9780062800381
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Awakened audiobook

  • By: James S. Murray
  • Narrator: James S. Murray
  • Category: Fiction, Horror
  • Length: 9 hours 12 minutes
  • Publisher: HarperAudio
  • Publish date: June 26, 2018
  • Language: English
  • (2311 ratings)
(2311 ratings)
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Awakened Audiobook Summary

The star of truTV’s hit show Impractical Jokers–alongside veteran sci-fi and horror writer Darren Wearmouth–delivers a chilling and wickedly fun supernatural novel in the vein of The Strain, in which a beautiful new subway line in New York City unearths an ancient dark horror that threatens the city’s utter destruction and the balance of civilization itself.

After years of waiting, New York’s newest subway line is finally ready, an express train that connects the city with the burgeoning communities across the Hudson River. The shining jewel of this state-of-the-art line is a breathtaking visitors’ pavilion beneath the river. Major dignitaries, including New York City’s Mayor and the President of the United States, are in attendance for the inaugural run, as the first train slowly pulls in.

Under the station’s bright ceiling lights, the shiny silver cars gleam. But as the train comes closer into view, a far different scene becomes visible.

All the train’s cars are empty.

All the cars’ interiors are drenched in blood.

As chaos descends, all those in the pavilion scramble to get out. But the horror is only beginning. High levels of deadly methane fill the tunnels. The structure begins to flood. For those who don’t drown, choke or spark an explosion, another terrifying danger awaits–the thing that killed all those people on the train. It’s out there…and it’s coming.

There’s something living beneath New York City, and it’s not happy we’ve woken it up.

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Awakened Audiobook Narrator

James S. Murray is the narrator of Awakened audiobook that was written by James S. Murray

James S. Murray is a writer, executive producer, and actor, best known as “Murr” on the hit television show Impractical Jokers on truTV. He is also one of the stars of the TV show The Misery Index on TBS along with his comedy troupe, The Tenderloins. He has worked as the Senior Vice President of Development for NorthSouth Productions for a decade, is the owner of Impractical Productions, LLC, and is the author of the international bestselling novels Awakened and The Brink. Originally from Staten Island, he now lives in Princeton, NJ. Facebook / Twitter: @ jamessmurray Instagram: @TheRealMurr

About the Author(s) of Awakened

James S. Murray is the author of Awakened

Awakened Full Details

Narrator James S. Murray
Length 9 hours 12 minutes
Author James S. Murray
Category
Publisher HarperAudio
Release date June 26, 2018
ISBN 9780062800381

Subjects

The publisher of the Awakened is HarperAudio. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is Fiction, Horror

Additional info

The publisher of the Awakened is HarperAudio. The imprint is HarperAudio. It is supplied by HarperAudio. The ISBN-13 is 9780062800381.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

Jodi

September 26, 2018

This book is insanely brilliant! Creepy and addictive from the first page. I can't wait for the next one

Debbie

July 07, 2019

Evil lives This book started out with a grain ride from he!!. Imagine waiting at a subway station for a train and then seeing an empty car coming towards you covered in blood and gore but no people left in it. That is how the story starts and it intrigued me. I loved the characters who stood out as heroes in the novel and I was honestly terrified of what existed below us. The president was involved, a mayor, train engineers , the police and military personnel and a shadowy organization that defies logic but it was entertaining. Lots of blood and gore, dismemberment, death and evil but it kind of got old about 75% in. And it just kept on and on until the very end. It never let up. And the evil evolved and got smarter and stronger and bigger as the story went on. I liked the book but a couple of things happened that I hated at the end but I won't spoil it. I just wanted a different outcome but he assured there is a sequel coming and it looks scary too. First time reading horror in a long time and I really liked it. I will read the sequel for sure.

The Tattooed Book Geek (Drew).

