Listen free for 30 days
-
The Brains of Rats
- Narrated by: Travis Baldree
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Anthologies & Short Stories
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £18.79
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Night Things
- By: Michael Talbot
- Narrated by: Eric Bryan Moore
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Built by a madwoman during the Victorian era, Lake House is a 160-room mansion in the Adirondacks with stairways that lead nowhere, bizarre rooms designed to distort the senses, endless series of mazelike halls - and a century-long history of violent deaths. Lauren Montgomery, her son Garrett, and her new rock star husband Stephen Ransom have just arrived at Lake House, anticipating a long and relaxing summer. But what they don't know is that their rental home is actually a labyrinthine puzzle at whose center lurks something unspeakably evil....
-
-
Another great Talbot story!
- By Kenneth Skaldebø on 23-08-20
-
The Nest
- By: Gregory A. Douglas
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was just an ordinary garbage dump on peaceful Cape Cod. No one ever imagined that conditions were perfect for breeding, that it was a warm womb, fetid, moist, and with food so plentiful that everything creeping, crawling, and slithering could gorge to satiation. Then a change in poison control was made, resulting in an unforeseen mutation. Now the giant mutant cockroaches are ready to leave their nest - in search of human flesh!
-
-
A Great 80's Pulp Horror Read
- By Alan Preece on 15-04-20
-
The Happy Man
- A Tale of Horror
- By: Eric C. Higgs
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charles Ripley has a good job as an engineer, a pretty wife, and an expensive house in a fashionable San Diego suburb. But it isn't until Ruskin Marsh moves in next door that Ripley realizes how passionless his life really is. Marsh, a connoisseur of the arts, high-powered lawyer, model husband and father, and effortless seducer of women, is so supremely alive that Ripley finds himself irresistibly drawn to him. But after Marsh's arrival, local girls begin to vanish, marriages end violently, and horribly mutilated corpses are found.
-
-
Ennui and intensity in Suburbia
- By Francis on 19-01-20
-
Out for Blood
- By: John Peyton Cooke
- Narrated by: Sean Duregger
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Young Chris Callaway finds escape from the diagnosis of his terminal illness in the company of vampires, but he soon discovers that "life" among the undead holds its own set of terrors.
-
-
Given his choices, I would.
- By Ryan Pascall on 23-06-20
-
The Third Grave
- By: David Case
- Narrated by: Guy Bethell
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When archaeologist Thomas Ashley is invited to remote Devonshire by Lucian Mallory to examine and decipher millennia-old papyrus scrolls, he is unable to resist the offer, despite knowing of Mallory’s sinister and unsavory reputation. From the moment of Ashley’s arrival, it is clear something is terribly wrong: a gruesome murder has been committed, and everyone is fearful a madman is on the loose. But the truth is far more shocking.
-
-
Hammer vibe
- By Dr Caterpillar on 30-08-20
-
Nightblood
- By: T. Chris Martindale
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An ancient vampire has descended on Isherwood, Indiana, turning its townspeople into a legion of bloodthirsty monsters, and only one man can stop them. Chris Stiles, once a Vietnam War soldier, is now the ultimate vampire hunter. With the help of the ghost of his dead brother, who was killed by the monsters, and an arsenal of high-powered weaponry, Chris is ready for a new war - this time not with the Viet Cong, but against an army of the Undead!
-
-
I've got a strimmer like this book
- By Benny butthead on 05-11-19
-
Night Things
- By: Michael Talbot
- Narrated by: Eric Bryan Moore
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Built by a madwoman during the Victorian era, Lake House is a 160-room mansion in the Adirondacks with stairways that lead nowhere, bizarre rooms designed to distort the senses, endless series of mazelike halls - and a century-long history of violent deaths. Lauren Montgomery, her son Garrett, and her new rock star husband Stephen Ransom have just arrived at Lake House, anticipating a long and relaxing summer. But what they don't know is that their rental home is actually a labyrinthine puzzle at whose center lurks something unspeakably evil....
-
-
Another great Talbot story!
- By Kenneth Skaldebø on 23-08-20
-
The Nest
- By: Gregory A. Douglas
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was just an ordinary garbage dump on peaceful Cape Cod. No one ever imagined that conditions were perfect for breeding, that it was a warm womb, fetid, moist, and with food so plentiful that everything creeping, crawling, and slithering could gorge to satiation. Then a change in poison control was made, resulting in an unforeseen mutation. Now the giant mutant cockroaches are ready to leave their nest - in search of human flesh!
