House of Sighs [Kindle Edition]

Aaron Dries (Author)

Book Description

A busload of captives on an express ride to terror!

It’s the summer of 1995, and the passengers of the Sunday bus into town have realized that something is very, very wrong with their driver. They don’t know that she began her day planning to kill herself. But they know that she’s threatening to kill them. They began the ride as her passengers, but now they’re her captives. She’s already shown she won’t hesitate to use that gun in her hand, and no one wants to be the next to die. They have no idea where she’s taking them, who will be left alive when they get there, or what‘s in store for the survivors. With a madwoman at the wheel, the bus has gone far off its route, deep into insanity. And for most of the passengers, the next stop will be their last.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Aaron Dries' debut pulls out all the stops... The villains Dries creates are incredibly realistic and absolutely terrifying... [It] will please any horror fan looking for an entirely unique, twisted tale." --RT Book Review

"It totally blew me away ... I have a new favorite author on my radar."  --David Bernstein, author of Amongst the Dead

"... A deeply unsettling book and a powerful debut. There isn't enough quality Australian horror fiction out there, and in the face of this, Dries proves himself an author to watch. " --Hellnotes.com

"For those of you who want to be sobered by your scares, I heartily recommend House of Sighs." --Adam Cesare, author of Tribesmen

"Aaron Dries has written a fast-paced, blood 'n guts, edge-of-your-seat horror novel that should definitely establish him as an author to keep an eye on ... So get on the bandwagon and get yourself a copy of Dries' freshman effort and be prepared to be blown away."
-- Dread Central

“House of Sighs grabs you from page one and displays moments of real brilliance. It's fast, scary and disturbing.”
--Nate Kenyon, author of Bloodstone and Sparrow Rock
 

Book Description

The passengers of the Sunday bus into town have realized that something is very wrong with their driver. They don’t know that she began her day planning to kill herself. But they know that she’s threatening to kill them. She’s already shown she won’t hesitate to use her gun, and no one wants to die. They have no idea where she’s taking them or who will be left alive when they get there. The bus has gone far off its route, deep into insanity. And for most of the passengers, the next stop will be their last.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 411 KB
• Print Length: 280 pages
• Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd. (March 6, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B006VFOAUE
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #591,382 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrifying & Heart-breaking March 15, 2012

By Brian Edwards

Format:Kindle Edition

An unbelievably good debut novel. I couldn't put it down (but I wanted to several times just from being delightfully creeped out). It's not only a good scare but it's got heart. You really feel for these characters. Sometimes it's pity, sometimes empathy and sometimes anger right up until the brilliant ending. If you like horror drawn from realistic situations (no vampires or zombies here) you will love this.

Dries has style. Looking forward to a lot more from him.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars LOVE THIS BOOK!! March 11, 2012

By Kira

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was given the recommendation for this title by a friend of mine who knows the author. It sounded like something I would enjoy so I spent the $5.00 and bought it for my Kindle. Best $5.00 I ever spent on a book. Ever. It is set in the author's native Australia, and while I'm from the USA, I've visted Australia (loved it!) and thought that a horror book set in Australia would be very interesting. I cannot recommend this book more highly. It's like an ecclectic mix of Stephen King's twists and turns and Rob Zombie's House of 1,000 Corpses gore and graphic violent sequences. I would love to see this book be made into a movie! Congrats and thank you Aaron, you're an impressive talent and I can't wait for your next book. :)

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! A must read! April 1, 2012

By dbern77

Format:Kindle Edition

I had no idea what to expect from Aaron Dries's first novel, but it totally blew me away! From the beginning i was hooked. House of Sighs is gruesome, scary, mean and nasty. As the reader, you have no idea what will happen and when it does you're like "Wow and Woah!" I love his writing style, how he talks about one character's point of view and sprinkles in something like "as his daughter blew some kid's head off". Read it and you'll understand. This is a true, horrifying horror novel, filled with chaos to the maximum level, but done so damn smoothly. I have a new favorite author on my radar.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars House of Sighs- like nothing else you have read! March 7, 2012

By Peree from Australia

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Horror has never really been my genre but how can you resist a horror story set in rural NSW in Australia- its unique. This debut novel takes you on a trip you never saw coming and I could not put it down. I can't wait for Aaron Dries' next offering!!!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A strong debut novel July 30, 2012

By C. M. Briggs

Format:Paperback

Although my review will not be the rave others have bestowed on this work, I will enthusiastically state that Aaron Dries is a talent to watch. Maybe it's the crotchety old pedant in me, but I consider "House of Sighs" more of a classic suspense story, albeit with some gruesome details, than a "Horror" novel. Maybe it doesn't really matter.

