Audiobook Review: You Better Watch Out by James S. Murray and Darren Wearmouth
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The holiday season is supposed to be a time of celebration and cheer. But in the audio edition of You Better Watch Out by James S. Murray and Darren Wearmouth, the holidays are anything but festive for five strangers who end up trapped in an eerily empty town—as, one by one they begin to die gruesome deaths.
The story follows small-time crook Eddie as he makes his way across New York right before Christmas. Though he’s determined go straight in the new year, a stop at a small-town convenience store offers the perfect opportunity to make some good money by stealing from an old couple. But, instead, he ends up knocked out in the parking lot. When he wakes, he’s trapped in a deserted town with a five other people who’ve also been kidnapped—and when the first of them meets a terrible end, Eddie realizes that they’re in a fight for their lives.
From the moment when Eddie and the others wake up in this strange replica of a town, everything about their story is strange and unsettling. No one’s sure why they’re there—or what’s supposed to happen next. And as soon as the first one of the strangers dies in a shockingly unexpected way, the tension ratchets up and never really lets go.
Along with the tension, meanwhile, there’s also plenty of violence—so if you prefer the kind of thrillers where the most violent, gruesome action takes place out of sight, you’ll want to skip this book. This isn’t just a light-hearted holiday whodunit. The characters’ deaths are often sadistically creative—and everything in this fenced-in makeshift town and the surrounding area seems to be rigged with swinging axes or flamethrowers or acid. Anything here could be a trap. And when the characters die, the authors describe each and every horrifying detail.
As more of these strangers die in horrible ways, the suspense builds. It doesn’t matter that Eddie has some dark secrets in his past. Readers will hold their breath while following Eddie and the others as they try to find any way possible to escape—and they won’t let it go until they reach the surprising conclusion.
You Better Watch Out isn’t just another cozy Christmas mystery; it’s a tense and often gruesome thriller with some eerie holiday touches. It probably won’t help to calm your holiday stress—but this pitch-black thriller it sure to keep you guessing until the end.
Pros:
– Tense and suspenseful—will hold your attention through long walks
– Not your ordinary Christmas story
Cons:
– Much more gruesome than the cozy Christmas thriller you might expect
You can listen to the audio version of You Better Watch Out through Audible on Amazon.
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