77 Shadow Street Series by Dean Koontz, Peter Berkrot

In this chilling original stand-alone novella, #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz offers a taste of what’s to come in 77 Shadow Street with a mesmerizing tale of a homeless boy at large in a city fraught with threats . . . both human and otherwise.Twelve-year-old Crispin has lived on the streets since he was nine—with only his wits and his daring to sustain him, and only his silent dog, Harley, to call his friend... moreIn this chilling original stand-alone novella, #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz offers a taste of what’s to come in 77 Shadow Street with a mesmerizing tale of a homeless boy at large in a city fraught with threats . . . both human and otherwise.Twelve-year-old Crispin has lived on the streets since he was nine—with only his wits and his daring to sustain him, and only his silent dog, Harley, to call his friend. He is always on the move, never lingering in any one place long enough to risk being discovered. Still, there are certain places he returns to. In the midst of the tumultuous city, they are havens of solitude: like the hushed environs of St. Mary Salome Cemetery, a place where Crispin can feel at peace—safe, at least for a while, from the fearsome memories that plague him . . . and seep into his darkest nightmares. But not only his dreams are haunted.The city he roams with Harley has secrets and mysteries, things unexplainable and maybe unimaginable. Crispin has seen ghosts in the dead of night, and sensed dimensions beyond reason in broad daylight. Hints of things disturbing and strange nibble at the edges of his existence, even as dangers wholly natural and earthbound cast their shadows across his path. Alone, drifting, and scavenging to survive is no life for a boy. But the life Crispin has left behind, and is still running scared from, is an unspeakable alternative . . . that may yet catch up with him. less

The Pendleton stands on the summit of Shadow Hill at the highest point of an old heartland city, a Gilded Age palace built in the late 1800s as a tycoon’s dream home. Almost from the beginning, its grandeur has been scarred by episodes of madness, suicide, mass murder, and whispers of things far worse. But since its rechristening in the 1970s as a luxury apartment building, the Pendleton has been at peace... moreThe Pendleton stands on the summit of Shadow Hill at the highest point of an old heartland city, a Gilded Age palace built in the late 1800s as a tycoon’s dream home. Almost from the beginning, its grandeur has been scarred by episodes of madness, suicide, mass murder, and whispers of things far worse. But since its rechristening in the 1970s as a luxury apartment building, the Pendleton has been at peace. For its fortunate residents—a successful songwriter and her young son, a disgraced ex-senator, a widowed attorney, and a driven money manager among them—the Pendleton’s magnificent quarters are a sanctuary, its dark past all but forgotten.But now inexplicable shadows caper across walls, security cameras relay impossible images, phantom voices mutter in strange tongues, not-quite-human figures lurk in the basement, elevators plunge into unknown depths. With each passing hour, a terrifying certainty grows: Whatever drove the Pendleton’s past occupants to their unspeakable fates is at work again. Soon, all those within its boundaries will be engulfed by a deadly tide from which few have escaped.Dean Koontz transcends all expectations as he takes listeners on a gripping journey to a place where nightmare visions become real—and where a group of singular individuals hold the key to humanity’s destiny. Welcome to 77 Shadow Street.Praise for the narration of 77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz, performed by Peter Berkrot:“Narrator Peter Berkrot opens the creaking door and invites listeners inside with a gentle, unassuming voice. Ignore that dark thing you saw out of the corner of your eye—it’s just a trick of the light. Berkrot performs with skill and assurance as strange voices, eerie sights, and inexplicable things take over the posh mansion.” —© AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine less