Swift to Chase

A Collection of Stories

By: Laird Barron

Narrated by: Karin Allers

Introduction by Paul Tremblay.

Publishers Weekly top 10 list for most anticipated horror/sci-fi fall 2016 releases.

Laird Barron’s fourth collection gathers a dozen stories set against the backdrops of the Alaskan wilderness, far-future dystopias, and giallo-fueled nightmare vistas.

All hell breaks loose in a massive apartment complex when a modern day Jack the Ripper strikes under cover of a blizzard; a woman, famous for surviving a massacre, hits the road to flee the limelight and finds her misadventures have only begun; while tracking a missing B-movie actor, a team of man hunters crashes in the Yukon Delta and soon realize the Arctic is another name for hell; an atomic-powered cyborg war dog loyally assists his master in the overthrow of a far-future dystopian empire; following an occult initiation ritual, a man is stalked by a psychopathic sorority girl and her team of horrifically disfigured henchmen; a rich lunatic invites several high school classmates to his mansion for a night of sex, drugs, and CIA-funded black ops experiments; and other glimpses into occulted realities a razor’s slice beyond our own.

Combining hard-boiled noir, psychological horror, and the occult, Swift to Chase continues three-time Shirley Jackson Award winner Barron’s harrowing inquiry into the darkness of the human heart.

©2016 Laird Barron (P)2018 Journalstone Publishing

Poor Narration

I just can't get past the monotonous narration of this audiobook. Barron writes excellent fiction, I have listened to his stories in Ellen Datlow's series Best Horror of the Year and wanted to try his full collections out. I think this would be a good read, but these are loosely connected stories and I literally can't keep track of where we are occasionally because the narrator is so one-note emotionally. It's all read dry and deadpan. I'm going to pick up the ebook and perhaps revisit this to update the story review specifically, normally Barron's stories would earn 5 stars from me. But this production makes it hard to feel the shape of everything. I wonder if that was the voice direction, to execute it like it was being read to you as if in a room by a friend? Regardless, they really missed the mark.

good story. worth a few listens

I've seen people give bad reviews to the reader and I halfway agree. Monotonous tone but it wasn't inappropriate for the tone of the book. I've heard worse reader on Barron's stories unfortunately

Engaging short stories that tie into one another

This is another wonderful shot of crazy from laird Barron . The narrator is extremely good at pulling you into not the story.

flat narration

overall I enjoyed it but the narration felt flat at times and really let the air out of some otherwise hair-raising scenes.

Variety of voices with no character

I adore Laird Barons stories and this collection, but the voice actor was very disappointing. While she can do a range of accents and genders woth out feeling forced, the lack of emotion makes it hard to enjoy a story or feel any connection to a character. She reads a character's reaction to being attacked by a monster with the same monotony as listing a grocery list.

Read the stories yourself or wait until it's narrated by someone else.