-
-
A Great 80's Pulp Horror Read
- By Alan Preece on 15-04-20
-
The Happy Man
- A Tale of Horror
- By: Eric C. Higgs
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charles Ripley has a good job as an engineer, a pretty wife, and an expensive house in a fashionable San Diego suburb. But it isn't until Ruskin Marsh moves in next door that Ripley realizes how passionless his life really is. Marsh, a connoisseur of the arts, high-powered lawyer, model husband and father, and effortless seducer of women, is so supremely alive that Ripley finds himself irresistibly drawn to him. But after Marsh's arrival, local girls begin to vanish, marriages end violently, and horribly mutilated corpses are found.
-
-
Ennui and intensity in Suburbia
- By Francis on 19-01-20
-
Out for Blood
- By: John Peyton Cooke
- Narrated by: Sean Duregger
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Young Chris Callaway finds escape from the diagnosis of his terminal illness in the company of vampires, but he soon discovers that "life" among the undead holds its own set of terrors.
-
-
Given his choices, I would.
- By Ryan Pascall on 23-06-20
-
The Third Grave
- By: David Case
- Narrated by: Guy Bethell
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When archaeologist Thomas Ashley is invited to remote Devonshire by Lucian Mallory to examine and decipher millennia-old papyrus scrolls, he is unable to resist the offer, despite knowing of Mallory’s sinister and unsavory reputation. From the moment of Ashley’s arrival, it is clear something is terribly wrong: a gruesome murder has been committed, and everyone is fearful a madman is on the loose. But the truth is far more shocking.
-
-
Hammer vibe
- By Dr Caterpillar on 30-08-20
-
Nightblood
- By: T. Chris Martindale
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An ancient vampire has descended on Isherwood, Indiana, turning its townspeople into a legion of bloodthirsty monsters, and only one man can stop them. Chris Stiles, once a Vietnam War soldier, is now the ultimate vampire hunter. With the help of the ghost of his dead brother, who was killed by the monsters, and an arsenal of high-powered weaponry, Chris is ready for a new war - this time not with the Viet Cong, but against an army of the Undead!
-
-
I've got a strimmer like this book
- By Benny butthead on 05-11-19
-
The Fury
- A Novel
- By: John Farris
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gillian Bellaver's family is one of the wealthiest in the world. Robin Sandza's father Peter is a government assassin. The two teenagers seem to have nothing in common. Yet they are spiritual twins, possessing a horrifying psychic energy that threatens humanity. While dangerous and fanatical men vie for the secrets of their awesome power, Peter Sandza, using all the ruthless skills of his trade, makes a final desperate effort to save them.
-
Eltonsbrody
- By: Edgar Mittelholzer
- Narrated by: David Sweeney-Bear
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Woodsley, a young English painter, arrives in Barbados and finds no lodging available, he thinks himself fortunate to be invited to stay at Eltonsbrody, a mansion belonging to the eccentric widow Mrs Scaife. But behind the locked doors of the house’s disused rooms lurk terrible secrets, and soon strange and blood-curdling events begin to unfold. The tension builds towards a shocking and unforgettable conclusion, when the full horror of Eltonsbrody will be revealed.
-
-
Enjoyable neo gothic tale
- By Sellanby Books on 18-11-21
-
Figures Unseen
- Selected Stories
- By: Steve Rasnic Tem
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the worlds of Steve Rasnic Tem, a father takes his son "fishing" in the deepest part of downtown, flayed rabbits visit a suburban back yard, a man is haunted by a surrealistic nightmare of crutches, a father is unable to rescue his son from a nightmare of trees, a bereaved man transforms memories of his wife into performance art, great moving cliffs of detritus randomly prowl the world, a seemingly pointless life finds final expression in bits of folded paper, a nuclear holocaust brings about a new mythology, an isolated man discovers he’s part of a terrifying community, and more.
