The Damaged

I liked the downward spiral of Matthew's sanity throughout the story, how his mind got more and more distorted from reality. I found the story set up both Matthew and Tammy's back story and why they bonded how they did.
The narrator did a good job throughout with the delivery.
I found when the thoughts of each character were read seemed a little basic and not always necessary.
The setting of the storm of 1987 was a good back ground event to the story.

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dark and twisted

This audio was truly a joy to listen to and had me gripped from the start.If dark and twisted is for you then I highly recommende The Damaged...Matthew and Tammy keep you on edge.I loved this story and have now also brought the book....5 thrilling stars..

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Dark & Disturbing

Would you try another book written by Simon Law or narrated by Rob Goll?

I received a free copy of The Damaged in return for an honest review.

I would definitely try another of Simon's books. However, and being brutally honest, I struggled with Rob's narration and found it distracting at times - quite robotic over-annunciation, which dampened my enthusiasm; everyone's story-ear is different though, so might just be me. I imagine that in written form, The Damaged would have been a page-turner.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Damaged?

Without giving too much away...how depressingly realistic the characters truly are...this is testament to Simon's character development

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Rob Goll?

Robert G. Slade impresses

Could you see The Damaged being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

It would be a brave studio boss that commissioned The Damaged as one-off series, but I could see it being taken on in this format, as opposed to a movie. It would demand the courage of a channel like AMC (as in The Walking dead) to do it justice and really pull out the gruesome nature of the story. In terms of actors: Matthew - Tom Hardy. Tammy - Thandie Newton

Any additional comments?

As a first 'book' for Simon, The Damaged is an unsettling psychological/horror story, and is probably one of the darkest I have listened to in a while. Graphic, gruesome (in places) and twisted - yeah, made me feel uncomfortable as all good horror stories should!

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Wow! Fantastically thrilling.

There is so much I really enjoyed about this book. So, so much. From the storm itself, being reminded of all the things I love back in 87 I was 10 years of age then and Thundercats, and plugging in and shooting aliens was totally my life! I love this kid.

But, it soon turns really nasty and his parents are murdered. The storm itself is horriffic. The descriptions and emotions evoked through this are very real, and disturbing. This then does throw Matthew into the next years of his life as the damaged soul he is.

The writing and research that the author has done to get so deep into the psychological problems of such trauma is sheer amazing. From experience and my own pain, there was nothing here that struck out to me as being 'wrong' I could clearly identify with both Matthew and Tammy.

Tammy is as much as Matthew a very disturbed woman with a past almost as worrying. Almost killing her daughter, and drinking far too much for her own health. She's supposed to be Matthews carer, but she's hurt and suffers with illness as well. Not too sure that's a combination that would be allowed. With my mental illness I was refused to go into the caring community job wise. A blessing in disguise I'm sure, for what they actually see.

So, yes, this book/narration is very real, very deep and hauntingly disturbing. And actually quite triggering, but don't worry. It was good and good to see someone put so much effort both into the narration and the story.

This is the first British narrator I've actually listened to, and I did find that although Rob had a lovely tone for his characters, his actual narration could bring me out of the story just a few times. But, enough that I needed to mention. I do think that together both the author and narrator make a great team, the husky voice of Rob and the smooth flow... to the upward climb of tension towards the novel's climax. Excellent working AudioBook.

If you regularly love horror, thriller and disturbing stories, then this is right up your street.

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