OCTOBER 2014 - AudioFile
Effective ghost stories are always about atmosphere and characters who struggle to uncover secrets that are best left undiscovered. In this one, master storyteller Garth Stein finds a consummate collaborator in talented narrator Seth Numrich. Fourteen-year-old Trevor, who is trying to keep his divorcing parents together, has moved into a mansion on Puget Sound with his father. As the story unspools, Numrich’s smooth delivery, caring tone, and perfect pauses allow the growing horror to creep into your psyche. Numrich shines at portraying Trevor’s teenaged angst, especially his longing to understand adult decisions. Goosebumps are guaranteed as Numrich’s performance elevates this tale of twisted terror to heights attained by Poe and Lovecraft. It’s that good. R.O. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
07/07/2014
In a complete change of pace from his dog-centric The Art of Racing in the Rain, Stein transports the reader to Riddell House, a 100-year-old mansion made entirely of wood overlooking Puget Sound. Jones Riddell and his 14-year-old son, Trevor, move there following the failure of Jones’s business and his ensuing separation from Trevor’s mother. Jones has come to Riddell House to help his younger sister, Serena, persuade their Alzheimer’s-afflicted father to sell the family land, which is worth a fortune, to housing developers. But supernatural forces stand in the way of the deal. Clever Trevor, as he is called, begins to see ghosts and have visions. Researching the history of the Riddell clan—rapacious timber barons—he finds that it is rife with sexual secrets, incest, illness, and even madness, which forces him to realize that his dream of seeing his family whole again might come at too great a cost. With its single setting and small cast of characters (ghosts not included), the story’s feeling of claustrophobia adds to the tension. Stein dramatizes the various tensions between his characters well, although narrator Trevor comes off as a tad precocious for 14. The history of the Riddell family fails to shock after a while, even as events in the present lead to the tragic denouement. (Sept.)
BookPage
A Sudden Light is the best of many genres: a ghost story, a love story, historical fiction….a truly killer read…a bold, poignant book about wealth, family ties, and the power—and fallacy—of memory.
The Dallas Morning News
"Remarkable....Stein's prose is assured, gorgeous, and magnificently atmospheric....Cheers to Garth Stein for showing us compassion, empathy, and incredible talent."
Maria Semple
Wow! I devoured A Sudden Light, a grand, gorgeous, multi-generational epic of the Pacific Northwest. Garth Stein has given us another singular, soulful, and wise narrator for the ages, who tells us a story full of mystery and yearning. I adored this book.
Historical Novels Review
"Heart-wrenching, poignant, joyful.... Garth Stein is a master storyteller!"
Aspen Daily News
A story of empire-building, fathers and sons, family and environmental destruction, secrets kept and promises broken…a book worth reading.
Boston Globe
"A 14-year-old boy trying to patch his family back together and a centuries-old ghost drive this novel's explorations of the connections between the living and the dead, parents and children, and what it means to be stewards of the land."
Queen Anne & Magnolia News
"Stein's beautiful writing packs a velvety punch and is pure pleasure to read. A Sudden Light entertains with suspenseful story lines and satisfies with its message of family, story, and redemption."
Steamboat Pilot & Today
"Imbued with strong, quirky characters and the smell of place, the allegiances of family and the realization of mystery...When all is said and done, and you have turned the last page, you find you have loved the journey."
starred review Booklist
"Haunting in all the right ways."
Robert Goolrick
This magnificent and haunting ghost story will pull you into its world and hold you captive, awe you with the enduring power and beauty of nature, and, on every page, fill you with amazement at Stein’s infinite compassion for the human condition…. A major achievement by a major American writer.
Jamie Ford
"Take equal parts mystery, lyrical magic, and a healthy dose of natural wonder, add a multi-generational family struggling with the ghosts of the past, literally and figuratively, and you have A Sudden Light—a beautiful, deeply thought-provoking story that is impossible to put down."
Deseret News
"Commanding...formidable...robust and well-written with beautifully clever diction and unexpected plot twists"
Good Housekeeping
"A haunting family saga."
Interview Magazine
"Set against the stunning beauty of the Pacific Northwest and told with expert angst, empathy, poetry, and mystery, Stein has created an ode to nature and redemption...in turns touching and classically sinister, with surprising twists."
Seattle Times
"Rich and textured...Stein is resourceful, cleverly piecing together the family history with dreams, overheard conversations, and reminiscences...a tale well told."
Minneapolis Star Tribune
"A captivating page-turner."
People
Witty, atmospheric and filled with acutely observed characters, Stein’s ghost story possesses uncommon depth.
Library Journal - Audio
03/01/2015
Trevor Riddell, now an adult, remembers his experiences and discoveries from the summer when he was 14, which he spent at his family's home near Seattle. Trevor's parents are newly separated, and his father takes him to visit his dysfunctional relatives—mysterious Aunt Serena and a senile grandfather—where things aren't as they may seem. The enormous house is rife with secret stairways, ghosts, hidden rooms, and long-lost diaries. Stein's dark descriptions of the house, the Pacific Northwest, and the characters are superb, although the story can be slow-moving at times. Seth Numrich provides an engaging and believable narration. VERDICT Of interest to fans of Stein (Racing in the Rain) and contemporary ghost stories. ["While this purported ghost tale starts strong, an earnest environmental message and other philosophizing bogs it down in a silly, overly dramatic plot," read the review of the S. & S. hc, LJ 9/15/14.]—Denise Garofalo, Mount Saint Mary Coll. Lib., Newburgh, NY
OCTOBER 2014 - AudioFile
Effective ghost stories are always about atmosphere and characters who struggle to uncover secrets that are best left undiscovered. In this one, master storyteller Garth Stein finds a consummate collaborator in talented narrator Seth Numrich. Fourteen-year-old Trevor, who is trying to keep his divorcing parents together, has moved into a mansion on Puget Sound with his father. As the story unspools, Numrich’s smooth delivery, caring tone, and perfect pauses allow the growing horror to creep into your psyche. Numrich shines at portraying Trevor’s teenaged angst, especially his longing to understand adult decisions. Goosebumps are guaranteed as Numrich’s performance elevates this tale of twisted terror to heights attained by Poe and Lovecraft. It’s that good. R.O. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine