Those Across the River

By: Christopher Buehlman

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall

Unabridged, 9 hours

Read by TBD

The debut of a phenomenal new talent.

Critic reviews

“One of the best first novels I’ve ever read.” —Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

“An unsettling brew of growing menace spiked with flashes of genuine terror—do not miss this chilling debut. Christopher Buehlman is a writer to watch. I look forward to hearing from him again. And soon.” —F. Paul Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Sibs

“Lures you into a different era, seduces you with eloquent prose and sensual period details, then clamps down on your jugular…An outstanding debut.”—Hank Schwaeble, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Diabolical

“Beautifully written…with a cast of Southern characters so real you can almost see the sweat roll down the page. The ending is exceedingly clever.”—Boston Herald

Recording glitches, but a great gruesome tale

Let's start with the plusses - this is a rip-snorting, fast-paced, carefully-crafted thriller in both horror and historical fiction categories. The story is literary, first rate and laid out just right. The narrator was very good, although he seemed to forget that his 3 protagonists were YANKEES in the south, and generally gave them heavy southern inflections as well, No big deal.
***
Now to the not-so-good bits. 39 minutes into the recording it seemed to skip, and while the book is labeled as 9hr6min in length, the download read out at 8hr25min. I contacted Audible and they said they found no problem, and sent me a fresh file, but the problem was the same.

I wound up purchasing the book on Kindle so I could make comparisons! The 39 min. skip turned out to be only a single word, and I resumed listening. But almost every chapter ends with one of these squeaky cuts, where a single word is cut off, and when the book resumes and you're in another chapter, it's very disconcerting. I THINK I heard the entire book, but I hope that Penguin Audio is more careful with its finished products in the future.

My world just got rocked by the "Insulter"

Would you listen to Those Across the River again? Why?

I am currently listening to this book for a second time. The story sneaks up on you in a way that absolutely forces you to keep listening. The setting is perfect for the horror that slowly unfolds and with the combination of the talented voice actor and the incredibly believable writing of the author it is a story that will stick with you for a long time.

Any additional comments?

Only problem I had was that there seemed to be something wrong with the recording. Throughout the audio sentences seemed to be clipped off at the end and words to complete sentences seem to have been lost.

Not Good

I did not enjoy this book. Predictable story and characters that are bad made for a rather unenjoyable listen. I selected this book because I read one other Buehlman novel which I really enjoyed. I almost turned the book off once I was so disgusted and frustrated with the characters but decided to slog through to the end.
If you like characters making dumb decisions, odd amounts of sexual activity, and gutless people then this book might be for you.
Violence against animals included in the story.

Fun campfire story

A good listen for the week heading up to Halloween! Not particularly complex but a fun horror story with a few touches the dark humor thrown in. There are a couple of twists you may or may not anticipate but I think I'd enjoy either way.

One of the best horror books I've ever read

loved it, being the south the author has the lingo down. fantastic storytelling. the author has a wonderful ability to describe things with few words, keeping the momentum of the story going without getting bogged down by the details.