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Audrey's Door

3.38 of 5 stars 3.38 · rating details · 542 ratings · 101 reviews

Built on the Upper West Side, the elegant Breviary claims a regal history. But despite 14B's astonishingly low rental price, the recent tragedy within its walls has frightened away all potential tenants . . . except for Audrey Lucas.

No stranger to tragedy at thirty-two--a survivor of a fatherless childhood and a mother's hopeless dementia-- Audrey is obsessively determined...more

Paperback, 412 pages

Published September 29th 2009 by Harper (first published September 16th 2009)

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Apr 08, 2010 Tressa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, haunted-places, ghost-stories, psychological-fiction

Audrey's Door is a chilling read about cults and architecture reminiscent of Rosemary's Baby. Audrey Lucas runs from a painful childhood, a bi-polar mother, a demanding job, and a fiance, right into the welcoming arms of the Breviary, an old Manhattan apartment building with a questionable history of tenant suicides and murders. But the rent is cheap and the deal too good to pass up.

The incestuous, elderly, trust fund baby tenants of the Breviary need a door to the Other Side built, and through...more

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Feb 04, 2013 Shara (Calico Reaction) rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: no-longer-own

The premise: ganked from Amazon.com: Built on the Upper West Side, the elegant Breviary claims a regal history. But despite 14B's astonishingly low rental price, the recent tragedy within its walls has frightened away all potential tenants . . . except for Audrey Lucas.

No stranger to tragedy at thirty-two—a survivor of a fatherless childhood and a mother's hopeless dementia— Audrey is obsessively determined to make her own way in a city that often strangles the weak. But is it something otherwor...more The premise: ganked from Amazon.com: Built on the Upper West Side, the elegant Breviary claims a regal history. But despite 14B's astonishingly low rental price, the recent tragedy within its walls has frightened away all potential tenants . . . except for Audrey Lucas.

No stranger to tragedy at thirty-two—a survivor of a fatherless childhood and a mother's hopeless dementia— Audrey is obsessively determined to make her own way in a city that often strangles the weak. But is it something otherworldly or Audrey's own increasing instability that's to blame for the dark visions that haunt her . . . and for the voice that demands that she build a door? A door it would be true madness to open . . .

My Rating: Problematic, but Promising

I can see what excites people about this book. There's definitely some promise there, and the question of what it really means to be haunted and who's really doing the haunting. That's great stuff. My problem was I was never fully invested in the characters enough to care about what happened to them, nor was I invested in the Breviary enough to want it to win. With horror, you've got to be rooting for someone, and I was rooting to finish the book as soon as I could. What really pulled me out of the potential immersion was the writing style. It's fast, easy-to-read, but I found it bland and rather generic, with some stylistic choices that make my inner work-shopper itch for a red pen. I'd love to hear what regular horror readers think of this and how it compares to other horror novels (particularly since it won the Stoker), and I'm also curious if anyone else has read anything else by Langan, and how this compares to the author's own work? For my own part, I don't see myself picking up another book by this author unless the premise really, really speaks to me, but I'm never adverse to reading horror either. It's just a matter of the premise really, really speaking to me. Horror, as a whole, is a genre that's meant to engage the mind and the emotions. For me, Audrey's Door didn't come close, but what shining moments it had were promising.

Spoilers, yay or nay?: Yay. As with all book club selections, there will be spoilers, so if you're trying to avoid them, do not read the full review at my blog. However, if you've read the book or don't care about spoilers, comments and discussion are most welcome. Just click the link below to go directly to the review!

REVIEW: Sarah Langan's AUDREY'S DOOR

Happy Reading!(less)

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Mar 12, 2013 Marvin rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, kindle

This is my second attempt at a novel by Sarah Langan. She is a good writer but tends to take a long time to say anything. Building background and atmosphere can be a good thing unless it takes over the plot. Audrey's Door is part haunted house story and part psychological thriller. It's the psychological thriller that falls flat. Essentially, without giving too much away, the plot hinges around a young architect that moves into a strange apartment building with strange residents. She begins to g...more

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Aug 30, 2012 Ian rated it 3 of 5 stars

A typical haunted house story with creepy neighbours in a multi-story block.
Langdon's list of influences warns us that there will not be much original in the pages, but then again when is a tale truly original. What keeps a reader enthralled is the way it is writtten, hopefully keeping us on the edge of our chairs wanting to keep turning the pages.
Audrey's Door kept me looking for more, but some of the characters seemed to suddenly lose strength at points where they needed to be on top of their...more

