Black Hotel

By: Renee Wakefield

Narrated by: Caleb Dust

Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Welcome to Black Hotel. A haunted hotel...with no ghosts...

When overweight dreamer Jack stumbles on work at Black Hotel, he believes he has found the perfect job. With no guests, the hotel pays him to sit about all night and do nothing. He doesn't even mind when he discovers the hotel is haunted. What upsets him is that no one believes him. But as the past and future collide and the hauntings escalate, Jack has to figure out what is going on before it is too late.

Black Hotel is the exciting debut thriller by Renee Wakefield. If you enjoy spine-tingling terror, tales of ghosts and haunted hotels, with a bit of fun thrown in along the way, grab your copy of Black Hotel today.

©2018 Ross McQueen (P)2019 Ross McQueen

Quirky Paranormal Story

Jack is a nice guy who is going nowhere. He's never really had any ambition and is perfectly OK doing nothing. He starts working a job where he can do pretty near precisely that (nothing) and finds himself being haunted. He's OK with that, but wants people on his side understanding that it's actually happening. Some hi-jinx ensues as he tries to convince different people including his coworkers and figure out the reason for the haunting. The characters are great and three dimensional and the horror is more quirky and odd than horrific but it's a nice jaunt into the life of a man who wants to do nothing and finds himself doing the opposite of that. The narration fit perfectly and was a great aid.

I received the review code for this audiobook at my request and am voluntarily leaving this honest review.

Stay Away From Train Conventions

I really liked this story and couldn’t stop listening after I started. At just under 5 hours, you can easily knock this out in one sitting. I wouldn’t really call it horror as I didn’t find anything remotely frightening, but it was a good paranormal story. I found it quite humorous and would say that if this was made into a movie, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost would have to play the main characters. I wouldn’t say this is a comedy, but it was a lot of fun and weird enough it just seemed upbeat. Bad things happen and there are ghosts and deaths, but none of it was enough that it frightened me. Probably not the desired mood, but the buddy feeling of Jack, Merch, and Hector is palpable.

The dialogue of all the characters was fantastic. I wanted to be with friends with Jack and Merch, even though they both seemed to be going nowhere in life. Jack’s bumbling through life is perfectly echoed with the way he behaves and the way he talks. I enjoyed how his meaningless existence was constantly touched on by his mother and how we always tried to avoid it. Hector’s incessant poking at Jack made me laugh every time and I would have taken a part time job at that hotel just to observe their interactions. I still can’t stop trying to picture the demented magician.

The plot wasn’t overly complicated which made for the fun listen. You won’t know where it is going until you get to the end, but ride to the finish line was as satisfying as the end itself. The setup of how lost in life Jack is can be a bit slow, but important to explain how he is just passing through life and needs to find something to give him meaning. The customerless Black Hotel is the perfect setting and sets the tone for the overall story.

I really enjoyed Caleb Dust’s narration. His Australian accent perfectly matched the dialogue and I don’t think I would have enjoyed the story as much without my internal voice. You can tell he had fun narrating this story and it is evident in the enthusiasm he puts forth into the characters. I think his accent lends to me wanting Pegg and Frost to portray the two main characters. I hope to hear more from him in the future.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Fun & Unexpected

In my experience, the horror content that seems to be the most formulaic, the most often, is paranormal stories. They all seem to follow a nearly identical trajectory (note: this does not necessarily make me enjoy it less, just an observation).

"Black Hotel" employs a slightly different take that made for a very enjoyable listen. This book is light, amusing and a bit silly; probably not a good fit for people who want to be truly horrified by their horror stories. Caleb Dust does a great job of bringing the ridiculous characters to life. I enjoyed every minute of this one! 10/10, would recommend!

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Fantastic

Black Hotel. . The first book I've read by Renee Wakefield and I'm really pleased to have read this one.
A great storyline and written with some very subtle humor. And a real page turner.
Caleb Dusts narration is excellent and compliments the book.
I received a free copy of this audio book at my own request and voluntarily leave this review. .

Enjoyed

I think the story itself is really good. The characters are likable and well described. I would have given this book 5 stars if the narration had been better. Many times words ran together and I didn’t know a scene had even changed. It seemed as if the narrator was just reading words and not telling the story at times. All in all this book is worth reading/listening to. I was given this book at no charge and my review is my own.

Premonition verses Psychic

This book starts out a bit slow but picks up. It is about Jack who is basically a lazy unambitious man who is bored with all his jobs until gets night job at the Black Hotel and he thinks he sees and hears ghosts or he is going crazy (you have to listen to find the truth). I enjoyed the characters of Jack, Merch, Hector, Miss Daniels and Hector and the ending. It is a short different listen. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. Thank you

Black Hotel

This story was okay. There were stretches were I found the story a bit boring. I am glad that I stuck it out. The latter fourth of the book made up the boring bits. I thought the narrator did a decent job. I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

reservations for 1 please!

3.5*
Black Hotel is a ghost story that kept me guessing. Jack gets a job at the almost always empty hotel, to do nothing but sit at the front desk. He's even ok with it when the hotel turns out to be haunted but no one believes him. Like Jack, i had no idea if the hotel was really haunted or what was going to happen next. The ending was good. I was surprised and i liked it! The story is well done and the writing is good. I would read more by this author.
I listened to the audio book. Caleb Dust read it and he did a great job. i would listen to more books he narrates.


** I would like to thank Renee Wakefield for the chance to listen to the audio book in exchange for a honest review. **

Fun!

A short and fun listen you can knock out in a day at 5 hours.

Jack, an unambitious young man, takes a job at Black Hotel. He works the night shift, which he loves because there are no guests, so he can pretty much do whatever he wants all night. But soon, he starts seeing ghosts. Is it real, or is he going crazy? None of his co-workers believe him.

The characters in this book were fun, and the action got to be a little slapstick at times and a little slow at times, but the overall story and characters are great, as is the narration, which keeps the story moving and interesting enough to keep you listening in one sitting.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Black Hotel

Jack finds his perfect job,finally!He is just supposed to sit around and do nothing.He is not supposed to explore the things that go bump in the night.He enjoys his job,no matter how weird it gets,until something better comes along. Caleb Dust was a fine narrator. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.'