-
The Spirit
- By: Thomas Page
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It has many names: Bigfoot...Yeti...Sasquatch. But whatever it is, it’s out there in the woods and leaving a trail of blood and severed heads behind it. For John Moon, a half-mad Indian, it is a spirit that holds the key to his inner self. He worships its power and he’ll kill to protect it. Desperate, exhausted, half-starved, Moon will follow it wherever it goes. For Raymond Jason, killing it has become an obsession. He was the only survivor of a hunting trip to the Rockies where the hunters became the monster’s prey.
-
-
Just The Spirit!
- By Mart on 11-11-19
-
All Souls' Night
- By: Sir Hugh Walpole
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hugh Walpole (1884-1941) was one of the most popular and prolific English authors of his time, best known for his historical fiction and novels for boys. But it was in the field of the macabre and supernatural that Walpole was at his best, and this collection of 16 tales contains many of his finest.
-
Nightshade and Damnations
- By: Gerald Kersh
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An expedition in South America uncovers a terrifying race of men without bones who literally suck the life out of their prey. A man in 20th-century London makes a horrifying discovery about a monster found off the coast of Brighton in 1745. A sea captain goes ashore on a deserted island and finds what seem to be the bones of a previously unknown species of monster, only to learn that the bones tell a much more tragic tale than he could ever have imagined.
-
-
Highbrow weird fiction for lovers of the bizarre
- By Prester Jim on 17-06-20
-
Let There Be Dark
- By: Allen Lee Harris
- Narrated by: Jeffery Lynn Hutchins
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Don’t think about it...don’t talk about it...and if you feel a prickling on the back of your neck...don’t turn around! Matt Hardison doesn’t believe in the Shadowstealer, an evil spirit that could steal a person’s shadow and demand they sacrifice pieces of themselves. It was just a local boogeyman, a gruesome campfire yarn to frighten youngsters; not something that adults took seriously. The Shadowstealer is Matt’s new novel, a bestseller featuring the creepy legend that frightened him as a child.
-
-
Sometimes A Novel Can Be Much More
- By Simon Gibson on 10-06-19
-
Nightmares and Geezenstacks
- By: Fredric Brown
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the great pulp writers, Fredric Brown (1906-1972) combined a flair for the horrific, a quirky sense of humor, and a wild imagination, and published many classic novels in the mystery and science fiction genres. But he was also a master of the "short-short story", tales only a page or two in length, but hard-hitting and with a wicked twist at the end.
-
-
You're travelling through another dimension...
- By Prester Jim on 17-06-20
-
The Late Breakfasters
- By: Robert Aickman
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the preeminent writers of weird fiction, Robert Aickman is celebrated for his unsettling and often ambiguous "strange stories", but he once wrote that "those, if any, who wish to know more about me, should plunge beneath the frivolous surface of The Late Breakfasters," his only novel, originally published in 1964.
-
The Other Place and Other Stories of the Same Sort
- By: J. B. Priestley
- Narrated by: David Sweeney-Bear
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
J. B. Priestley (1894-1984) was a versatile and prolific novelist and playwright, but in The Other Place (1953), he shows an unexpected talent, proving himself a master of the weird tale. In "The Grey Ones", Mr. Patson visits a psychiatrist after he becomes convinced that a race of demons masquerading as men are plotting the overthrow of the human race...but what if he's not insane? In "Guest of Honour", a banquet speech becomes a horrifying affair when the keynote speaker realizes his audience is made up of monstrous and menacing creatures.
-
-
Fascinating strange tales
- By Beth on 26-02-20
-
The Long List Anthology
- More Stories from the Hugo Awards Nomination List
- By: David Steffen - editor, Elizabeth Bear - contributor, Max Gladstone - contributor
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam, Gabrielle de Cuir, Stefan Rudnicki, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Long List Anthology is designed to recognize the short works that were nominated for the 2015 Hugo Awards but did not make it into the top five short list for the final ballot. Thus, voted into the Hugo Award's long list of works - the top 15 works nominated for each category - were these nine short stories and three novelettes, now made available to a wider audience by award-winning narrators.
-
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
- By: Rebecca Miller
- Narrated by: Katherine Fenton
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pippa seems to have everything in life. But suddenly she finds her world beginning to unravel. Amid the buzzing lawnmowers and suburban coffee mornings, she starts to wonder how she came to be in this place. The answer is a story of wild youth, unexpected encounters, affairs and betrayals, and the dangerous security of marriage. It brilliantly reveals the challenges of modern life - and all the possibilities that it holds.