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May 15, 2011 Kasia S. rated it 5 of 5 stars

I absolutely adored this book, it was easy to read and it left me completely absorbed in the eerie, creepy Breviary building on the upper west side of Manhattan. In the novel, Audrey is a young architect who breaks up with her fiancée and moves into the strange building with low rent, perhaps the murder that took place there scared off everyone and the low price attracted it's next victim, Audrey was happy to live there at first, but then strange things started to happen. Voices and shadows, hor...more

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Jul 18, 2010 Erica M rated it 3 of 5 stars

Audrey Lucas is a girl with problems. Growing up she bounced from town to town with her crazy mother, drifting herself for awhile until she manages to pull her life together enough to get a degree in architecture and take back her life; as much as one can with a mentally ill mother and a healthy dose of OCD battle.

After breaking up with her boyfriend she needs to find a place to live and like mana from heaven The Breviary lands in her lap. It's cheap, it's big and it's the last of it's kind wit...more

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Sep 23, 2009 Alan Conrad rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of haunted houses and the supernatural

“Casualties of Chaotic Naturalism”

“Audrey’s Door” is a modern haunted house story, with a measure of Stephen King’s “The Shining,” a sprig of Ira Levin’s “Rosemary's Baby,” and a dash of Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House.” Sarah Langan embodies her nightmarish psychological-and-occult horror theme in a mesmerizing plot, and as we read deeper into the tragic story of Audrey Lucas we can't help but share her vision…so much so that I often found myself lost between Audrey’s compulsion a...more “Casualties of Chaotic Naturalism”

“Audrey’s Door” is a modern haunted house story, with a measure of Stephen King’s “The Shining,” a sprig of Ira Levin’s “Rosemary's Baby,” and a dash of Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House.” Sarah Langan embodies her nightmarish psychological-and-occult horror theme in a mesmerizing plot, and as we read deeper into the tragic story of Audrey Lucas we can't help but share her vision…so much so that I often found myself lost between Audrey’s compulsion and the story’s nightmare. The book generally maintained a detailed yet captivating storyline.

Our heroine (or victim), Audrey Lucas, suffers from a minor bout of naïveté, and a classic yet severe case of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. A thirty-something single professional, Audrey is haunted by her tragic past. Audrey fought through a wrecked and violent childhood, without a father figure, without a sane and loving mother, yearning for a way out of her wretched reality. Her obsession to control and take back her life is exemplified by her determination to survive in a dog-eat-dog city that shows neither compassion nor clemency to the weak and feeble. She moved out of her boyfriend’s place and into an unbelievably cheap apartment in a pre-war landmark building. It seems that her talents were recognized not only by a high-class NYC architectural firm, but also by supernatural forces behind the walls of the Breviary. Built on the Upper West Side, the Breviary’s unique Chaotic Naturalist architecture claims a majestic yet ominous history. Despite the low rent in the upscale Morning Heights neighborhood, something seems to scare away all prospective tenants. Until Audrey.

The story teeters between an ethereal horror and Audrey’s terrible compulsion and volatility… unclear whether either or both were responsible for her recent and strange obsession to build a door in her room, unclear of the significance of the door, unclear of the function of the door.

The cheap rent, along with the dire warnings by the building’s superintendant, would have been the first (and only) signs not to move in… at least for me. There were also the "Was that the wind?" moments when a mysterious voice in her head whispered “murder” and encouraged her to “build the door.” Does Zoloft save the day? Does our ill-fated mess-of-a-heroine discover herself at the right moment and break out of her self-loathing to kick butt? The book was well-written, favored psychological chills to gore, and presented a convincing set of characters. The level and style of writing has enough acuity and symbolism to distinguish Langan from the run-of-the-mill authors falling under the horror genre.

The other compelling feature of this novel that captured my interest is Langan’s attention to detail. I was impressed with the degree of time and effort spent in the narrative on developing the Breviary and the fictitious religion/architectural style referred to as Chaotic Naturalism. My vision of the Breviary is something along the lines of Deconstructivism-slash-Modernisme, maybe akin to Gaudi-meets-Gehry. As for the fabricated cult… it was described so realistically and with sufficient detail, I was convinced enough to have googled it. Well done, Langan!

