Auftakt

Philipp Oehme’s performance is the beating heart of this audiobook. His voice—soft as a boarding school prefect’s reprimand one moment, raw with primal fear the next—carries the weight of Jarvis’s gothic nightmare with astonishing conviction. There’s a moment early on, where he reads a Latin incantation with the cadence of a priest reciting a benediction, that sent an actual chill down my spine. It’s the kind of detail that makes me trust narrators implicitly, and Oehme delivers it often. That said, the story isn’t without its flaws. The middle act sags under the weight of its own atmosphere, trading momentum for dread. I found myself rewinding sections not because of the narration, but because the plot’s twists demanded closer attention to catch the breadcrumbs Jarvis scatters like poisoned cookies. The ending, too, is divisive: it resolves with a finality that might feel abrupt to some, like a door slamming shut on a conversation you weren’t ready to end. Still, these are minor quibbles in a tale that lingers like damp wool on the skin. By the final chapter, I was emotionally wrung out—exactly the kind of exhaustion good horror should leave you with. Oehme’s narration ensures you’ll feel every emotional punch, and Jarvis’s world will haunt your dreams long after the credits roll. If you’re hunting for a horror experience that respects your intelligence and lingers in your subconscious, *Auftakt* is a dark feast worth savoring.