Slade House

A Novel

By: David Mitchell

Narrated by: Thomas Judd, Tania Rodrigues

Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

The New York Times best seller by the author of The Bone Clocks and Cloud Atlas

Named one of the best books of the year by San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, National Post, BookPage, and Kirkus Reviews

Keep your eyes peeled for a small black iron door.

Down the road from a working-class British pub, along the brick wall of a narrow alley, if the conditions are exactly right, you'll find the entrance to Slade House. A stranger will greet you by name and invite you inside. At first, you won't want to leave. Later, you'll find that you can't. Every nine years, the house's residents - an odd brother and sister - extend a unique invitation to someone who's different or lonely: a precocious teenager, a recently divorced policeman, a shy college student. But what really goes on inside Slade House? For those who find out, it's already too late....

Spanning five decades, from the last days of the 1970s to the present, leaping genres, and barreling toward an astonishing conclusion, this intricately woven novel will pull you into a reality-warping new vision of the haunted house story - as only David Mitchell could imagine it.

Praise for Slade House

“A fiendish delight... Mitchell is something of a magician.” (The Washington Post)

“Entertainingly eerie... We turn to [Mitchell] for brain-tickling puzzle palaces, for character studies and for language.” (Chicago Tribune)

“A ripping yarn... Like Shirley Jackson’s Hill House or the Overlook Hotel from Stephen King’s The Shining, [Slade House] is a thin sliver of hell designed to entrap the unwary.... As the Mitchellverse grows ever more expansive and connected, this short but powerful novel hints at still more marvels to come.” (San Francisco Chronicle)

“Like Stephen King in a fever...manically ingenious.” (The Guardian [UK])

“A haunted house story that savors of Dickens, Stephen King, J. K. Rowling and H. P. Lovecraft, but possesses more psychic voltage than any of them.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

“Tightly crafted and suspenseful yet warmly human...the ultimate spooky nursery tale for adults.” (The Huffington Post)

©2015 David Mitchell (P)2015 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Diabolically entertaining...dark, thrilling, and fun... One needn’t have read any of Mitchell’s past books to enjoy Slade House. Those who do crack it open will find inside a thoroughly entertaining ride full of mind games, unexpected twists, and even a few laughs.”(The Daily Beast)

“A smart, spooky thrill ride... If you haven’t yet read Mitchell, choosing this novel just might make a believer of you.” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

“Plants died, milk curdled, and my children went slightly feral as I succumbed to the creepy magic of David Mitchell’s Slade House. It’s a wildly inventive, chilling, and - for all its otherworldliness - wonderfully human haunted house story. I plan to return to its clutches quite often.” (Gillian Flynn, number-one New York Times best-selling author of Gone Girl and The Grownup)

A wonderful bit of fantasy!

David Mitchell is constantly toying with the scientific and metaphysical in a way that delights the imagination. This work followed Cloud Atlas for me in my journey through the writings of Mitchell, and I do believe will propel me into Bone Clocks, which I've heard this is meant to accompany. Bravo, David Mitchell!

thoroughly entertaining

a new author to add to my favorites. it was a fun and dreamlike novel.

Good, Not Great

Any additional comments?

An enjoyable listen. Easier to follow than Mitchell's longer works. Wish it were longer so the characters, ideas, and subplots could've been more numerous and even better developed.

A solid suspense/horror book with a problematic en

I was recently on the hunt for a decent "haunted house" novel, and stumbled across Slade House by David Mitchell. While I'd not read any Mitchell, I had seen Cloud Atlas, and his reputation as a writer precedes him, so I decided to give it a try.

The story unfolds through multiple points of view, and all these viewpoint characters are well-realized, though not always likable. To me, horror books in general and haunted house books in particular live or die (ha ha) on their atmosphere, and Slade House delivers gooseflesh-inducing atmosphere in spades. There's a repetitive structure to the book that gradually clues the reader in on what's going on, and ironically the more you know about what's going on the tenser it gets.

All this holds true until the last chapter, which I'm sorry to say is a bit of a mess. I will say, without spoiling anything, that it does provide closure--mostly. I say "mostly" because, unbeknownst to me when I bought this book, it's actually connected to Mitchell's other novel Bone Clocks, which I'd heard of but never read. And so, I think, maybe, the ending to this novel really only satisfies if you've also read that companion piece.

Still, if you like haunted house horror, it's still a worthwhile read. The horror is mostly suspenseful and atmospheric in nature, and doesn't devolve into the gore-fest of other novels in the genre. So I'd feel pretty safe in recommending this even to squeamish friends. Both Thomas Judd and Tania Rodrigues also shine as narrators here, and there were a few nice subtle production touches too.

In summary, the book mostly scratched my horror itch, but didn't quite hit the mark at the end.

Repetition Is Key

This story slowly and methodically got under my skin in its genius and melancholy way. The pacing and repetitive inevitability of each new character’s fate worked some psychological magic on me, and even when I wanted to stop reading I found that I was also in a trap and had to keep on. Mitchell writes believable and honest characters, he builds unique worlds, and the inspired way he structures even the smallest of stories is masterful. I listened to this book years ago and it still is a pleasure to revisit.

Captivating... couldn't stop listening!

Give it time.... I almost didn't and I'm so glad I did! Somewhat slowish start, but wow, once it picked up, I couldn't stop.

Enjoyable supernatural thriller

Well written and decent, original premise. Very interesting and well-crafted characters. Lots of dramatic tension that you want in a story like this. Unfortunately, the author spent a lot of time explaining the nature of the supernatural horror which is always a mistake. Horror works best by being unknown and unknowable. The very complete explanation diluted the fear factor. Sigh. Ah well.

Wonderful supplemental story to shared universe

I enjoyed this story tremendously . I liked the author exploring other soul carnivores, their methods, and motives beyond what was covered in the novel Bone Clocks. While this story can stand on its own, you will enjoy this book even more if you read that book first . David Mitchell ties in characters and events from previous novels so subtly in this story that you may have have to read it twice to catch them all. I have read all his books so connecting all the details and characters and how they interact in this shared universe is immensely gratifying for me as a big fan of this writer's work.
Also, excellent narration by the voice actors.

Good read

I wish this was longer. Had so much potential to go so many places but it just kind of stopped. it was good, but i just wanted more.

Too weird for me

Well told but the story line was not the type of story I am interested in