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  • The Scarlet Gospels

  • By: Clive Barker
  • Narrated by: John Lee
  • Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (376 ratings)
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The Scarlet Gospels cover art

The Scarlet Gospels

By: Clive Barker
Narrated by: John Lee
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Summary

The long-anticipated new novel from best-selling author Clive Barker.

The gates to hell are open, and something beckons.... The last of Earth's magicians are living in fear. A Cenobite Hell Priest known as Pinhead is killing them off, gorging on their knowledge to enhance his own magical powers as part of a quest to takeover hell.

Meanwhile Private Investigator Harry D'Amour is fulfilling the final wishes of the dead, who communicate with his business associate, the blind medium Norma Paine. But while investigating one such case, Harry inadvertently opens up a rift between hell and the real world. When nemesis Pinhead emerges through the portal, a vicious battle ensues.

After failing to enlist Harry as one of his Scarlet Gospels, an elite group of indefatigable messengers who will witness his takeover of hell, Pinhead captures Norma, and Harry realizes he must go through hell - literally - to save her.

©2015 Clive Barker (P)2015 Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Critic reviews

"Gruesome, madly entertaining, eminently picturesque in all sorts of crazy ways, this is Barker in fifth gear and a set of adventures his fans will relish." (Maxim Jakubowski, lovereading.co.uk)

What listeners say about The Scarlet Gospels

Average customer ratings
Overall
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book. Read it and enjoy

It's not often that I spend an entire day plugged into my iPhone listening to a book from start to finish but this is one of those rare occasions where I couldn't help but see the story through to the end stopping only for coffee and snacks or when the cat insisted on attention!

If you're familiar with Clive Barkers early works than The Scarlet Gospels are like slipping on an old comfortable robe or meeting a good friend that you haven't seen for a while. The story itself is brilliant and the plot absorbing. Without spoiling the end, just like the Box, a door is now opened for more of the same from one of my favourite authors.

I look forward to reading of the future of a world in which Hell may come calling when you least expect it.

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Fails to inspire, excite, inform or satisfy

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Almost a decade in the making, and butchered to half its original length (presumably by an understandably nervous publisher) this lacklustre tale fails to inspire, excite, inform or satisfy.I’d been following its slow development over the years, and was always intrigued by what I heard from Mr. Barker. Sadly, after hoping for some payoff all the way to the final page, we never learn Pinhead's true demonic name, the Order of the Gash (of which Pinhead is a key member) is present but never mentioned by name, the promised scene with Pinhead at The Crucifixion is missing, and the Hell-shattering confrontation doesn't include Harry D'Amour except as a bystander. To say more would be to give away what few surprises the book contained. All we get in THE SCARLET GOSPELS is a lot of wandering around, some fairly undetailed exploration of Hell, and more characters than were needed to carry the plot. Hugely disappointing after such a long wait.

Would you ever listen to anything by Clive Barker again?

Yes. The man is an important voice. This simply was a weaker offering.

What does John Lee bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

The presentation was excellent, the narrator terrific. Some of the New York accents were a little overdone, but perhaps those are accurate to the characters.

You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Yes, there were some good scenes, and it was nice to see Harry D'Amour again.

Any additional comments?

One for hardcore Clive Barker fans only.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Dreadful Narration

The story by Clive Barker is really well written and precise it's just a shame about the narration that spoils it. The slow droning voice of John Lee cuts out the urgency of the story and makes it slow and dreary and what the hell is with all those really over the top American accents that he keeps putting on the characters, they make you cringe and the voice he gives to Pinhead makes him sound like he's your next door neighbour not the high priest of Hell. Really audio should chosen anther narrator for this book...Andrew R

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Not Impressed

I found the story to be less impactful than I would have expected from a Barker book but I think the reader made it worse. every voice ended up sounding like a characture of a breathless old stereotypical new yorker.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

bad narration

As usual; Clive Barker doesn't fail to satisfy. This would have been an excellent story to listen to if it hadn't been for the terrible narration. The accents are so awful that it's as if he's joking at times! Pinhead at the very least deserved much more. Instead he is made to sound like a disgruntled butler. Very disappointing.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

should be good

the story is solid but Clive Barker, for all his ideas, is not a great writer of prose.

the narration is horrible. all the character voices are basically the same & almost unlistenable to.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Hell

lobed the story of the hell priest and Satan would make a excellent TV show just saying

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not great but not bad either

The narration is very difficult to follow for me, even if I am fluent in English, the speed and lack of emotion in it makes my mind drift elsewhere even when I'm trying really hard to focus on what is being said. This audiobook was probably made for US/UK based listeners, and not so much for the rest of the world. In comparison, have a listen of how Neil Gaiman narrates his work alone and how well it captures you. I had to restart a chapter several times because the story and narration kept going forward so fast. As a Hellraiser story it's not bad, certainly better than the Boom-comics terrible ending but I wouldn't hold my breath for a film version anytime soon. A minor nitpick I'd say, is the lack of imagination when it comes to character names. They're cliched.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Pinhead after the movie.

I enjoyed seeing what pinhead got up to outside the movies, and also what he thought about the name pinhead!
I won’t write anything else, spoilers.
Definitely worth the listen.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME. AWFUL NARRATION

I tried so hard to get into this book, but couldn’t. I may read another version though. This is by no means an awful book, even though it’s no way near as good as Hellbound Heart, but the narration makes it even worse and unbearable.
The narrator picks terrible voices for the characters, which makes it sound like you are listening to a comedy. It is completely unlistenable, I had to pull over and return the title asap.

Honestly, Audible, this should be a free book and the publishers notified of the narrations awful performance whoever signed off this guy, to read a book like this, needs sacking.

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