Overall, I highly enjoyed reading the book. I was between 4 or 5 stars, in anticipation and expectation of Langan’s future work, as preambled by “Audrey’s Door,” to be a most capable and promising career in horror novels. I recommend “Audrey’s Door” to fans of haunted house stories.

Note: My understanding is that a film (based on the novel) is in the works. I am not too familiar with the directors/screenwriters JT Petty or Jeremy Saulnier, but checking out their IMDB profiles I am a bit worried. A true coin flip… this can be either a sleeper hit or a snoozer. I am anxious for the release.
(less)

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Jul 09, 2009 John rated it 4 of 5 stars

Lots of folk have recommended that I take a look at Langan's work, so -- although I can't really be described as a regular reader of horror -- I eventually decided to follow their advice. On the whole I'm glad I did so.

Audrey Lucas, suffering from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and decidedly frayed round her mental edges as consequence of her hellish childhood and young adulthood because of a seriously mad mother, is nonetheless a potentially brilliant architect. Arrived in NYC and regarded as a...more Lots of folk have recommended that I take a look at Langan's work, so -- although I can't really be described as a regular reader of horror -- I eventually decided to follow their advice. On the whole I'm glad I did so.

Audrey Lucas, suffering from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and decidedly frayed round her mental edges as consequence of her hellish childhood and young adulthood because of a seriously mad mother, is nonetheless a potentially brilliant architect. Arrived in NYC and regarded as a rising star at a posh architectural firm, she eventually -- because needing distance from her on-off fiance, slobbish Saraub -- moves into a suspiciously cheap apartment in Morningside Heights. It's in a bizarrely constructed building, The Breviary, designed according to the precepts of the late-19th-century architectural school and quasi-religious cult Chaotic Naturalism: the few other buildings erected by the cult have long since fallen down, but The Breviary still somehow stands -- as do its residents, almost all of whom are nearly as ancient and decrepit as the building itself, and have as many odd angles. Soon Audrey finds her new apartment was previously occupied by a mother who went nuts and murdered her young children there. But there are far, far worse secrets that will be revealed to her within The Breviary . . .

I had a sort of rocky start to this book, and by page 87, when I came across the anatomically perplexing description of Audrey sitting with her "knees pulled under her butt" (try it), I was just about ready to put the book aside: I was quite enjoying it, but I wasn't sure I wanted to remain in its company for the full 412 pages. Yet soon thereafter the text started redeeming itself in a big way, and I'm now very pleased I kept going.

As a horror novel this is very Straub, and Langan seems to be making a conscious effort to write elegantly as well as grippingly. Because of the OCD, Audrey can sometimes be a slightly rebarbative lead character, but some members of the supporting cast, in particular the excellent Saraub and Audrey's boss Jill, compensate for the time we have to spend with her. In terms of background, I very much liked the conceit of Chaotic Naturalism; but what I especially liked was that this novel, set a few years hence in 2012, is, unlike many horror novels, aware of the world in which its events are taking place -- for, while much about 2012 is the same as in 2009, not everything is; in particular, climate change is beginning to kick in . . . and occasionally with a vengeance.

So: thanks to those people who told me to go read myself some Langan.(less)

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Oct 26, 2012 Becca rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Lots of Rosemary's Baby and The Shining influence
Pros
• Blurred border between waking and dream states
• Interesting use of family history of mental illness/neglect and heroine with mental illness
•The push and pull between Saraub and Audrey was a nice weaved into the story of her "descent into madness" (duh duh duh)
• some genuinely creepy imagery - skeleton man with arms as long as his legs skittering across the floor, build the door out of what you love, etc.

Cons
• A little too confusing at times...more

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Oct 26, 2012 Nancy O'Toole rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, book-club

After breaking up with her boyfriend, Audrey finds herself on the lookout for a new place to live, but it needs to be cheap. Then she finds The Breviary, a beautiful apartment that not only works for her wallet, but seduces the architect in her. To Audrey, her new apartment is almost too good to be true. Unfortunately, that's because it is. There is evil in this apartment that speaks to her in her dreams, begging her to build a door.

Audrey's Door is the October selection for calico_reaction's bo...more After breaking up with her boyfriend, Audrey finds herself on the lookout for a new place to live, but it needs to be cheap. Then she finds The Breviary, a beautiful apartment that not only works for her wallet, but seduces the architect in her. To Audrey, her new apartment is almost too good to be true. Unfortunately, that's because it is. There is evil in this apartment that speaks to her in her dreams, begging her to build a door.