WHATEVER it is, "House of Sighs" does what it does quite well with enough originality and story telling ability to merit a confident recommendation. Neither is there any doubt of competence/confidence of the prose work. Aaron writes well. But, horror? Suspense? Thriller?

Well, there's nothing supernatural going on here and the violence isn't portrayed with the loving sadism of a Rob Zombie or Friday the 13th part whatever flick. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of this work, and something which elevates it beyond, oh, "10,000 Maniacs" is the sympathetic portrayal of the family of "villains." They are thought through more carefully than in the average "slasher flick." They are not the collection of almost comic, single-sided archetypes you encounter in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." For me, this makes "House of Sighs" a much more enjoyable "read."

You see: although I LOVE a good horror story, I loathe and despise "slasher flicks." (And a hearty "Right On!" to The Atlantic for labeling the later "torture porn.)

I would call "House of Sighs" a modern re-interpretation of the old "Lifeboat" plot, wherein a diverse set of characters are thrown together against a common enemy or "problem." In the Hitchcock movie, the common enemy is "the sea." In "House of Sighs" its a loony (or two or three) with a gun. (Okay, the plot goes back a lot further than that.... I'm thinking "Stagecoach" and even "The Outcasts of Poker Flats." "Dawn of the Dead" may use the same, essential plot, but the violence is much more graphic. The intrusion of the supernatural, i.e. "the zombie apocalypse, puts it squarely into the "Horror" genre. Stephan King does the same thing in "The Mist.") Still, I appreciated the not over-used (i.e. cliche;) characters, an unusual setting and an unexpected catalyst to set things in motion.

As you know from the other reviews, the plot concerns the fate of an unlucky group of bus passengers. The bus driver .... well, she's having a bad day. (Ever sit on a bus and wonder what would happen if the driver just totally lost it? I sure have. Aaron goes for it and brings the story off with aplomb.)

I give "House of Sighs" four out of five stars for purely subjective reasons. As an American, whenever I encounter the classic "disparate-group-of-people-suddenly-thrust-together-against-a-common-enemy-who-will-survive?!" scenario, I am reminded of 911 and United Flight 93 which spoils the entertainment a little. There's nothing any writer can do about that except let time work to heal the wounds.

But taken on its own terms -- which is how any book should be taken -- "House of Sighs" is a "good one."

Worth reading Read more ›

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything in Australia is poisonous June 1, 2012

By Adam Cesare

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

House of Sighs begins with an ill-fated bus ride helmed by a conductor who's got a dangerously tenuous grip on reality, and devolves into a situation that can only be described as chaos. The human evils of abuse, drugs, and mental anguish collide with Australia's hostile climate and wildlife to disastrous effect.

The cover and title could lead you to think that you are getting a haunted house story, but what we have here is firmly in the genre of "real-world" horror. We have a group of flawed protagonists and antagonists (in some cases the categories are interchangeable) thrust into a situation that gets worse with each chapter. Coincidence, misunderstanding, the natural world, and human cruelty mix together until finally ending in a crescendo of violence that's almost absurd in its senselessness.

In the final chapters, we are left with an aftermath that would be impossible to parse without knowledge of the inciting events and the players involved, and that's the appeal. The tragedies that Dries constructs would be unbelievable if he didn't make us believe them, if he didn't show us how they happen (in some cases diving back to character's childhoods to show us their dark origins). Luckily he does, with several narrative gutpunches successfully delivered throughout.

If your definition of horror is limited to imaginary ghosts and ghouls, than you should probably stay away. But for those of you who want to be sobered by your scares, I heartily recommend House of Sighs.

More About the Author

Former pizza boy, retail clerk, kitchen hand, aged care worker, video director and copywriter, Aaron Dries was born and raised in New South Wales, Australia. When asked why he writes horror, his standard reply is that when it comes to scaring people, writing pays slightly better than jumping out from behind doors. His second novel, The Fallen Boys, is just as--if not more--twisted than his debut. He is currently hard at work on a third book, a collection of short stories and numerous paintings. Feel free to drop him a line at www.aarondries.com. He won't bite. Much.