June 28, 2018

As always this review can also be found on my blog The Tattooed Book Geek: https://thetattooedbookgeek.wordpress...I received a free copy of this book courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.Awakened came to my attention and piqued my interest after I saw that it was written by James S. Murray, better known to many as ‘Murr‘ from the Impractical Jokers TV show. I’m a big fan of the Impractical Jokers series, it’s good harmless fun and can always manage to make me chuckle at the groups humorous and often lowbrow shenanigans.So, how did Murr do with writing a book?!? I’d have to say pretty damn well actually.Awakened starts with a short prologue depicting an industrial accident during the construction of the new state of the art and high-tech subway project known as the ‘Z Train subway line extension‘ that is then swiftly swept under the carpet and kept out of the media’s attention. The Z-Train is the expansion of the New York subway line connecting different boroughs and allowing travel in superfast time. It’s the future of rail travel and the showpiece is the underwater visitors’ pavilion and concourse located beneath the Hudson River.We then jump forward three years in time and the decade-long and overbudget project has finally been completed. The President of the United States, the Mayor of New York City and then various reporters, photographers, security and the station workers are all at the underwater Pavilion to celebrate the opening of the expansion and the maiden journey of the Z Train along with a select group of other individuals who have the honour and privilege of being the first passengers to ride on board the Z Train.The train takes off from the Jersey City station and should arrive at the pavilion to huge celebrations in a matter of minutes but something goes wrong, the train is late and then the control centre loses all contact with the train. Everyone is wondering what has happened when the powerless train silently rolls into the station, empty of passengers and drenched in blood. The cause of the carnage on the train is deemed to be a terrorist attack, it’s the only plausible explanation and then the shadows begin to move and the noises start………The story in Awakened takes place over the duration of a few hours and there’s certainly a lot of mayhem going on in the train tunnels as the characters struggle to escape and survive. There are conspiracy theories and a clandestine organisation thrown into the mix to add an extra layer and more depth to the story too. We follow multiple threads as a variety of groups try to escape through the deadly tunnels and there are quite a few characters involved. For the most part and in particular with the main characters, they do all have a fairly decent level of characterisation to them. Sure, some could have been improved upon but then again, it’s a book where people die and some as soon as they make it onto the page have ‘fodder‘ written all over them and you know that they aren’t going to make it. Well, ya know, obviously all that blood has to come from somewhere!😱The creatures keep some of the captured women alive and honestly, it is quite obvious why but many pages later after the initial glimpses of the captured women the reason behind why they are still alive is finally revealed as if it is some groundbreaking revelation, it isn’t and many will have already guessed the reason why.Apart from the few women that are being kept alive, the creatures don’t discriminate and whether you are the Mayor, a station worker, a reporter, a policeman or the President your life is in danger from a gloriously gruesome demise.The creatures in Awakened deal death in gruesome fashion and there is plenty of limb tearing bloody carnage to go around but they aren’t mindless killing machines and instead, they show an intelligence learning from the humans, their behaviour and the means in which they protect themselves. For me, they brought to mind both the Xenomorph (the Alien franchise) and the Predator (the Predator franchise) and I felt there was definitely some similarities between them and the creatures in Awakened. Whether or not that is where the actual inspiration came from, I don’t know, I’m just saying that is how I pictured the creatures in my mind both in looks and in intelligence as a married together version of those two classic monsters.The writing in Awakened is decent, at times good and occasionally even verges towards very good and you can really feel the claustrophobic tension that builds in the restricted space of the dark tunnels. It doesn’t get bogged down in excessive detail and everything moves along quickly. I did feel that the attempts at humour more often than not missed the mark but humour is very subjective and that is only a slight niggle that didn’t detract from the fact that I found Awakened to be an enjoyable book and one that I had a good time whiling away the hours and reading.Awakened is the first book in the trilogy and as such, some things are left open for the sequel. It does, however, do a good job of closing off the actual story that has been told whilst also simultaneously leaving the door open for the sequel which after reading the last few chapters and seeing what they reveal I’m definitely interested in reading.👍📚Whilst reading Awakened I was reminded me of The Hatching trilogy (which, by the way, is a really fun trilogy that you should all check out) by Ezekiel Boone only with the spiders of Boone’s work being replaced with monstrous creatures.Awakened is an action-packed, fast-paced and exciting read, one to switch your brain off and just enjoy for what it is, a fun-filled creature-fest.

Kate

June 24, 2018

Very entertaining, frightening and gory look at what lurks below the subway tunnels of New York City. I love monster horror and this did the trick. Review to follow shortly on For Winter Nights.