Summary
When Michael Blumlein's debut collection The Brains of Rats first appeared, it marked the arrival of a major new talent, earning widespread acclaim from mainstream critics as well as genre stalwarts Peter Straub, Harlan Ellison, Pat Cadigan and many others.
More from the same
What listeners say about The Brains of Rats
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Simone
- 28-11-17
Odd Collection
If you like short, bizarre stories, then this collection is for you! While some were definitely more satisfying than others, none seemed amazing or terrible - all pretty middling for me. The one that really sticks with me is the wetsuit story. I remember it because I was loving it until the end where I felt robbed of a good ending. This wasn't my favorite collection of stories but absolutely anything narrated by Travis Baldree is worth listening to!
I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- TU
- 13-10-17
great collection of psychological horror stories
I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
So, this was a collection of short stories full of dark and visceral brooding. Michael Blumlein is apparently an MD, and some stories are very clinical, if creepy, and focus on a lot of the medical jargon while talking about the patient's perspective... The narrator was fantastic. He had a great voice for these psychological horror stories. All in all, this was a good experience.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Christine Newton
- 20-10-17
3..5* - great narration, different short stories
This collection of short stories gets rave reviews by other reviewers. I agree with some other reviewers who mentioned that 'Brain of Rats' and 'Tissue Ablation' were interesting. I also enjoyed the premise of 'The Domino Master' - I think it might be a neat idea to expand into a longer story. I preferred some of the stories more than others but my enjoyment seemed to be clinical, distanced, and somewhat muted. I didn't get pulled into some of the stories - which I admit is challenging for me when it comes to short stories.
I've reviewed other audiobooks narrated by Travis Baldree (in different genres) and I continue to be impressed by him.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Eric Hunley
- 18-10-17
Well written and weird
This book was hard for me. The author has a crazy imagination and is a very descriptive and talented writer. However, the stories are not my cup of tea. It reminds me of Clive Barker. Crazy weird stories. Some I enjoy, some I don't.
I also want to give praise to Travis Baldree for the narration. Spot on. He really worked it and put a ton of energy into the performance.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Bill
- 22-09-17
A dark and brooding 4.5 Stars
I listened to this one on audio.
What a disturbingly strange and oddly enjoyable collection of shorts. I am rarely at a loss for words when reviewing a work. This was good. Maybe even better than that.
The narration for this one was excellent. Seemed to fit the stories perfectly and I think really added to the dark and brooding atmosphere. Well done.
*I was given a free review copy of this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- MP
- 14-01-18
Harrowing medical horror and more
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I have already recommended this to friends of mine with similar taste. It's quite a diverse collection ranging from jaw dropping body horror to heart warming (and heart breaking) dark fantasy.
Who was your favorite character and why?
The narrator of the final story, "Bestseller", a writer who struggles to earn a living and feed his family (including a sick child), until he discovers a way to generate income that most people would find utterly unthinkable and horrifying. You can't help but sympathize with his plight, even if you're disgusted by the way he ends up.
Which scene was your favorite?
"Tissue Ablation" is one of the very best horror short stories I've read, and I've read many of them. A tale of a truly heinous surgical procedure, told in a detached, emotionless academic medical style. It's the most stomach turning story here, and also one that will draw you into the reality it creates and leave you completely dumbfounded when you realize what is happening."Keeping House" was another one I enjoyed, a Shirley Jackson-esque tale about a woman being driven to madness by a house. Great stuff.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
No idea. I just know that I would want it to be directed by David Cronenberg.
Any additional comments?
A fantastic collection. I didn't love every story as much as the ones I mentioned above, but everything here is well written. Blumlein has a knack for temporarily rearranging your reality and drawing you into the worlds he creates with his stories.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Jason Begly
- 19-10-17
The Brains of Rats
I wasn't able to get into this book. Each story was really well written and performed, but it wasn't for me. Maybe I was distracted by the fact that it was an audio book and I could not get into the rhythm of each story. I don't know for sure. My favorite tales were The Promise of Warmth and Bestseller. My least liked were The Brains of Rats and The Wet Suit.
This book was given to me for free at my request for my voluntary and unbiased review.