Customer Reviews

Audrey's Door

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Audrey's Door is an absolutely first rate novel of suspense and horror. It is so thrilling to discover a new favorite! I've always enjoyed writers like King and Straub, and thought that someone as good just wouldn't come along in my lifetime. This author may prove to be worthy of joining the list of excellent horror writers. Not since I first read Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House have I succumbed so totally to the mood of this genre.

The storyline? A young woman with a sad past and bright future finds a surprisingly low cost rental in Manhattan -- a beautiful building (and she is an architect) with an interesting history, a huge apartment with cathedral ceilings, stained glass windows, 50-foot hall way, and all for just $999 a month! What a steal! But wait! It seems that terrible things may have happened in that apartment rather recently, and in the building throughout its history. I guess that is a typical opening to many books of this genre -- but, trust me, in the hands of this artist, there are some interesting twists and turns in the story, and all the characters are drawn beautifully -- really filled in so that each one is a fully realized person in the story.

I loved the main characters, with all their flaws -- Audrey, with her obsessive compulsive disorder and shame about her personal history, her wonderful boyfriend of India Indian heritage, her crazy mother, her boss... all of these are just great characters.

I hope this book gets all the attention it deserves! I plan to take a weekend in the near future and read all of this author's books!

Sarah Langan is receiving much praise from fellow writers, judging from all the blurbs. That's fine; her writing is good.

I enjoyed "Audrey's Door" but not because it was a good horror story. If I were to judge it on that criteria alone, I would give it less than 3 stars. I never felt in the grips of anything approaching terror or even apprehension.

Though this book is supposed to be about the haunting of an apartment building with an interesting past and architecture, the real haunting is that of the story's characters; Audrey's and her mother's OCD, her boyfriend's family issues, and her boss who has a dying child. The "horrors" of the building and it's past and present occupants felt like side issues. While the scenes of horror unfolded, I read, unmoved, and even somewhat confused.

This criticism aside, in spite of a book that seems confused about what genre it is (or an author who hasn't grown enough to pull this thing off), Langan touches upon some meaty issues: mental illness, family attachments, growing up "different", coming to terms with one's past, and even "making friends". I rooted for Audrey to be strong, make friends, do well at work, and let herself commit to love. If all of this sounds like the stuff of a young adult book or "chick-lit", you'd be right on target. Not really my cup of tea, but good enough to keep me interested for Langan does a fine job with her character development.

But, if you're looking for a gripping tale of horror, this is not it.

Audrey was a survivor. She survived her father's abandonment, mother's deteriorating psychological state and her own drug dependency. She came out of the other end with enough scars to last a lifetime: obsessive compulsive disorder, an inability to form healthy relationships with friends and co-workers, and frequent dreams/hallucinations/visions. She moved to NYC to complete her study of architecture, then started working her way up on the proverbial corporate ladder. Her visions intensified after moving to a supposedly bargain apartment in upper west side building with an ill history, Breviary. What follows is a story of a woman walking a fine line between total mental breakdown and bizarre supernatural encounters.

Sarah Langan took great care at molding characters, especially the neurotic protagonist and her perverse neighbors. She described Audrey's memories of her past, OCD and social inadequacy in great details. For a while, I even forgot that I was reading horror fiction. I simply wanted to find out more about the characters. Audrey's return trip to see her comatose mother in the second act is my favorite portion of the novel. That is not to say that Langan skimmed on mystery, suspense and chills. On the contrary, the story is full of dread and forebodings. It features many memorable skin crawling scenes. In one such scene, Audrey was making a business presentation to company's owners and senior management. She then "saw" the mysterious visitor from her last night's nightmare standing with his back facing her and persistently scratching the back wall.

Audrey's Door is both great horror and character study until the end. The climax is a big let down. The world of the supernatural is the book's Achilles heel. Langan did not explain why Breviary necessarily intended to usher in dark forces if the building itself was already sentient, mad and evil. The connection between the supernatural and Audrey's and her mother's psychology is tenuous. It seems to this reader that Langan clobbered together the loose pieces so as to quickly wind down the story. It is odd considering this is her third "ghost" story. Other than that, the book is a fascinating look at troubled female psyche.