Stefan

May 17, 2018

Awakened is a fast-paced exciting thriller along the lines of James Patterson or Dan Brown. The characters are well crafted which to me is one of the keys to a successful thriller as the more vested my interest in the people, the better the thriller grips me and keeps me turning pages to find out what happens next. From about the midpoint of the novel on, I was pretty sure that the novel was laid out to be the first in a series and while I was correct I appreciate that the immediate events in this novel were wrapped up to make it more of a stand alone in a series not one where the reader is left hanging and has to wait an extended period to tie up loose ends. The authors left me wanting more, but nothing that I have to have immediately which I appreciate.Overall, Awakened is a pretty solid debut novel that I enjoyed. There are some moments where I had to overlook things that wouldn't/couldn't happen (especially in regards to time and how much gets accomplished in a short period) but that is a minor quibble. It's a well written novel, reminded me of Reliquary by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I will definitely be on the lookout for the sequel(s).

Ami

September 14, 2018

Originally posted on Creature From the Book Lagoon blog. "The star of truTV’s hit show Impractical Jokers-alongside veteran sci-fi and horror writer Darren Wearmouth-delivers a chilling and wickedly fun supernatural novel in the vein of The Strain, in which a beautiful new subway line in New York City unearths an ancient dark horror that threatens the city’s utter destruction and the balance of civilization itself.After years of waiting, New York’s newest subway line is finally ready, an express train that connects the city with the burgeoning communities across the Hudson River. The shining jewel of this state-of-the-art line is a breathtaking visitors’ pavilion beneath the river. Major dignitaries, including New York City’s Mayor and the President of the United States, are in attendance for the inaugural run, as the first train slowly pulls in.Under the station’s bright ceiling lights, the shiny silver cars gleam. But as the train comes closer into view, a far different scene becomes visible.All the train’s cars are empty.All the cars’ interiors are drenched in blood.As chaos descends, all those in the pavilion scramble to get out. But the horror is only beginning. High levels of deadly methane fill the tunnels. The structure begins to flood. For those who don’t drown, choke, or spark an explosion, another terrifying danger awaits-the thing that killed all those people on the train. It’s out there … and it’s coming.There’s something living beneath New York City, and it’s not happy we’ve woken it up."Awakened (Awakened # 1) by James S. Murray and Darren Wearmouth. Audio book, published June 26th 2018 by Voyager, 9 hours and 12 mins. Narrated by James S. Murray.I love creature stories and when I saw this title come out back in June, I couldn’t wait to get my greedy little hands on it. Underground creatures attacking a subway? Hell yeah!! Right on up my alley. Awakened definitely did not disappoint in the creatures, either. You saw them plenty. There was much death and destruction, with a side helping of lots of gore, at the hands (claws) of these unknown beasts. Like I said, I love creature stories, and I read as much as I can, and I do not recall seeing anything exactly like these monsters. Through the whole book, these creatures kept growing and evolving, their powers becoming stronger. And there are just so many of them! The main characters in this book really have their work cut out for them.Along with the creatures, we are introduced to several human characters. The main characters are made up of a few of the people who are stuck down in the tunnels and a few of the people who go in to the tunnels in order to rescue the people in trouble. There is another group of humans caught up in the mix and this group is just as bad as the creatures. At first it seems like there are too many characters going on, but it surprisingly never gets too overwhelming.Awakened is book 1 in the start of a new trilogy. These creatures are a world wide problem. There is a shady secret organization pulling a lot of strings in the background. This group has known about the creatures for decades and plan on using them to their own devious designs. This organization and the random strangers brought together to fight the creatures (and the organization) in this book form the set up for book 2. There was a lot of set up, especially in the last half of the book. With the set up they did, I’m really looking forward to where this trilogy goes in book 2! Author James S. Murray has said that he had worked on Awakened for 14 years. He had trouble at first finding someone who would publish the novel, so it sat around on his computer for years before his friends told him to get back out there and pass the manuscript around again. This time Awakened, as well as future books 2 and 3, were bought by Harper Collins.It did not take long for the action to start in this book. Pretty much right from the start there was crazy action. It feels like it NEVER slows down after that. It really hooks you at the beginning and you can’t wait to see how it all ends. It was a 9 hour audio book but it did not seem like it was that long at all! The hours really flew by.The audio book was narrated by the author James S. Murray. Mr. Murray is not your typical voice worker. He did not narrate this with all the bells and whistles you normally hear on an audio book. Most of the characters sounded exactly the same and the women didn’t sound that much different then the men. What he lacked in voice range, he made up with passion and energy. He LOVES each and every character. He LOVES this story he created. Listening to Awakened is like hanging on every word that falls out of the camp counselors mouth as he tells a scary story around the campfire.Awakened is a fast paced horror ride that catapults you straight in to on coming traffic. And by “on coming traffic” I mean thousands, and thousands of horrifying creatures that will destroy you and everything in their path. This was a solid start to a new horror trilogy and I’m looking forward to where the authors go in the next installment. While author James S. Murray may not have a versatile range with his voice acting, he makes it work by giving the audio book life with his energy and passion for his work.