Audrey's Door is the October selection for calico_reaction's bookclub. Although I don't read too much horror, the title seemed more than appropriate the Halloween season, making me quite interested in reading it. Unfortunately, it didn't take too long before I realized that something was very wrong. I had a really, really hard time connecting with the main character. I didn't even really feel all that sorry for her. Given the fact that her life had been so traumatic, this was shocking to me. In fact, Audrey kind of drove me a little nuts, and the secondary cast wasn't that much better. This made it really hard for me to look forward to reading this book.

Unfortunately, my issues with Audrey's Door go beyond characterization and into plot as well. Everything seems to set up nicely at the beginning. This is clearly a classic haunted house story, with the twists being the fact that its an apartment and the horrors that exist inside Audrey's mind are what's the most terrifying. But it wasn't too long before the book began to feel awfully repetitive. We're delivered scene after scene of Audrey's nightmares, and moments where Audrey acts crazy. These were fine at the beginning but they began to grow old rather fast. The horror elements of the novel also didn't always work for me. Maybe it's because I prefer more subtle kind of horror but Andrey's Door (especially near the end) felt way too over the top to me, even to the point where the book was border lining on comical instead of creepy. I also found the writing to be a little week to be honest, as the author seemed to occasionally fall into the old trap of telling instead of showing.

Final Thoughts: I always feel a little guilty about giving negative reviews (not just in this case where the author lives here in Maine, meaning I might actually run into her one of these days. There aren't that many people up here), but despite an interesting set up in the beginning, this book really didn't work well for me. Perhaps it's because I don't read a ton of horror but I found the horror elements to be a over the top and therefore ineffective, the plot to be repetitive, and the characters to be unsympathetic. I have no plans on picking up any other books by Sarah Langan.(less)

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Nov 27, 2012 Mike Kazmierczak rated it 3 of 5 stars

A good haunted house story should involve ghosts, scary moments that are possibly real or not and a feeling of dread that leaves the reader or audience glad that they are not in that house. While AUDREY'S DOOR has most of those elements, the one thing that got left out was "scary". It is an interesting story due to the problems that the main character encounters but it wasn't really strong enough to leave me spooked or overly concerned.

Audrey Lucas, a young architect in New York City, moves into...more

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Dec 06, 2010 Mark R. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wow--no wonder Sarah Langan's won the Bram Stoker Award two years now, with only three books to her name. "Audrey's Door" is a fun, scary, and eerily haunting novel about a woman who moves into an old, oddly-styled apartment building, and ends up facing some of her own past demons as well as some very real supernatural demons that come with the house.

The woman at the center of the story arrives in New York after years of living with her psychotic mother, she herself overloaded with psychological...more

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Oct 25, 2009 Nick Cato rated it 2 of 5 stars

Langan (author of the excellent, Stoker-winning novel, THE MISSING), pens a haunted house story in the vein of such classics as THE SHINING and THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE. Unfortunately, this one is so similar to Jeffrey Konvitz' classic THE SENTINEL I had a hard time appreciating the fine writing and well-done suspense.

A trouble-infested woman named Audrey leaves her boyfriend and moves into The Breviary, an Upper West Side apartment building that she discovers has a dark history. She's so dete...more

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Oct 22, 2009 Angela rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebooks, horror

After Sarah Langan's most excellent novels The Keeper and The Missing, I was very much hoping to hit the proverbial third-time charm with her new horror novel, Audrey's Door. Survey says? She didn't hit it quite out of the park like she did with the first two; Audrey's Door has some issues, but it's still a good solid read.

Audrey Lucas is a woman with a whole hell of a lot of neuroses on her plate: she's escaped a destructive relationship with her psychotic mother and more or less established a...more After Sarah Langan's most excellent novels The Keeper and The Missing, I was very much hoping to hit the proverbial third-time charm with her new horror novel, Audrey's Door. Survey says? She didn't hit it quite out of the park like she did with the first two; Audrey's Door has some issues, but it's still a good solid read.

Audrey Lucas is a woman with a whole hell of a lot of neuroses on her plate: she's escaped a destructive relationship with her psychotic mother and more or less established a life for herself in New York, even to the point of being engaged to be married, but her victory hasn't come without cost. She's got OCD, enough that it's driven a wedge between her and her fiance Saraub, and when the book opens she's elected to move out of the apartment she shares with him--and into an old house called the Breviary, infamous for its Chaotic Naturalist architecture. The fact that a gruesome murder occurred in the space she renting almost puts her off. But as this is a horror novel, "almost" is as far as she gets.

