Big Bad

Creature Feature Collection

By: Chandler Baker

Narrated by: Christina Traister

For a family trying to make an isolated farmhouse into a home, fear and rage are getting harder to control in a primal short story by the New York Times bestselling author of Whisper Network and Cutting Teeth.

The Strauss family is on knife’s edge. Sam is a resentful stay-at-home dad. Rachel feels the restlessness in her blood returning. Their children are getting out of hand. And a recent mudslide has forced the wolves out of the woods to look for food. As dusk falls and tensions rise, the family must come together to survive the night—from the threats outside and those within.

Chandler Baker’s Big Bad is part of Creature Feature, a collection of devilishly creepy stories that tingle the spine and twist the mind. They can be read or listened to in one petrifying sitting.

©2023 Chandler Baker. (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Best of the series

This is my favorite of the series. Narration was great. Story was engaging and well paced.

Great horror short

I really liked the story and narration of this relatively quick listen. Good tension & suspense. I have not read this author before but will look for her other books.

the ties that bind

3.75⭐️
Audio: 4.25⭐️

The Strauss family is teetering on the brink. Sam is an increasingly angry and resentful SAHD whose academic career track was once as bright as Rachel's. As she hits milestone after milestone, every dream that died to support her has started rotting his insides. Rachel feels the simmering rage within her husband and knows she is losing him. His fuse is further shortened by a rambunctious daughter who throws tantrums so severe she blacks out and constantly gets into trouble. On a routine night, the family ends up fighting monsters of many kinds and facing ugly buried truths.

This is a solid story about love and sacrifice and how toxic, eroding, and transfiguring they can become. It strikes some "Let Me In" vibes. The writing is good and the pace well-measured. I really like Sam, and the kids are great. There are some rough spots, such as an area of dialogue that feels forced and misses the mark for menacing or intimations about a character that don’t end up connecting. Then there has to be the stupid choices so the climax can happen. But horror clichés are a staple for a reason, and they didn't eviscerate my enjoyment.

Good story

Parts with the kids were annoying at times and the unnatural way Sam handled Hank at first is why I knocked off a star.

Great short story full of dread

It's Slower paced at first, but starts moving faster and faster toward a gripping final act.