Amy

April 18, 2018

I received this ARC in the mail last weekend. I'm not a huge horror fan, but figured what the heck, and went into it with low expectations. Thankfully it was a weekend, as I had difficulty putting the book down and read well into the night. Many scenes are quite intense, and right when you think you have figured it all out another twist is thrown in. People are not who they appear to be. I really did feel on the edge of my seat often.I'm rating this five stars not for extraordinary writing, but because it was a lot of fun. I read it quickly, and more importantly, wanted to read it quickly. I have a busy life, so that says a lot. It's sci fi/horror, so suspend your disbelief a bit and have some fun. It appears to be the author's first book, so my advice to him would be to flesh out his characters a bit more and remember the "show, don't tell" rule. But other than that, I really enjoyed it. This could be a great airplane read...but I probably would avoid it on the subway. ;)advisements:profanity: yes, but not overwhelming. I don't love the F bomb, but I encountered less in this book than standing in a Starbucks in Los Angeles. violence: pretty graphic but not gratuitously sosex: none

Kari

August 07, 2018

Awakened was a random library pick that I ended up being pleasantly surprised with. The book opens with a the launch of New York's latest subway line. It's supposed to be an express to from New York to New Jersey under the Hudson river. Reporters, The President of the US and the mayor of New York are on the New Jersey platform waiting for the train to arrive. When it does, everyone on the train is gone and only bloody hand prints remain. I thought this book was a fun sci-fi horror adventure. The authors did a great job of building tension and suspense. It's bloody and gory, but I didn't mind. I had a hard time turning the audiobook off, I was that engrossed in the story. I loved that no one was safe. It was hard to predict who would make it out alive. The creatures were truly creepy and not something I would want to be caught with underground. It makes you wonder what is really lurking under the subway tracks. There are a few twists, since the reader can't predict who is playing for which side. I could easily see this made into a movie (if it was done right). My only complaint is that I want to know more about the creatures and how they were first discovered. Maybe in the next book we will get more background.I definitely recommend this one. These two author's have done a great job with this collaboration and I look forward to reading more from them.

Julia

November 21, 2018

Let's face it. I was drawn to this book because it was written by Murr from Impractical Jokers. I love that show. I went to see their tour last year. I am a big fan. I don't know how much was written by Murr and how much by his co-author. I like to think Murr contributed an equal amount to this.The story reminded me of two of my favorite horror books, The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone and The Descent by Jeff Long. In all of these books, humanity is threatened by a heretofore unknown species living underground. I like this idea. To me, under the earth is a scary place. I can't imagine why people enjoy exploring underground caverns. It is just too much.In Awakened, we get into trouble by digging an underground subway tunnel connecting New York to New Jersey. Not only is the tunnel underground, it is also under the Hudson River. So not only do our heroes have to deal with the killer inhabitants, but also the methane rich atmosphere in the tunnels, and the threat of tunnel collapse bringing in the water and drowning them all.The story contains some likable heroes, some terrible villains, double crosses and some mild political intrigue. (I generally don't like political thrillers, but this was mainly a horror book so it was ok) The ending is a definite set up to the next book in the series. I had a lot of fun reading this book and I am glad I did. The story was interesting, I was rooting for the people to make it to safety.

Alan

November 23, 2019

This book hits the ground running and doesn't stop till the end. It's a good old fashioned creature feature chock full of today's technology and world problems. While constantly exciting, by mid-book absurdity reigns, though unabashedly so. The authors concerns were thrills above realism, but thanks to fairly solid writing, the craziness mainly works. I can't say I'm that eager to read a sequel, due to just how ridiculous the plot got the longer the story went, but I did enjoy this book. 3.75/5

Shiny5711

July 08, 2019

Quick, exciting - I kept thinking about what was going on and finding reasons to get back to the book.

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