M R James, or Stephen King?

This audiobook was given for free, in exchange for an honest review.

Worms is an odd little gem in the rough.
It is set out as a tribute to the master of the English ghost story, M R James (Even the author's psuedoname, James R Montague is just the master's names in reversed order). But anyone who knows M R James well could tell you that James never wrote a novel. Only short stories that left a lot to the imagination. So how does one make a James-ian novel?
Well. Worms comes out of the gate hard. Not wasting much time getting into the gloomy and the sardonic. You get creepy imagery and happenings before the first half hour is out. It feels like it's going to burn out. And maybe it does show a bit too much too quickly. It's hard not to feel King, Herbert, Kneal, or Jackson would have made it a little more ambiguous as to if anything strange was really happening. Just when it seems like the story is about to hit you with and EC Comics style climax, it suddenly slows down, and starts giving its characters room to breath and be fleshed out. Then the ending goes into a very Stephen King-like direction. One that's more "Big" than "Quiet".

So does Worms fail as a homage to James? Well, if you wanted a total 1-to-1 but in novel form. Yes. Is it bad though? Not in my book.
Granted I have a fondness for the less serious horror of the late 70s to Early 90s. Thomas Ligotti this is not and that's fine with me. I think M R James would have approved of the dry humour that runs through this book. And there are plenty of small moments that really do capture his style of understated chills and love for the bleak beauty of the east coast. And the ending left me with an evil smile on my face,

Hannibal Hills does a good job as narrator. I think the main character was meant to sound a bit older and more educated. But he gets the idea of him across. And he does very well with the descriptive passages.

Worms is a dark little thrill ride that is maybe more like a James Herbert book with M R James themes than a pure homage. But if all you want is some nice paperback horror. Come right in.

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Terrible narration

Story was fine but the narrator kept over emphasising the word worms which made my teeth grind. Each time its said "wOORms" sounded more like he just learnt a new word and was trying out ways of saying it.

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I’ve heard scarier books in my time…

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I read this book… But it wasn’t what I got.
It was certainly Strange… Maybe I just read harder horror novels… But this didn’t really scare me. As for the narration, I think hills sounded bored at the beginning… And it wasn’t until towards the end that he really seem to get into it.
This isn’t one I would read again, but if you are beginning the genre… Then maybe I would suggest this one. But I suppose as it was written in the 70's, they couldn't write the same stuff they do now.

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Old Style Horror

I love old sci-fi and horror and this book was right up my street.
Cheesy and rather stupid, it would make an excellent B-movie (provided they dialled down the inherent sexism rife throughout but alas, political correctness was rather sparse back in 70s cult literature).
Performance wise, Hills does a decent job but it does take a while for him to hit his stride with this book. Would be interesting to hear others he has narrated for a sense of style.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request via Audioboom and have voluntarily left this review.

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Oh no, beware of the killer worms!!!!!!!!

This story is predictable, contrived and derivative with ludicrous characters, unbelievable situations and laughable dialogue – but I love it! It is pure, unadulterated fun, and this element is sorely missing from many contemporary horror books. And hey, any audiobook that features killer worms has to be worth a listen!

However, although the book itself is thoroughly entertaining, the narration almost made me give up a number of times. No offence to the narrator, but his style and delivery was not at all suited to this particular book. It felt as if I was listening to a first school teacher at story time, with every sentence overemphasised, over enunciated and overdramatized. He stressed the word ‘worms’ every single time it appeared in the book (which is a lot!), and this became extremely grating. Also, it was very obvious that the narrator was reading a text, the delivery was not at all natural. Such a performance would be ideal for audiobooks for children, but unfortunately it is totally unsuited for the intimacy required for an adult audiobook of creeping dread. In short, the narration was not a good fit with this book.

But one good thing about the narration were the hilarious voices for the secondary characters, most of who sounded like pantomime dames or drag queens (honestly!). Considering the pulpiness of the book, I cannot tell if these narrative choices were intentional or not – but I hope they were.

In conclusion, although I do recommend this audiobook for people looking for a short, fun, schlocky horror story, I will avoid any books featuring this narrator.

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Perfect seventies horror production

I loved this, I am certain that I read this back in the eighties, and I think Hannibal HIlls was the perfect man for the job of narrating it.

It's a typical story from that era, creepy crawly worms and shocky jumpy moments (not so shocky these days though) about a rather unpleasant couple who should probably have got divorced years ago, back in the seveties that was not really so common though but it probably would have saved this lady's life. He finds the property of his dreams, she disagrees, so bye bye wifey. After murdering his wife, he goes on to buy the 'home' he has his heart set on, which is, in fact a derelict outbuilding/boat house. He is forever plagued by WORMS (the caps are deliberate) , they are everywhere, in paintings, in his nightmares, in the water ... Blegh. So I hope I have set the scene for you here, it's ridiculous but enjoyably so.

The ending is perfect, literally perfect, made my day anyway.

I totally recommend this one to fans of seventies and eighties horror, and even to others, try it, you might enjoy it, it's really rather entertaining.

I received my own copy free of charge at my request and I am delighted to leave this unbiased and honest review.

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Wooooormsss, Whaaaoooormmmms

I like the narrator overall (having heard other books he narrated), but I HATE the narration of this book. Also, how he enounciates the word "worms" (which is close to "woohoooormmmmms") is hitting a nerve for me.

Story-wise this isn't great, but it is a light reading for horror readers. There are strong 80's vibes, and themes, along with prices that are long lost to memory. I can't say I didn't enjoy it, but it wasn't really a masterpiece.

Overall I enjoyed it. If you like light horror and don't really mind horrible narrations, maybe give this a go, otherwise skip it.

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Not What You Might Expect

Purely judging from the title and cover, I assumed this audiobook was going to be a cheesy '70s man-vs-nature horror, but, in fact, it was a well-written dark thriller about the consequences of guilt, with the titular worms lurking menacingly in the background. I thought the pacing of the story was perfect and I was gripped throughout.
Hannibal Hills has a wonderful, natural style to narration, and I like how he differentiates each character well.
Valencourt Books does great work bringing attention to forgotten stories from yesteryear and Worms is yet another triumph.
Highly recommended.

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1 person found this helpful

A

This is my first audio book by James r Montague i liked it 10 out of 10 hanniba l hills is good as allways

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