This book didn't know what it wanted to be. Was it a horror novel? A novel about a nervous breakdown? What? It was long and boring with absolutely no suspense. You knew from page 2 what was going to happen. The long diatribe about Earth's ecology added absoultely nothing to the story except pages.

No surprises; just a lot of words.

This is a good old fashioned haunted house story. Audrey is a woman with problems. She's coming from a bad and a sad past. She finally finds a man she can love and instead of accepting his proposal, she turns him down, she's not sure why. She wants a change, she's looking for a place to live, New York is expensive, don'tcha know. Then she sees an ad for a room in the Breviary.

Audrey is an architect and this building is an architect's dream. All the other buildings built in this style have come down, it's a miracle, she thinks, that this one is still standing. And the rent, so cheep. But the neighbors, save one, are old and creepy, but the neighbors are not the only tenants in this building.

After the first couple frights I might have moved, but Audrey sticks it out. Will she be scared plenty? You betcha. I got quite a few frights out of this story too. If you like early Stephen King and Dean Koontz or if you were a fan of the Late Richard Laymon's, you'll like this book. Read this one when you're all alone on a dark night. Brrr.

Sarah Langan covers very familiar territory with a ghost story/haunting tale of a mixed-up, lonely woman inhabiting a creepy apartment at NYC's The Brevieary Building. Showing shades of both Stephen King's "The Shining" and, more specifically, Ira Levin's "Rosemary's Baby" (The Breviary is an obvious homage to The Dakota), "Audrey's Door" will prove mostly satisfying to fans of this genre.

Each section of the novel opens with a news story from the past about various tragedies that have occured at The Breviary. The lead character, Audrey Lucas, has had a somewhat tragic history herself - in her mid-thirties dealing with a broken relationship and a turbulent past with her ow institutionalized (and comatose) mother - she is easy prey for the evil spirits of The Breviary who keep demanding that she "build the door".

The Breviary plays tricks on its' tenants and "Audrey's Door" will play tricks on the reader --- some passages are nearly incomprehensible. Where Langan suceeds is in building the terror and exposing her protagonist's flaws in ways we can all relate to. Not a classic, by any means, but a creepy tale nontheless

This novel is a great thriller that leaves the reader wandering what those sounds and shadows are in the dark. I'll admit that it gave me nightmares one night. Throughout the story the reader learns more about the narrator's history while wondering if she's about to follow the same path as her mother. While there was plenty of mystery and revelations, I did figure out one major plot point, but even so, that didn't take away from my enjoyment of the novel as it remains a well-written page-turner.

It seems it is becoming harder, and harder, to find novels of the horror genre, that are as equally driven in delivering the fright factor, as they are in developing the characters. They seem to morph into gratuitous scenes of blood and guts, focusing on soliciting shock-value. And, if the characters aren't sufficiently fleshed-out---if there is no bond with them, then I have difficulty relating to their outcomes.

Not true with Langan's story! She has succeeded in crafting and developing characters that we can relate to, while managing to provide a 4-star 'BOO' factor. Some may feel that we have, 'been there, done that,' with her premise, but Langan states her inspiration came from some of the greatest: The Haunting of Hill House, The Shining and Rosemary's Baby, to name a few; a time when horror stories were character driven; a time when those characters remained unforgettable. She added she hopes she has done well by them with her story. I believe her unique spin on all of these stories, combined, is a triumphant success. Well, almost---there are some flaws.

Audrey, the primary protagonist, is a fragile, psychologically damaged young Architect, with commitment issues, who moves into a steal-of-a-deal Manhattan apartment, The Breviary. She is seeking space from her boyfriend, and attempting to empower herself, in light of some serious emotional issues. She is carrying around enough baggage to fill a dozen Pullman suitcases, including OCD and a mom with debilitating mental illness. I grew to love her for her imperfections.

