House of Echoes

Duffy's debut is a mix of horror and mystery as a disturbed couple flees life in New York City for a safer place to raise their sons and heal their marriage. Narrator Allyson Ryan superbly portrays the female protagonist. Speaking as a voice from the past, she adds a haunting sound to the tension of the narrative. As the overall narrator, George Newbern has a much larger part, and for the most part he delivers a tension-packed reading. However, his voices at times get a bit muddled, missing a regional accent here and there and occasionally allowing secondary characters' voices to drift. The production also misses the mark from time to time with sentences that run together and other minor audio imperfections. M.C. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

February 2, 2015
In Duffy’s chilling debut, author Ben Tierney, who’s coping with writer’s block, moves with his family from Manhattan to Swannhaven, a village in upstate New York. Ben and his wife, Caroline, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, hope to build a new and better life by converting an old farming estate into a country inn. Instead of the idyllic life they expected, alarming things start happening. A shed on their property mysteriously catches on fire. Someone, whom the Tierneys’ eight-year-old son names “the Watcher,” leaves disturbing messages and animal carcasses in the nearby woods. On one occasion, a deer’s head is left on their stoop. To make matters worse, Caroline becomes increasingly paranoid. Ben needs to discover who or what is responsible. Having decided to write about the village, he begins seeing eerie connections between events in the past and the present. Duffy does a good job building the suspense, but some readers may feel let down by the implausible ending. Agent: Elisabeth Weed, Weed Literary.