Disappearance at Devil's Rock

A Novel

By: Paul Tremblay

Narrated by: Erin Bennett

Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

A family is shaken to its core after the mysterious disappearance of a teenage boy in this eerie tale, a blend of literary fiction, psychological suspense, and supernatural horror from the author of A Head Full of Ghosts.

"A Head Full of Ghosts scared the living hell out of me, and I'm pretty hard to scare," raved Stephen King about Paul Tremblay's previous novel. Now Tremblay returns with another disturbing tale sure to unsettle listeners.

Late one summer night, Elizabeth Sanderson receives the devastating news that every mother fears: Her 13-year-old son, Tommy, has vanished without a trace in the woods of a local park.

The search isn't yielding any answers, and Elizabeth and her young daughter, Kate, struggle to comprehend Tommy's disappearance. They feel helpless and alone, and their sorrow is compounded by anger and frustration: The local and state police have uncovered no leads. Josh and Luis, the friends who were the last to see Tommy before he vanished, may not be telling the whole truth about that night in Borderland State Park, when they were supposedly hanging out at a landmark the local teens have renamed Devil's Rock.

Living in an all-too-real nightmare, riddled with worry, pain, and guilt, Elizabeth is wholly unprepared for the strange series of events that follow. She believes a ghostly shadow of Tommy materializes in her bedroom while Kate and other local residents claim to see a shadow peering through their windows in the dead of night. Then, random pages torn from Tommy's journal begin to mysteriously appear - entries that reveal an introverted teenager obsessed with the phantasmagoric; the loss of his father, killed in a drunk-driving accident a decade earlier; a folktale involving the devil and the woods of Borderland; and a horrific incident that Tommy believed connects them.

As the search grows more desperate, and the implications of what happened become more haunting and sinister, no one is prepared for the shocking truth about that night and Tommy's disappearance at Devil's Rock.

©2016 Paul Tremblay (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

I just wanted more

There wasn’t much too this really. I was looking for twists and surprises and some ambiguous supernatural possibilities. Sure it was horrible and maybe heart wrenching but I never got that invested in the characters

I liked it until the end

This book really had my attention all the way til the end...and then the ending sucked. So so bad. No explanation. No closure. No anything to let the audience understand what really happened. I hate books like that. You spend however much time listening/reading. Hooked on the story And then it just lets you down at the very end.

Just. Wow.

I've read several of Paul Tremblay's books and I like his writing style. This book is no exception. He creates three dimensional characters like Stephen King's but with far fewer words. The story itself kept me engaged all the way through and there are a couple of wicked twists I never saw coming. Erin Bennett was very good. The only reason I gave her four stars was because on occasion, it was hard to tell the characters apart - not quite enough difference in the voices. I highly recommend this book. If you're a fan of psychological horror you'll get caught in this terrifying novel.

Solid Read

Definitely not what I was expecting but still a very solid read. There are moments that made every hair on my body stand up but overall it didn’t deliver the impactful ending I had hoped for. Still would recommend this book to read.

As for the performance, Erin Bennet did a very good job at providing life to the characters and feeling to the dialogue.

Should have been massively condensed

The story was ok, but didn't get good until the last couple of hours. It seemed like the beginning was just a lot of the same thing over and over that never really went anywhere. Almost like filler. I purchased this because Stephen King recommended it. Note to self, not to do that again. I am disappointed because so many books are series nowadays. I was looking forward to finding a good new author. This wasn't it. Narration was good.

Excellent ambiguous thriller

I thoroughly enjoyed Tremblays Headful of Ghosts. This book strikes some of the same chords: well drawn characters that never descend into cliche, events that touch on but never quite land in the supernatural, and some truly chilling passages. Tremblay is not King or Koontz--he's merciless in taking his characters into unpleasant places and showing the logical consequences of their being there. He also doesn't feel the need to "Scooby Doo" his stories--sometimes there is no explanation for what's happening in the world! Really creepy.

I was hopeful

I really wanted this to be supernatural similar to head full of ghosts. It was not. It wasn’t awful, but I miss his horror/supernatural twists

Too psychological for me...was hoping for scary

Struggle to get through. Depressing. liked Head Full of Ghosts, this one not so much.

Not a page Turner for me

if you start at chapter 14 you can avoid the over drawn out story and get to the meat of the mystery.

Read instead of listen

I couldn't make it through the narration, but because I loved reading Head Full of Ghosts, I gave reading the book a shot, instead. Much, much better than listening to this one.