The Bird Eater

Written by Ania Ahlborn

Twenty years ago, the mysterious death of his aunt left Aaron Holbrook orphaned and alone. He abandoned his rural Arkansas hometown vowing never to return, until his seven-year-old son died in an accident, plunging Aaron into a nightmare of addiction and grief. Desperate to reclaim a piece of himself, he returns to the hills of his childhood, to Holbrook House, where he hopes to find peace among the memories of his youth. But solace doesn’t come easy. Someone—or something—has other plans.

Like Aaron, Holbrook House is but a shell of what it once was, a target for vandals and ghost hunters who have nicknamed it “the devil’s den.” Aaron doesn’t believe in the paranormal—at least, not until a strange boy begins following him wherever he goes. Plagued by violent dreams and disturbing visions, Aaron begins to wonder if he’s losing his mind. But a festering darkness lurks at the heart of Holbrook House…a darkness that grins from within the shadows, delighting in Aaron’s sorrow, biding its time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Apr 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781480581739

Ania Ahlborn

Ania Ahlborn is the bestselling author of the horror thrillers Brother, Within These Walls, The Bird Eater, The Shuddering, The Neighbors, and Seed, and the novellas The Pretty Ones and I Call Upon Thee. Born in Ciechanow, Poland, she lives in South Carolina with her husband and their dog. Visit AniaAhlborn.com or follow the author on Facebook and Twitter @AniaAhlbornAuthor.

Reviews for The Bird Eater

[Mrs Regis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The narration was excellent, the story had me on edge. I didn't know where it was going. This book was ssssooooooo good!

[andrew · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is my favorite of hers so far. If they ever made these books into movies they’d be terrifying.

[Juvenal Lopez · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

First book I read by Ania Ahlborn, will not be the last one.

[zack · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed the book. A dark and gloomy read to be sure. Unique take on some otherwise worn out themes. Rough ending though, no light at the end of this tunnel.

[Mrs Henson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic, as always! She’s my new favorite horror author. Can’t wait to read another.

[Justin Guizar · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Ania Ahlborn is a FANTASTIC writer. I haven’t been disappointed yet! She’s as close to SK as I’ve found without being SK, and that’s saying something!

[Regina · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The imagery is good and it has rounded characters. It is predictable and doesn't actually explore the horror elements or provide answers. It reads as a "Holbrook House is haunted just because it is." Very unsatisfying ending and packed full of cliches that do a major disservice to the female characters in particular.
SPOILER: I cannot stand the cliche of "everyone thinks he's crazy until seconds before they die." A one-person haunting gets predictable and boring very fast. I wish the ghost's objective was explored more. The ghost's brief backstory is thrown in at the end with little finesse, and abandoned just as fast. During the second half of the book, I found myself accurately guessing what was going to happen, then roll my eyes when it happened. Overall, it was an easy read and a B-list horror book.

[Natalie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It’s been a while since I kept thinking about a book when I wasn’t reading/listening to it. This book had me engaged and it had the right amount of creepy imagery. Look forward to reading more of Ania’s books!

[maria · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

good but not great. i like brother more is more scary and intriguing.

[Evie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While I didn't love this book as much as I loved some of the other books by Ania Ahlborn (like Brother, Within These Walls, The Devil Crept In), I still enjoyed the audio quite a lot.

The narrator did a fantastic job creating the creepy, intense atmosphere, lowering his voice to a raspy and goosbumpy near-whisper at times. It only took me 3 days to get through the entire audio, and that's a personal record.

I definitely recommend it to fans of creepy ghost stories and unhappy endings.

[Erika Porter · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I’m sure there is someone that likes this book but sadly it is not me. The writing is fair but how many times can you repeat the same scenario over and over, chapter after chapter? I pretty much knew what was going to happen from the first couple of chapters but kept with it hoping I would be surprised. Wrong. Just an uninteresting book with a predictable ending. Sorry to the author.

[Gighileanu Andrei · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very enjoyable narration, the narrator really immersed himself into it I could tell! And about the book itself, it had very good descriptors and comparisons usage, I actually never listened to a book before thinking this. The phrases did not feel forced at all, while many books certainly give me that impression.

I enjoyed the overall flow of the story, it had a good pace and didn't feel like it overstayed its welcome.
Despite what some other people's reviews say, I thought the ending made sense and was well done, way better than plenty of other books that are considered good or great where their endings just don't do it for me.

I'm not sure why this is a 3.5 star book when many 4.5 ones are not nearly as enjoyable. I definitely will listen to the other books of this author.

[annaniko · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Not as good as the other books of the author

[KL McDowd · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is the third book of hers that I’ve read. The endings always seem to be as bloody and twisted as possible for seemingly no reason. I’m always pulled in by the premise, and like her writing style, but she can just never stick the ending. In this one, several characters do stuff that makes no sense.

[John Water · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good book. Follows the same path of the authors other books I have read. Suggest this and all of her books.

[nicholas eger · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book has a lot of issues. The 1st being that the story is thin. It would have been better suited as a short story rather than a full novel. The 2nd issue is the main character. I could care less about the main characters plight. I suppose you’re supposed to feel bad for the main characters lose of his son but you don’t. The other stray storyline is the lost love interest. The author never capitalized on that strand. The other major issue is there little to no background with the ghost kid and the allusion to who the identity of the main characters father. It just falls flat.

[caytlain hewitt · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Pretty good a little predictable but moves along well I liked the narrator.

[lyrrael · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Aaron Holbrook returns to his childhood home where his aunt died mysteriously after twenty years hoping to find some solace in the face of his grief. But something has other plans. I had trouble following who was who in this. I’m not sure why -- maybe I just wasn’t reading closely enough. A nephew is haunted by his childhood enough to try to make amends by coming home.

