Book Review: Bedside Manner by Isaac Thorne

It's easy to tell yourself there's no such thing as ghosts, at least until you meet one face-to-face. Then it becomes a matter of convincing yourself that you are not seeing what you think you are seeing. If you happen to be Jake, a barely school age child who awakens one night to find an elongated abomination in female form floating by his bedside, there is no amount of daylight or parental soothing that can convince you that ghosts are not real.

The apparition arrives at a crucial time in Jake’s family life, just when he’s beginning to notice that his mommy and his daddy aren’t getting along the way they once did. Daddy seems particularly stressed about his job at the hospital, which seems to be making him tired and nearly always irritable.

His new visitor, the start of the school year, and the tension between his parents start to take their toll on Jake as he searches for a way to rid himself of at least one of his triad of problems. His schooling is required by law. His parents don’t seem to be interested in continuing to get along. That leaves Jake with only one option. Can he determine what the ghost wants and send her on her way back to the realm of the dead?

BEDSIDE MANNER is a short tale of dark comic horror from the mind of Isaac Thorne, a nice man who simply wants to provide you with a few fun frights. Throughout history ghosts have haunted the imaginations of young children. On a few occasions, they have reportedly compelled those children to perform unspeakable acts of horror against the living. BEDSIDE MANNER documents one child’s attempts to resist.

My original Bedside Manner audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

Jake is awaken by the ghost of a woman in the middle of the night. He’s terrified of this fetid presence that seems to appear every night at the same hour, so he asks his parents for help. What Jake didn’t expect is that his parents seem to know more about this woman than what they let in.

This is a short but interesting story. It’s written from the the point of view of Jake, a child of unspecified age but I guess he would be around ten years old. The child’s personality transpires from the narration, and the effect is very well created.

The dialogs are fluid and sound natural. Sometimes it’s difficult to make characters sound like real people but Thorne succeeded. This is partly why his characters work so well.

The story kept my attention, even though I felt the end was a bit anticlimactic. It sent chills anyway down my spine. I had a couple of issues with the writing style, seeming at times a bit repetitive.

What shocked me a bit was how Jake’s father tells the woman’s story to his child. It seemed a bit unrealistic, unless Jake’s father had psychological issues.

Although I liked the story, I had troubles with the narration, which is done by Isaac Thorne himself. If I could give a piece of advice to authors would be to hire a professional narrator unless they can deliver spotless narration and audio production. It is sadly not the case here. Thorne’s interpretation skills are okay but all voices sound the same most of the time, and they are not even consistent. There are also variations in volume, mouth noises and sudden background noises which really distracted me from the story. Narrating is one of those things that may seem easy but it takes a professional to get professional results.

I would recommend this short story to any horror fan, but sadly I can’t recommend the audio version.

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lomeraniel

My name is Elena. Since I was a little child I loved science fiction and fantasy, and I can’t resist a good novel. In 2015, while wait I started to listen to audiobooks and I discovered the pleasure in being able to read while doing my daily tasks, so there’s always an audiobook playing on my phone. If you see me with my Bluetooth headphones on, please be gentle, I get easily startled.

I live with my boyfriend, which I met during my six-year stay in Belgium, four cockatiels, eight lovebirds, and a hamster in Madrid, Spain; and I like to spend my free time knitting and sewing while listening to audiobooks.