Sara's Review: Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco

REVIEWER PURCHASE PUBLISHER: Blue Heron Audio

NARRATOR: R.C. Bray RELEASED: March 25, 2016 GENRE: Horror LENGTH: 7 hours and 45 minutes FORMAT: ebook, paperback, audible

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Ben and Marian Rolfe are desperate to escape a stifling summer in their tiny Brooklyn apartment, so when they get the chance to rent a mansion in upstate New York for the entire summer for only $900, it’s an offer that’s too good to refuse. There’s only one catch: behind a strange and intricately carved door in a distant wing of the house lives elderly Mrs. Allardyce, and the Rolfes will be responsible for preparing her meals.

But Mrs. Allardyce never seems to emerge from her room, and it soon becomes clear that something weird and terrifying is happening in the house. As the suspense builds towards a revelation of what really lies behind that locked door, the Rolfes will discover that their cheap vacation rental comes at a terrible cost...

The basis for a classic 1976 film adaptation and an acknowledged influence on Stephen King’s The Shining, Burnt Offerings is one of the most original and scariest haunted house novels ever written. This edition, the first in decades, features a new introduction by award-winning author Stephen Graham Jones. FIVE BOUNDLESS STARS

I will admit I am a big chicken and this book intrigued me, but I was too afraid to listen to it on my own. So I listened to it at work with my office mate, who loves anything scary. Personally, after finishing this, I wouldn’t rate this as scary but creepy. Like, give you the chills, someone watching you creepy. But I listened to the story in broad daylight with lots of interruptions and people around. Had I been by myself, I probably would have peed a little. Yes, I am a chicken. The story has a bit of the Amityville Horror, The Haunting and the Shinning all rolled up into one. The imagery of the house is outstanding, and the story was fascinating. Did I predict the ending? Yes, but that’s ok, it was a thrilling ride getting there. Burnt Offerings was Brilliant fun; it will give those who love scary/but not too scary, just enough to keep them on edge. My office mate and I, give Burnt Offerings 5 Boundless Stars, it will give you chills and make you look out for offers that are too good to be true.