The Sick House Audiobook By Ambrose Ibsen cover art

The Sick House

The Ulrich Files, Book 1

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The Sick House

By: Ambrose Ibsen
Narrated by: Jake Urry
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Some Places Should Stay Abandoned....

Dr. Siegfried Klein has vanished on a mysterious pilgrimage to an abandoned infirmary in the ghost-town of Moonville. The locals in the surrounding areas are tight-lipped, hostile to outsiders. Local legend has it that the old Sick House is packed with spirits, none of them friendly, and that to set foot in it is to enter Hell itself.

Enter Harlan Ulrich, private investigator and skeptic.

Traveling to the site, the detective begins the long process of separating truth from grisly local myth, and during his investigation stumbles upon certain frightful evidence that tries his nerve. He wants to find the doctor in one piece and weathers the hostilities of the locals even as their stories keep him up at night. But the longer he spends in the ghost town of Moonville, the more he feels the influence of something sinister in the shuttered infirmary.

When finally the truth is revealed and the infirmary's sordid past comes to light, will Ulrich manage to escape with his life?

©2016 Ambrose Ibsen (P)2016 Ambrose Ibsen Fantasy Horror Paranormal & Urban Urban Scary
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This was a surprisingly wonderful listen. I think a lot of people will miss out on this story. If you base your choices on the number of reviews/listens before deciding if it is something you may be interested in, you may overlook some very entertaining stories. The narrator was great. I throughly enjoyed his voice throughout the story. It certainly didn't feel like I had listened to a 6 hour book. I will look forward to more of this series.

An Overlooked Gem

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Harlan Ulrich is a broken down, second tier private investigator who has seemingly lost the passion for his job. When he is approached by the nephew of a missing doctor he takes the case only because he is almost out of coffee beans. Ulrich loves his coffee. What he didn’t plan on, was taking a road trip to an abandoned infirmary called the Sick House in the ghost town of Moonville. It appears that he is going to have to do some serious investigating this time. Maybe even find his passion. That is if he can survive the secrets buried within the Sick House. Hope the coffee beans are worth it.

The audio for this one was extremely good. The only problem I had with it really was the English accent of the narrator. Not that should be an issue, but the story is based in Ohio. That’s right. Ohio. Crazy. The really interesting part about it is that I think it made the story even better. Jake Urry’s narration was spot on in cadence and tone, pacing and character. Very well done. Besides, everybody knows Ohio is a hotbed for old school English Private Investigators with a penchant for expensive coffee beans. Duh.

An entertaining and enjoyable detective tale with a supernatural spin and an English Ohioan. What’s not to like. I dug it.

"I was provided an audio copy of this work by the narrator at no cost in exchange for an unbiased and honest review.”

An entertaining and enjoyable detective tale

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Normally, I read the story first and then listen to the story. In this case, I think I'm glad I didn't. Urry's narration was smooth yet ominus. In some places, I almost heard shades of Anthony Hopkins. The performance almost felt like a bed time story told by Hannibal Lector.



This audiobook was given by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review via Audiobook Boom.

Perfect for a rainy evening

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Harlan Ulrich is a private investigator. Due to his reasonable rates, he has been hired to find Dr. Siegfried Klein who disappeared after receiving a request for assistance from a medical facility in the town of Moonville. Either find the doctor or why he disappeared. Sounds fairly straightforward but there are several issues that complicate matters. Moonville is a ghost-town, the facility has been abandoned for several decades and is rumored to be haunted by the spirits of past patients. The more Harlan investigated; the more hair-raising encounters were discovered. The longer Harlan stayed, the more he wanted to leave. Will Harlan find the doctor or determine what happened to him? Will Harlan escape the morass of Moonville and keep his sanity? Jake Urry, the narrator, is fantastic with this genre. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Spooky good!

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Ulrich is quite the character. He is lazy and kind of a scaredy cat. Of course I probably would be scared too in his shoes. But after some long hard thought he dives right back in and does whatever is necessary to solve the case. Another great case from the Ulrich files!

The sick house

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Southern grotesque elements in a decidedly northern setting. Between the excellent choice of narrator and eccentric main character (who is often unlikeable) this was a VERY different read from what I had been expecting. I think print version would make for a better overall analysis, but truthfully, I have yet to encounter a book that mixes so many little tidbits of genres and does it so well. Would recommend.

Excellent Literary Read

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Though not terribly original, I enjoyed the story very much. The narrator, however, was a great distraction. I know what Ohioans sound like, being one myself. The narrator made the characters sound more like they are from New York or maybe even, in the case of the main character, Europe. However, I will buy the next in the series.

Great story line

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What did you love best about The Sick House?

It is intensely creepy and very descriptive, at times a little too in depth and I found myself drifting until that segment was over. It is very easy to imagine being in the dank, dark tunnels of the house, yet again my ‘phobia’ was challenged with the ‘damp, furry bodies of the rats’ as they crawl around. That was enough to make me cringe!

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Sick House?

I listened to this on audiobook and it was the quality of the narration that made it so enjoyable. Imagine all the late night horror movies, scary books, Halloween etc all rolled into one and that nowhere near portrays the talent of Jake Urry. His voice is gravelly, chilling, atmospheric yet keeps the listener absolutely riveted and desperate to continue. The shivers went up my spine as soon as he read the title!!

Have you listened to any of Jake Urry’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is my first experience of Jake Urry, I'm already downloading another one. An incredible talent.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Pray you don't become sick!

Any additional comments?

The cover of this looks so gruesome that I was immediately curious! I’m actually participating in the blog tour for the third book in the series so to get me up to speed I wanted to read one and two. The Sick House is the first where we are introduced to Ulrich the private investigator. He is an unfathomable character at the outset but once the layers are unpeeled and his character is revealed he is a sturdy straight talking guy. He is tired of the usual husband/wife suspecting an affair cases so when the opportunity arises to locate a missing doctor he dives straight in.

Ulrich sets out to unearth what happened to the doctor, amidst ghoulish tales and local hostility it makes for a suspenseful story set in an incredibly dark spooky deserted ‘hospital’ originally run by nuns.

Excellent performance which brought an otherwise ‘ordinary’ story to life. I am now going to listen to book two.

Thanks to Jess at An Audiobookworm for the copy which I reviewed voluntarily.

Worth it for the narration!

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Poorly chosen narrator. Accents a mix of British and New England fire a novel set in Oh?? For some reason the author was confused on what decade it was using slang from the 30s. over all, man at best.

Terrible narration, weakly writte.

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I loved the ghosts and the house as well as Ulrich and the rookie cop. The story was intriguing , you wanted to continue on. The narrator has the prefect voice for the creepy tale of mystery. The descriptions of the scenes were very vivid and excellent. I recommend this book for anyone who likes creepy ghostly mysteries. Look forward to the series.

Ghostly Mystery

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