The Breviary is of course haunted like you would not believe, and soon enough the place begins exerting its influence. Something in it is very aware of Audrey, and it insists that she build it a door of mysterious purpose. Nor is it above driving her mad to get her to do it, and threatening the tenuous life she's established for herself.

There's decent creepiness in this book; the residents of the Breviary, ancient husks of men and women who have long been warped by their residence in the place, are truly unnerving. But a whole lot of the book's early mileage is spent on developing the backstory for Audrey, her traumatic childhood with her mother, and her not-terribly-healthy relationship with Saraub. A good stretch of that I found to just be depressing rather than creepy, because of the seemingly unending litany of ways in which poor Audrey's life and mind were screwed up.

Not until the last act of the book does Saraub rise above his unsympathetic portrayal, and unfortunately, Audrey never quite manages to pull off the same ascent. The ending therefore felt strangely tacked on to me. Overall, three stars.(less)

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Aug 31, 2011 Claudia rated it 3 of 5 stars

I can't figure out how I feel about this author. I think she's an awesome writer and she certainly knows how to write a creepy scene (and I AM a connoisseur of horror), but there's always something just a little off for me. I can't put my finger on it. This was a strange and unique horror story. I did not really want to get into the mind of the main character and all her problems. Maybe that was what it was. It was too depressing and dark. But I did read it from beginning to end and I would read...more

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Jan 09, 2011 Brian Steele rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

Let me start by saying, I had a hard time getting through this book. It's beautifully written, balancing itself between surrealistic prose and mundane atrocities. But it's me, and I always have difficulties with "quiet horror." I spent most of my time while reading this book both in awe of Langan's talent and wishing something would actually happen. It reminds me of Caitlin R. Kiernan's work - I don't think I'm smart enough to get it, either.

That said, if you want intelligent horror with lots of...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Bazz rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'll admit that "horror" isn't really the first genre of book I like to read, but decided to give this a go all the same.

The storyline itself (fragile minded woman moves into an apartment where someone murdered their children recently, which is in a building with a very strange past) could offer so much more than the book actually does. The main characters I found difficult to engage with, especially Sharub, and as such the book didn't grab me or fire my imagination like I would have liked.

Adde...more

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Apr 22, 2010 Margee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Newly-urban Audrey has grown up disadvantaged due to poverty and a bipolar mother, but despite this she manages to have put herself through school, and claimed at least a precarious spot at a top-of-the-pile chic New York architectural firm. Having split up with her boyfriend and in need of an apartment, she finds a seemingly perfect haven in an incredibly affordable, fabulous and roomy 19th century building whose only drawback is that, due to its weird and dangerous architectural style and past...more

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Mar 23, 2012 Isidore rated it 2 of 5 stars

Pleasant, overlong horror soap opera, leavened with black comedy. Langan neatly evades criticism for borrowing heavily from other writers (not always good ones) by forthrightly naming them in a preface. She does have a gift for getting the reader interested in her characters, and the pace is fast enough that one can sometimes forget that the horrors are banal and the plot melodramatic.

The novel's ersatz nineteenth and early twentieth-century documents are so unidiomatic and full of anachronisms...more

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Apr 30, 2013 Kate Sadler rated it 4 of 5 stars

Books like this make me wonder why horror is considered a dead genre. It did everything that horror is supposed to do. It was creepy and intense and thoroughly scary. I cared about the characters and found them entirely believable. This book is beautifully written, in my opinion, and makes its horror one that is eminently relatable: the impermanence and unreliability of memory, the affect of the place one lives on one's interior life, and the nature of haunting. There are multiple forms of haunt...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Krystl Louwagie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book got off to a bad start-the main character felt bitchy and closed minded, the writing felt... unpolitically correct? It felt submissively racist, in small parts. Near the beginning of the novel the author whines about how life has never been easy for her and she had to work at both university cafeterias just to afford her books-UH, YEAH most everyone has to have 2 jobs in college, and you're pretty lucky if they're university jobs. Later in the book, she's fairly justified in her whinin...more

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Oct 22, 2010 Tanya rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi-horror, mystery-suspense-thriller

