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The Broken Hours

A Novel of H. P. Lovecraft

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The Broken Hours

By: Jacqueline Baker
Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
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About this listen

In the cold spring of 1936, Arthor Crandle, down-on-his luck and desperate for work, accepts a position in Providence, Rhode Island, as a live-in secretary/assistant for an unnamed shut-in.

He arrives at the gloomy colonial-style house to discover that his strange employer is an author of disturbing, bizarre fiction. Health issues have confined him to his bedroom, where he is never to be disturbed. But the writer, who Crandle knows only as "Ech-Pi", refuses to meet him, communicating only by letters left on a table outside his room. Soon the home reveals other unnerving peculiarities. There is an ominous presence Crandle feels on the main stairwell. Light shines out underneath the door of the writer's room, but is invisible from the street. It becomes increasingly clear there is something not right about the house or its occupant.

Haunting visions of a young girl in a white nightgown wandering the walled-in garden behind the house motivate Crandle to investigate the circumstances of his employer's dark family history. Meanwhile, the unsettling aura of the house pulls him into a world increasingly cut off from reality, into black depths, where an unspeakable secret lies waiting.

©2016 Jacqueline Baker (P)2016 Audible, Inc. Biographical Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction Gothic Horror Literary Fiction Scary Science Fiction Biography
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Having read this I went back and found all the discrepancies and clues embedded in the text. Do not read this if you want schlock horror - read it if you want subtlety and a growing chill. Will definitely be listening to this again.

Subtle and chilling even if you work it out!

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three stars because it was well written, however I always had a feeling of confusion. It seemed as if the story was just chasing its own tail. I wouldn't give this a recommendation sadly.

feeling confused, maybe I missed something...

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The general performance was good but the story was somewhat lacking. The atmosphere was almost there and had the potential to be quite creepy but the ending was, not quite finished. Left me feeling like there was a chapter missing.

Not Quite Finished

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I really enjoyed this book! There are lots of twists and turns, and you never really get to the bottom of it. I loved that sense of not being 100% sure what happened, and it’s even more interesting because of the links to H. P. Lovecraft (I did a lot of googling afterwards!)

It felt very much of the horror genre but not gory or unpleasant - I would definitely recommend.

Different and enjoyable

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I stuck with this convoluted tale to the end, against my better judgement, hoping all would be revealed. It wasn`t. I read a lot of actual H.P. Lovecraft as a teen but this wasn`t anything like it, except in the dreary relentless atmosphere, which I found exhausting and in the end quite disappointing. The narrator made a good stab at reading it and his voice was easy on the ear, but sadly, the story itself was lacking in content and the loose ends were left hanging as if the writer got bored with it and, having written a quota of pages, simply gave up.

A Long Eight Hours Listen for Not Much Reward.

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