Another good ghost story by Ambrose Ibsen. A little on the creepy side in certain parts of the book. It is about a house that has a malovent spirit called "the upside down man" and if anyone looks upon him then they will disappear within three days as he comes to collect them. Midway through the book to the end, the story escalates where you have to keep reading to find out what happens. Four stars for this one. ( )

Better than expected! After getting off to a slow start, the story amped up. We know the end as it's basically told in flashback, but it's still interesting. In retrospect, I didn't actually want the spoiler.

This is the story of the upside down man and a haunted house that you don't want to enter. Something bad will happen to you if you dare to go in. (The story started out a little bit Blair Witch style but after a while it lost that aspect.) Two people broke the rules and this is what happens.

Might have been interesting if there had been more scenes of exploring the house at night, but that's a minor complaint. ( )

My original Whispering Corridors audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

It's Halloween time, and college student Lydia wants to make a documentary about an old deserted house (think Blair Witch Project) and persuades her best friend Eric to come along. Eric is hesitant because he has heard the rumors about the house in Kenwood Drive. A local legend speaks of "The Upside-Down Man" who haunts the place. Anybody entering the house disappears three days later never to be seen again.

I have listened to several stories by Ambrose Ibsen now (his Ulrich files are great) and he is consistently brilliant at creating a fitting atmosphere and letting the tension build up gradually. This isn't the kind of horror story that's full of blood and gore. Instead, you get a high dose of psychological tension, the sense of the clock ticking, and a constant menace in the background. Scary stuff. Because of the "silly college kids enter haunted house"-topic I was expecting this to be fairly predictable, but it actually wasn't.

Eric, the male protagonist, is likable, but I couldn't understand why he was friends with Lydia. She just came across as selfish and unkind. I would have preferred a bit more back-story to their friendship. Theirs wasn't a romantic relationship - unless I totally missed something - but their seemingly close friendship was never really explained. But as this was quite a short story and the main focus is obviously on the haunted house scenario, this is really a minor niggle.

The end seems to split readers/listeners into two camps. You'll either think it's crafty or you'll feel dissatisfied. I don't necessarily need everything wrapped up perfectly, but this was so abrupt, I actually had to check whether there was something wrong with the audio and I was missing a bit. However, I then went back to the first chapter and after listening to it again, I felt happier with the ending. There was one scenario towards the end that didn't make sense to me. It relates to the idea of 'upside down'. Can't really explain this fully without giving the plot away.

Joe Hempel was an excellent choice as narrator for this story because his normal tone of voice matched the description of Eric, the young college student, in whose first-person perspective the story is told, perfectly. His delivery is clear and he adds the right amount of emotions and eeriness to his delivery where appropriate. The smooth, first-class performance combined with the gripping plot held my attention throughout.

Overall, Whispering Corridors was a spooky, fun story, which, at just over 5 hours, I easily devoured in a day. Highly recommended if you're looking for a good haunted house / urban legend story. This should also appeal to fans of paranormal thrillers.

Audiobook was provided for review by the narrator. ( )