The Asylum by John Harwood

Unabridged Audiobook

Yesterday, I finished my 4th read for 2014! I listened to the unabridged version of The Asylum by John Harwood and is read by Rosalyn Landor. Total running time for this unabridged novel is approximately 10.5 hours.

The Asylum is my first experience with anything written by writer John Harwood. The Asylum falls into the Victorian Gothic Suspense genre, which is a genre I normally do not read.

However, in an effort to expand my reading horizons and move out of my normal reading routine, I gave this novel a go... Besides, The Asylum sounded like a captivating and mysterious read based on the novel's overview on the Barnes & Noble website as follows:

Confused and disoriented, Georgina Ferrars awakens in a small room in Tregannon House, a remote asylum in England. She has no memory of the past few weeks. The doctor, Maynard Straker, tells her that she admitted herself under the name Lucy Ashton, then suffered a seizure. When she insists he has mistaken her for someone else, Dr. Straker sends a telegram to her uncle, who replies that Georgina Ferrars is at home with him in London: “Your patient must be an imposter.” Suddenly her voluntary confinement becomes involuntary. Who is the woman in her uncle’s house? Georgina’s perilous quest to free herself takes us from a cliffside cottage on the Isle of Wight to the secret passages of Tregannon House and into a web of hidden family ties on which her survival depends.

I like suspenseful novels, so I felt that The Asylum would be a good fit for me in terms of my reading interests. 

What did I like most about my listening experience with The Asylum?

I thought that Rosalyn Landor did an excellent of reading The Asylum. Overall I enjoyed this novel. I enjoyed the suspense... The characters, the overall storyline and how it played out up until the ending.

What I like least about my listening experience with The Asylum?

Small sections of the novel seemed to be a bit on the slow side and kind of dull in these areas. I also didn't like the ending of the novel very much... One of the characters in the novel got off way to easily for what they'd done, which didn't sit right with me. Also, I could sense how certain turn of events/outcomes would play out and figure out what was going to happen in some parts of The Asylum. I don't like novels that become too predictable.

Overall The Asylum was a good read. I'm giving The Asylum a rating of 7 stars out of 10 stars. I'm willing read or listen to another novel by John Harwood, In fact, I am looking forward to reading or listening to his novel titled The Seance.

Until my next post, happy reading!!