[irenecole · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The beginning of this book was quite intense and had me hooked right away. Aaron never knew his parents. He was raised by his aunt until the horrible day he lost her. At that time he was whisked away from his friends, and his childhood girlfriend never to return or contact them again...until another tragedy sends him home to Holbrook house. Aaron is in a terrible state of mind, and the fact that his childhood home is now considered the local haunted house by the towns people doesn't help matters any. He really is not a believer in ghosts or hauntings, but something has been waiting a very long time for Aaron to come home. I enjoyed this book though I can't say it blew me away like the previous work I read by this author "Brother"

[sharonmariabidwell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The book truly takes off from Chapter Two because in Chapter One I felt the opening pages threw too many names and too much background at the reader, but once I got close to the end of what read like a prologue, I fell into the story. Once I got to the end, I realised how well plotted the overall story was, all the threads interwoven. The odd grammatical redundancy jarred me out of the story but it’s otherwise superbly written with a proper sense of a descent into madness as someone’s psyche unravels, tormented by evil spirits perhaps of the supernatural world and of one’s own making. My first book by this author, but it won’t be my last.

[bookwormteri · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Didn't end the way you might have hoped, but a fantastic read.Guy moves back into his childhood home where his aunt raised him after his mother died. He starts to see and feel things that couldn't be there. Did his aunt really die from an accidental fall down the stairs or was there something more to her death. Fearing for his sanity, he asks his two childhood friends to help him figure out what is going on.

[gmoore8911 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great story. At parts, my eyes couldn't read fast enough to get through the details. I had to stop myself from skimming through to find out what was going on. Definitely a page turner, lost track of time numerous times. It's a never ending cycle, almost not wanting to end. You want to hope for a happy ending, an almost predictable ending. However, it's not predictable and you just wonder how long the cycle will go on.

[altheaann · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I think I would've liked this book better if I'd read it before the author's other book, 'Within These Walls.' I gave that one 4 stars - and I can't really argue that it was necessarily a superior book - but it was a very similar book. I suspect that if you read this one first, you might feel that 'Within These Walls' was the bit of a letdown. Both share the same basic 'haunted house' plot outline and progression.

Here, Aaron Holbrook is grief-stricken and drinking too much after the death of his young son in a car accident - an accident that he blames himself for. His failure to get himself together has also precipitated his relationship toward a divorce. Separated from his wife, he decides to go back to his hometown and renovate the home that was left to him by his aunt.

He hasn't been back there since his aunt, his guardian, died in an accident in that home when he was just a boy. Returning is a bit of a shock, as he discovers that the town had all kinds of rumors about his disappearance - rumors that he was actually dead, that he'd murdered his aunt, that the house left empty was haunted. Reconnecting with his childhood best friend and first girlfriend is emotionally fraught, and being in Holbrook House doesn't seem to be helping Aaron's already-fragile mental state.

It's not bad, and there were definitely some tense and chilling moments. It just didn't feel strikingly original. Recommended for fans of the haunted house genre.

[debra_burge · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was my first time reading Ania Ahlborn and I really enjoyed her writing style. Looking forward to reading more of her works!

[kelly_mills-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have read all of Ania Ahlborn's books, and she has quickly become my favorite new author. As other reviewers have noted, she writes in the style of Stephen King who is my favorite all-time author (and hers). If you like Stephen King, you should definitely check out the works of Ania Ahlborn. In The Bird Eater she successfully melds psychological and supernatural horror into an exciting thrill ride. Please read the plot summary for a more detailed outline of the story. I did enjoy this story, although I have to admit there was some predictability and the ending was rather cliche. I was also left with many unanswered questions. ********SOME MILD SPOILERS NEXT*******Only a very small amount of time was spent on explaining who the bird eater actually is, and never is it explained why he was the way he was or what happened to him after he disappeared following the events briefly explained in the story. Also, the bird eater tells Aaron that he had a use for him but not anymore (you realize why at the end of the story). But what use does he have for anyone? His ultimate goal is never explained. Also, the bird eater pops up all over town after Aaron returns. I would have liked an explanation regarding his limitations. Can he only appear within the town limits? Or can he go anywhere? I felt that rather than the house being haunted, it was really Aaron who was being haunted (in addtion to his being haunted about his son's death). But why hadn't the bird eater bothered Aaron prior to his return to town? I can only speculate.************END OF SPOILERS*************As previously stated, I did enjoy this read and would recommend it to fellow horror lovers and fans of Stephen King. I was bothered by what was left out of the story, but I am reminded of something John Carpenter said about the original Halloween movie. He said a great deal of what made it so scarry was that there was no explanation as to why Michael Myers was so evil. Here was this evil guy going around killing people randomly with no explanation whatsoever. Perhaps Ms. Ahlborn was thinking along these lines when writing this story. Regardless, this was an enjoyable read that I highly recommend.

[zbandicoot-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book left me with unanswered questions! What is up with that kid?Why are they connected?What was the point of this Hazel character?Why did it have to end that way?I love horror but this book didn't do it for me, it was more of a "wtf" feeling than "omg i can't sleep!" feeling.Although I have to admit, it did keep me glued and interested, just because I wanted to know the outcome to it all, but in the end, disappointed me overall.

[bj3568 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Bird Eater is scary. Don’t read it at night. This is my first book from this author. My copy was through the Amazon Kindle First Picks. The style of storytelling is a little different from what I’m used to, but in a good way. It reminds me of some Russian horror films I’ve seen. You know there is a back story. You get hints of it, but they never quite spell the whole thing out. It’s scarier because your imagination supplies the rest. It isn’t a long book; a nice snow day will get you through it. If you like thrillers, give it a try.