Langan sets us up with a suspenseful, atmospheric, supernatural thriller, as very strange things begin to take place, and a host of peculiar neighbors begin to unveil themselves. We're left to wonder if Audrey is experiencing a breakdown, or if these events are actually happening. Secondary characters effectively drive the plot. Jayne, the only other young tenant in The Breviary was engaging, and Sarub, Audrey's boyfriend, was endearing, in spite of some serious issues of his own. I thoroughly enjoyed these characters.

Langan does a great job describing her characters. In one scene, an intrusive neighbor accosts Audrey in the hallway. Langan describes this lady so well, I could actually see her through Langan's eyes, all the way to her crusty, fungus-ridden toenails. This is where the subtle creepy factor begins to pinch the nerves.

Build the door and they will come. Ah, yes---this is where I had issues. In a supernatural world, suspending disbelief is often required, but with a little more development in this area, I feel, that for the genre, this would have been a strong 5 star read. All said, I know I will be watching this author closely, and I plan to pick up her other novels, to date.

I've been looking for a new horror author, having read most of King's work as well as lots of Bentley Little and Richard Laymon. Every time I sample a "new" horror author it seems the result is merely mediocre. But this time, I think I've found what I'm looking for. "Audrey's Door" is the tale of Audrey, a young architect who breaks off her engagement and moves into a unique and suprisingly affordable apartment building in Manhattan's Upper West Side. Turns out bad things have happened there fairly recently which could explain the cheap rates but she moves in anyway. Sounds like a typical setup for a haunted house novel but this one takes a new path. As in any good novel, characterization is key and Ms Langan's characters are anything but predictable one dimensional characters. The other tenants of the building are fascinating and Audrey's interaction with them builds the tension and the horror.

Add to that the character of Audrey herself...she has flaws, and a complicated past that leads the reader to wonder if it might not be Audrey herself that is cracking up, rather than the building causing the craziness. She begins to build a door and it is in discovering what the door's purpose may be or where it leads (or what will come through it) that is the source of the novel's horror. The author does not settle for cliched horror but rather introduces logical sources for the terror and the suspense in the book. After reading the novel, I actually did my own research on some of the ideas found within it, including "chaotic naturalism" just to find out more about it. Not many books lead me to do that!

This is a very readable book and a definite page turner with a satisfying conclusion. I'll be looking for her previously published books as well as new stuff; no doubt Sarah Langan has a long career ahead of her.

AUDREY'S DOOR is the third novel by Sarah Langan and with each book she is developing her craft and growing as an author. She has tough competion. Her literary idols are Shirley Jackson, Ira Levin and Stephen King - all authors who at their time reinvented the horror genre.

With each literary genre there are certain plot lines that are as comfortable as an easy chair or a welcome friend. With horror it has always been the haunted house or as we have here the haunted apartment building. It is what the author does with the plot that makes or breaks the story. Stephen King runs wild with THE SHINING. And ROSEMARY'S BABY by Ira Levin is a true classic. Ms. Langan takes the broad initial plot line and treats all her predecessors with respect as she strives to make the genre her own. And she does succeed. We follow architect Audrey Lucas as she moves into the famed apartment building THE BREVIARY. Of course we have an apartment that is too good to be true and Ms. Langan makes the back story of the building and the reasons for Audrey moving in very credible.

Sarah Langan has a true knack for character development which can be a huge asset to a horror novel. Her characters are all three dimensional and psychologically complex. At times her writing flows with such an ease that 20 pages could have passed before you realize how much you have read.

I don't want to give away much plot here. The beginning of this novel is great and grabs the reader right away. Then it flows a little off kilter. It has some great moments but also a few that are off key. But stick with this one for the last quarter of the book show the author at her prime. Sarah Langan is a paperback author at this time but her move to hardcover will come soon. She deserves it. She is a very talented writer who truly respects the craft. She grows with each novel as she tries to provide a work that is intelligent while providing a great journey for the reader. To tackle the horror masters is a steep attempt and Ms. Langan deserves high kudos for the attempt. This novel is quite good but she is not yet at the level of King or Jackson. I belive one day she will be though and this author is certainly one to read and watch.