; nature does not forgive.
For Harlowe Upton-Jones, life has never been a straight line. Shipped off to live with her paternal grandparents after a mysterious cult killed her mother and father, she has grown up chasing the question behind the curve, becoming part of a tight-knit teen detective agency. But “teen” is a limited time offer, and when her friends start looking for adult professions, it’s up to Harlowe to find them one last case so that they can go out in a blaze of glory.
Welcome to Spindrift House.
The stories and legends surrounding the decrepit property are countless and contradictory, but one thing is clear: there are people willing to pay a great deal to determine the legal ownership of the house. When Harlowe and her friends agree to investigate the mystery behind the manor, they do so on the assumption that they’ll be going down in history as the ones who determined who built Spindrift House—and why. The house has secrets. They have the skills. They have a plan. They have everything they need to solve the mystery.
Everything they need except for time. Because Spindrift House keeps its secrets for a reason, and it has no intention of letting them go.
Nature abhors a straight line.
Here’s where the story bends.
In the Shadow of Spindrift House is a coming of age story with a haunted house. It follows four friends (brother and sister twins, and a brother and his foster sister) who’ve been solving mysteries. Harlowe is sorta the main character of this story. She really loves her mysteries and has had a crush on, Addison, the twin girl. She is also an orphan, who tried living with her grandparents, but when that didn’t work, she was taken in by Kevin’s mother.Kevin is Harlowe’s foster brother and lives on the family farm and loves nothing more than his pet chickens. He does love his friends and is willing to go on adventures with them. Addison is the twin girl and she’s a bit ready for the mysteries to be over, but is willing to go on this one last hurrah. Andy is Addison’s twin brother. He’s really quiet and has anxiety. He keeps pot around to help with the anxiety.
So these four friends have been solving mysteries for a bit, but it is time to grow up and get steady jobs to support themselves. Harlowe decides to talk the group into taking on one last mystery that comes with a huge payout if the mystery is solved. They must go into a haunted house and find the paperwork that proves ownership, as the house could belong to one of three different families and the land is worth a lot of money.
Now, I have to say Mira Grant is an autobuy for me. I love her stories. More importantly, I love her characters. I fall in love with all of her characters, which can be a problem when the author writes horror stories. Needless to say, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that not all the characters survive a horror story. But I love the time I get with each and every character, even if that time can be short. If you’ve never tried Mira Grant (or her other pen name Seanan McGuire, who I still need to try), I highly recommend her work.
Narration:
This was my first listen with Jesse Vilinsky. I have to say that I enjoyed her narration of this story. There isn’t a large cast, as it is mostly just the four friends, but she did a great job with all the voices. I lost myself in the story as she was reading it. I would love to try her with other stories as well.
About Jesse Vilinsky
A trained actress from the USC School of Dramatic Arts, alumnus of the prestigious British American Drama Academy, and accomplished voiceover actress lending her talents to numerous film and television productions, Jesse now brings your stories off the page with nuance and grace, and now and again – the appropriate dose of humor.
Jesse specializes in realistic teen and children’s voices, as well as a proficiency in many accents, including: New York, Boston, Southern, British, Irish, Russian, German and Italian.
About Mira Grant
Mira Grant was born and raised in Northern California, where she has made a lifelong study of horror movies, horrible viruses, and the inevitable threat of the living dead. In college, she was voted Most Likely to Summon Something Horrible in the Cornfield, and was a founding member of the Horror Movie Sleep-Away Survival Camp, where her record for time survived in the “Swamp Cannibals” scenario remains unchallenged.
Currently, Mira lives in a crumbling farmhouse with an assortment of cats, horror movies, comics, and books about horrible diseases. When not writing, she splits her time between travel, auditing college virology courses, and watching more horror movies than is strictly good for you. Favorite vacation spots include Seattle, London, and a large haunted corn maze just outside of Huntsville, Alabama.
In her guise as mild-mannered urban fantasy author Seanan McGuire, Mira was the recipient of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. You can find her works as both Mira and Seanan at her main bibliography page. Seanan’s website is the best place to find information on where both she and Mira will be appearing.
All three Newsflesh novels have been nominated for Hugo Awards, as has “Countdown,” the first novella in the Newsflesh universe, and Parasite, the first novel of the Parasitology series.
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I started listening to audiobooks when a new book in a series was coming out and I wanted to get a refresher, but didn’t have time to read all the books (I think it was Anita Blake). I fell in love. I stayed with strictly re-reading books that I’d already read for a long time. I eventually tried an audiobook for something that I hadn’t read first and was hooked there too. Now, I listen to audio for both re-reads and first time. I have some series that I’ve given up reading and only listen. I try to get any many books/audiobooks from the library to help save on my budget. Books on CD and the newer digital downloads from the library really allow me to listen more. I then purchase my favorites (because who can wait in line for your favorite book??) and less mainstream books from Audible or some other online retailer.
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i love an author that can kill of her characters. LOL Now, you’ve made me curious, who survives?
I’m not going to tell you that. 😉 I have a love/hate relationship with authors who kill off their characters. I love that they’re able to do that, but I also hate to see it, but then again, it usually makes the story better. See, love/hate. LOL
Melanie @ Hot Listens & Books of My Heart
Can’t wait to read this one!
I love her stories so much. I hope you enjoy as much as I have.
Melanie @ Hot Listens & Books of My Heart
I loved her mermaid series and this is on my list. I can’t wait!
I want to know when the next story in that series (at least I thought it was going to be a series and not a stand alone) will be out. I loved it too.
Melanie @ Hot Listens & Books of My Heart
Another one of the creepy books! So glad you enjoyed it.
I do like my creepy books. 🙂
Melanie @ Hot Listens & Books of My Heart
I love the stuff she writes as Seanan McGuire and I’ve started drifting into her alter ego of Mira Grant, I’ll have to find time to read this one. It seems like it would be a great Halloween story.
I still need to try Seanan McGuire. I’m sure I will love it.
Melanie @ Hot Listens & Books of My Heart