Excellent series.

This is one of my favourite series! This consists of Collecting Death, Walter's Rifle and Blood in the Mirror. I will give a snippet of each of my reviews for each book...

Collecting Death

I started reading this at night and had to put it aside till the morning because it was creeping me out!!! I don't know if people actually do buy things simply because they think they're haunted, but let me tell you something, it wouldn't be me!!! Nuh uh!! I had nightmares of those nasty dolls turning their faces as I passed, it was horrible!! Anyway, the plot was fast paced and extremely scary. We have a teddy bear, a doll and a teapot. What do these all have in common? Well they are all haunted by homicidal ghosts. These ghosts are some of the worst that were in Stefan's parents collection. It was seriously creepy!!

Walter's Rifle

I loved book 1 of this and was hoping that this would be just as good, well it was, and it even surprised me by being better. I had a hard time putting this aside because I needed to see what would happen. The idea of a haunted book was super scary because it's such an innocuous item, and the fact that a young boy had it made it worse!! The plot surrounding the rifle was also scary. The man who had it was a psychopath, but when you add in the homicidal ghost, it made for hard reading.

There is a part of the book where I was thrilled to read because we have a character crossover!!! Not going to say who, but I'm so happy to see him in this. I really hope he gets a few more cameos in the rest of the series. Jeremy and Victor are as awesome as always and we get to see a new character who has potential! Really looking forward to finding out more about him.

Blood in the Mirror

Here we are at book 3 and this author still manages to surprise me! He can still throw a few twists and turns into the story to keep it fresh and original. The plot of this one was extremely fast paced and intense. Things are hotting up and despite Victor and Jeremy seemingly closing in, things are getting harder and harder for the duo. Secrets are revealed in this one that surprised even me!!

The characters in this never get a break!! Not even the bad guys. Victor and Jeremy have had such a hard time and it is only going to get harder. My heart even went out to Stefan, (but only for a second ;)), because he is really struggling. One thing I love about this author is that he treats all his characters the same, both the good and bad face a tremendous amount of things happening to them. Nothing ever comes easy!!

In all, this series just gets better and better and I can't recommend it enough.

Thom Bowers read this extremely well!! His tones and cadences really brought the story to life, and he gave me chills when he was the toys. I feel like he "gets" the characters because he brings each of them alive! He is always clear and has plenty of tones and voices for the array of different characters.

16 people found this helpful

Great Series

I love all of Ron Ripley books and these were no exception. It not only has ghosts but true horror and gore. In 1st book there is a teddy bear Rolf, creepy porcelain doll and small teapot (they are haunted with evil ghosts). Love the characters of Victor, Jeremy and Stefan’s father but hate the insane, greedy Stefan. In 2nd book Victor and Jeremy continue their hunt for Stephan and the haunted items, even better than the 1st. I do like Stephan’s dad as well as new character of Tom, so good to see Shane (from Berkley Street series). In 3rd book Stephan continues to sell his haunted antiques causing havoc and more deaths and his father (Ivan, a ghost) wants him dead and has his sister Ariana try to help him. Victor and Jeremy continue to track down Stephan as Victor wants to torture him since he killed his wife. There is brief appearance of Shane and a mention of Father Frank (both from the Berkley Series) as well as Tom from 2nd book. Upset about Jeremy. Highly recommend the series as well as his other books if you enjoy a creepy, scary thriller and ghosts. I was given this audiobook by Scare Street and have voluntarily left this review. THANK YOU!!

8 people found this helpful

Great Story BUT Terrible Performance

The story and character development was on point. Extremely entertaining BUT the narrator Thom Bowers was truly terrible. I had to stop listening for a time to give my self a break from the mono-tone robotic presentation. In the future, I will definitely avoid Audiobooks with this narrator.

6 people found this helpful

Not finished yet, but intrigued

On chapter ten right now and the premise is interesting, if not a particularly novel. The only thing I can say so far is that the narration needs work. I could just be picky, but the slow pace of the reading is aggravating. Putting the speed at 1.15x helps without distorting audio

3 people found this helpful

Horror stories at its finest!

This is the first three in an epic series of horror stories at its finest.
It grabs you from page one and leaves you wanting for more.

⚠️They’re meaningful moments when these books/Audibles really gets you in the feels! Not just creepy and scared. But sad and salty also.

Thom of course continues to do Ripley’s tales justice. His montage of genres is pretty amazing in and of itself.

High five stars! ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

2 people found this helpful

Ron Ripley and Thom Bowers - what a great team

I have really fallen for Ron Ripley's work. I have always been a fan of horror and fantasy books. Stephen King, Anne Rice, Laurell Hamilton and Jim Butcher are some of my favorites. Ron Ripley's stories fit perfectly into the mix.

Thom Bowers admittedly took a few chapters to get used to but, I find any narrator I hear for the first time does. His voice is pleasant and changes just enough with each character. He gives each player a uniqueness and you can recognize them immediately.

This is the second series from this dynamic duo that I have indulged in. If you are planning to listen to the Haunted Collection Series, make sure to listen to the Bleaker Street books first.

1 person found this helpful

The narrator is just awful

I don't think the narrator is a native English speaker. He seems unfamiliar with each word, almost like he has to sound it out. I know he's trying to enunciate but it sounds absolutely ridiculous. I can't even focus on the story because of the emphasis placed. On. Each. And. Ev. Ery. Syll. Able.

3 people found this helpful

This is what The Conjuring movies should be

As you see by the title of this review this is what The Conjuring movies should be like. What I mean is take the main characters from The Conjuring series, turn them into selfish pricks that they recent and ignore their son so much that after their death when he grows up he wants to destroy everything his parents have collected over the years and take as many people down as he can with him. All his curse items have a story and man oh man do they have a story to tell. All 3 books were fantastically written by Ron Ripley and narrated by Thom Bowers. Horror, action, mystery, suspense, slight humor, hunted dolls, teddy bears, rifles, books, mirrors and character emotions are all rolled up into one very special collection, even after the end of each book there is a bonus scene of a character or curse item that you get a lot more of the story. A credit alone for each book is worth it but to have 3 in 1 it's fantastic. Do yourself a favor and use 3 credits to get the whole collection. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. Be that as it is I will use my personal credits to complete this collection. It is by far one of the best horror story collections I have in my library and that is saying something. I cannot wait to listen to the rest.

3 people found this helpful

struggled unable to finish

It is not terrible, but not for me. I feel my opinion my be skewed due to just finishing Charlie Parker series and you can say what you want about John Connolly but he is a master wordsmith. The writing was pretty pedestrian without the flare or detail I had become accustomed to. The loose ends from the start drove me crazy. I made through book 2 and I am done. I expect thrill and suspense with ghost stories. The ghosts in this story were to corporeal for me, they may as well have been living characters.
Narrator was slow and mechanical at time, but narration reviews have alot to do with personal preference. Almost all narrators voices can be adjust on your device. I turn speed to ×1.05 in Audible and turned bass up using the settings on phone equalizer. I prefer a deeper voice more baritone than tenor in male narrators.
Good cover art it got me to stop and purchase despite having reservations.

Highly Recommend

Not only was each book exhilarating but the way they were read were perfect. I can't recommend this series enough.