*2.5 stars* I can't figure out what this book was meant to be. Horror? Character study? Psychological suspense? A book on architecture, mental illness and the environment? For this reason I found it difficult to get through. I found myself often checking to see how much more I had to go (never a good sign). The "scare factor" was more atmospheric throughout most of the book - until the last 20 pages or so. Audrey's own mental illness made for many passages that were just too "out there" for me....more

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Aug 04, 2010 Woowott rated it 4 of 5 stars

A little different from the previous two books, this focuses mainly on the titular character, an OCD Nebraska girl with a rough past and insane mother. It's about her life, her problems, and her creepy new apartment building filled with creepy old crazy folks. The building is also evil and part of the Chaotic Naturalist movement, which I'm not dying to read more about. There was a slow patch in the middle, but, all in all, I quite liked it. Like always, a central theme is mother/daughter relatio...more

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Jun 26, 2010 eyupcan rated it 2 of 5 stars

A woman draws a door while she sleeps.In the beginning idea seemed interesting.After starting reading I lost my interest page by page.I did not like indian guy character.Both two characters are problematic, kind of losers in their life relying on their weaknesses.I was distracted with problems in their past that I did not find most of them relevant to this story.I spent 60% of my reading on those two character's backgrounds,not that door drawn or tenants living.Idea is scary but story telling de...more

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Mar 29, 2012 Jeffery Moulton rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-books, horror, drama

I picked up Audrey's Door wanting to read something scary. I'd just finished The Exorcist and was in the mood for more. The first few pages were promising, building a creepy atmosphere and promising some thrilling payoff in the end. I was looking forward to a good haunting.

But then I kept reading.

Don't get me wrong, Audrey's Door is a decent enough book. The writing is good and the characters are fairly well developed (even if they are often unlikable). It is also a fast read and has some parts...more

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Apr 19, 2012 Kelly Truelove rated it 3 of 5 stars

What I enjoyed most about the book were the relationships and interactions between the characters, but I was seriously underwhelmed at the paranormal aspects of the "haunting." I felt like the ending was wrapped up a bit too neatly and that it was a bit abrupt. I found myself flipping back a few pages and re-reading when I felt lost or that I had perhaps missed something when the story didn't flow as well I expected it to. I believe the book would have been better if the story and ending were as...more

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Sep 16, 2010 Juliana rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the first horror book I've ever read by a woman, and it was really refreshing to follow a female protagonist through scary circumstances who actually behaves like a human being (sorry, Stephen King). All of the characters were rendered unique and relatable, which made their peril all the more interesting. The only thing is that Langan went too far too fast with the scary stuff so that the last 100 pages or so lacked the suspense that made the first 200 great. By the time things got almos...more

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Jul 25, 2012 Heather rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a haunted house horror story ala Stephen King's The Shining.

Audrey Lucas is a young architect in New York who amazingly finds a super cheap apartment in one of New York's oldest, historic buildings. Soon after she moves in she starts to experience weird dreams and phenomena in her apartment.

This novel did not get a very good review from Publisher's Weekly, but it did win the Bram Stoker award, which is awarded by the Horror Writer's Association for Superior Achievement. I found it to be...more

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May 18, 2010 Cathy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, kindle

An extremely engaging haunted house (OK, apartment) novel. Langan thanks her influences in the preface, and you can certainly see their mark -- especially Rosemary's Baby, The Tenant, and The Haunting of Hill House. But the book doesn't feel stale or unoriginal, mostly because the characters are beautifully and vividly drawn and Langan has such an observant eye. Audrey, her mother, and her sometime-boyfriend Saraub are totally believable people and really bring Audrey's dilemma in her spooky new...more

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Mar 21, 2011 Lil' Grogan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 3, romance, humour, dark-fantasy

Slow moving - which didn't help the horror aspect of it for me. Wanted it a little tighter. Oddly, it was the relationship between Audrey and Saraub, her ex that kept me reading. Thought the characterization and tension there was good.

A mix of romance, commentary and horror. The three seem to come in spurts, with ugliness wending its way through. The humour didn't quite ring for me, but it made sense in terms of Audrey's character. (view spoiler)...more

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About Sarah Langan

Sarah grew up on Long Island and went to college in Waterville, Maine, where she published her first story, "Sick People". She got her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University, and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

In addition to writing novels, she is also pursuing her Master's in Environmental Health Science/Toxicology at New York University.

Bram Stoker award winner for outstanding...more

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6419700-audrey-s-door?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348129267l/6419700.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6419700-audrey-s-door?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Audrey's Door by Sarah Langan[/url]

Audrey's Door

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