Very Solid Listen!

I really enjoy finding new authors that are putting out new, different and captivating content. Mark Matthews is one of these guys. You can tell he is a serious runner because the imagery he uses can only be from experience, not background interviews. This is a very scary story based on the possibility of something like this actually existing in our dark world. The monsters are human, while being as un-human as possible. The characters are very believable and he ties together experiences that we all have faced as parents as an anchor of sorts. For example, we have all had that time where we lost track of our child, if only for a second, in a crowded place, Matthews links us to the characters with situations we have all had.

The narration was done by Bob Dunsworth, who has over 30 books to his credit on Audible. He does a good job with the only exception being that his “first person voice” sometimes distracts from the story and shifts you to the delivery. Its almost like it is a production issue where they had to go back and re-voice a sentence or two and the pitch was off. That is really my only complaint, really, so I am not knocking on him, just giving you my impression.

I recommend this as a solid horror listen, its not a long one, 6 and half hours, fast paced with no downtime. Give it a listen, unless you are a runner and plan to listen to it while you are running, AT NIGHT, ALONE. If that’s you, then listen to it during the day, in the car! Byf2 MyNextListen

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Horror of Horror's

Captivating!!! Best word to describe this story. It kept me on the edge of my seat!

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Running to feel alive. Running to stay alive.

Any additional comments?

Macon and Erin are building a life together. With their past in the rear view mirror, they need to find a way to survive a harrowing ordeal and make their dreams together come true, for themselves, for their daughter Lyric and for those that have been lost. They will need to dig deep to find the courage to keep running forward toward freedom.

Q and T never had a chance - Weaned on blood and flesh, living in underground tunnels and sewers, struggling to survive and find their way in the dark with only a mother’s love to keep them safe (?) and a disturbed father that just may be the end of them all. Family is everything.

I was fortunate enough to receive the Audlble version of On the Lips of Children from Mark to check out and review. Fortunate, indeed.

On the Lips of Children is a very good, character driven, dark fiction/horror tale that will make anyone that has children squirm in their seat. The narration was excellent and the pacing of the story was perfect. The story itself was simple enough, but the themes and concepts went much deeper and rang with interesting social and psychological tones. Mark did a wonderful job of building up the tension and the feeling of foreboding. The story and never strayed into cliché’ gimmicks or cookie cutter “horror” to provide his thrills and chills. Several times I found myself thinking I knew what was coming and was wrong…must have been my cookie cutter brain.

Sometimes you run for fun. Sometimes for the endorphins. Somtimes....for your life. And sometimes you need to stop and make a stand.

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Horror for Runners!

What other book might you compare On the Lips of Children to and why?

Offseason by Jack Ketchum

Who was the most memorable character of On the Lips of Children and why?

It has to be "T" and "Q", the children whose lips thirst for Macon's bacon.

Any additional comments?

In On the Lips of Children, tattoo artist Macon has been training for his first marathon, a feat he hopes will convince his girlfriend and accomplished runner Erin that he is a worthy suitor. Little does he know that a routine jog will bring he and his young family face to face a group of depraved and bloodthirsty creatures.

Any regular urban runner can attest to the flighty,nervous feeling one gets when running under an "occupied" underpass or down a poorly lit trail. Author Mark Matthews does an excellent job of juxtaposing the process of painful struggle, growth, and rebirth associated with distance running and body art with the real life fight for survival in this book.

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To me meth heads are more terrifying than pretty m

Starting out great with a view of a woman trapped in the dark, underground somewhere, with little memory of how she got there. I really liked where Mark Matthews was going with this. Sort of a The Hills have Eyes twist with the running trail has eyes. Simply a "family" of meth addicts live under a running trail and their only way of getting more money for more meth is to kidnap unsuspecting souls. To me meth heads are more terrifying than pretty much anything. No cares other than that next fix and destroying everything in their path. Making them great antagonists for any horror tale.

We get to know a young hipster couple and their daughter, that are training for a marathon. Macon, the father, gets nabbed by the meth heads. They demand $10,000 for his release. Beginning an adrenaline filled cat and mouse game of survival and deceit. I found I could not connect with any of the characters or the circumstances of the story, keeping me from fully enjoying everything that Matthews created.

Audiobook submitted for review by the author.

Please find this complete review and many others at audiobookreviewer dot com

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3 people found this helpful

Creepy Family (Un)Fun

A genuinely creepy short horror novel. It is the story of a family going to San Diego for a marathon, and stumbling across a hidden society on an evening-before-run. It was reminiscent to me of Jack Ketchum novel.

I was glad the author did inject a pretty good reason for the lead male not going to the police (eg parole issues). But by the end of it I was a bit worked up, and hoping that after the story they contacted the police, and the whole area of scumbags were cleared out (above and underground). The thought of them just getting away with all the death they were all causing is just "unacceptable"... Although that said, some people in the health system were obviously complicit in these crimes.

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Disturbing, but Compelling Story

What did you like best about On the Lips of Children? What did you like least?

I was provided a free copy of the audiobook, On the Lips of Children. The story was fast-paced and I was very impressed with Mark Matthews' storytelling ability. I felt I could see, hear, and sometimes even taste what was happening in the story. For the most part, this was a good thing but I must admit that some parts were a bit too graphic for me, such as the slurping of blood. That made it difficult for me to listen to. The frightening part is that this story could be real. I was very impressed with Matthews' characterization, even bringing us into the mind of Lyric, the daughter.

The narration was well done and I enjoyed Bob Dunsworth's telling of the story with one exception. Whenever he expressed a character's thoughts, the thoughts sounded as though he put his hand over a phone for it to be muffled. I found that very distracting. Other than that, his reading was very well done.

I'd recommend On the Lips of Children to horror fans.

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The Horror of Addiction

Mark Matthews latest contribution to the horror fiction genre, On the Lips of Children plays on a similar theme as his first novel, Milk-Blood. The theme of addiction. This is a refreshing and much needed turn in the realm of horror fiction. Although the novel’s cover gives the impression of the “supernatural” the story is anything but, and has a very plausible scenario.

The story takes place in southern California between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. Actually, underneath that location, in one of the many drug smuggling tunnels in that region. A young, yet to be wed couple, Macon and Erin, along with their child Lyric are visiting San Diego for a marathon they plan to run.
Macon decides to go for an early morning jog toward the ocean when he finds himself snared by a subculture of homeless folks that are doing the bidding of a family that lives in one of the smuggling tunnels connecting So-Cal with Tijuana. Erin and daughter, Lyric soon follow this same path in search of Macon.

Donte and Lupita along with their children Q and T have been living in the tunnel for years.Since the birth of Q and T. Their life is taking hostages (via a network of homeless people near the mouth of the tunnel) for money and and other “resources” to keep up with Donte’s addiction to “Salts” (which I presume are “bath salts”). Donte is severely brain-damaged and deranged as a result of his drug use. Lupita has had to use whatever means possible to keep her boy and girl alive.
Darkness descends on Makon, Erin, and Lyric as the rock-bottom results of drug- addiction and subterranean survival rears its ugly, monstrous head.

The mood of On the Lips of Children is somewhere between the movies Sicario and The Hills Have Eyes.

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Heavy-duty Horror!

Mark Matthews never disappoints! Similar to his other stuff with the creepy, drug-warped, underworld-characters, super-dark, and heavy subject matter. Really good stuff, really well-written.

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Riveting, Claustrophic, Creepy, True?

Where does On the Lips of Children rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The story was incredible and different. Some of the things have been done before, but never like this.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Hard to say which character was my favorite. I loved Erin's dedication to being a mother, I also thought Lupita was a wonderfully twisted mom. I wanted to see both of their kids on a play date. Dante was a crazied bath salt snorter who I could see when I closed my eyes.

What does Bob Dunsworth bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Voice inflections of the narrator were deep, and he changed up enough when reading the female parts.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Made me cringe, made me want to avoid dark places. Some descriptions of bodies being cut were done so well.

Any additional comments?

This is a deep story about family and trying to take care of what we love, but also a reminder of the sick things out there that can get in the way.

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