Review: The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe (Free Audio Book)

This is a wonderful reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story classic, The Tell-Tale Heart.

Poe has us listening in to the deranged thoughts of a murderer and madman. The story begins with an unnamed narrator claiming that he is extremely nervous but not mad. He then confesses that he had killed an old man and that his motivation was a fear of the old man’s pale eyes. The narrator explains in detail the way he stalked the old man and how one night he simply decided he had to kill him. When it comes to the reading of the story, the reader does an excellent job. Priscilla Parchia’s narration is very professional. Her voice is lovely to listen and her diction superb. She also has a great understanding of the tone of the story and its dramatic shift as the narrator begins to panic.

This is a wonderful, dramatic reading of an Edgar Allan Poe classic. The rising tension of the story and the narrator is illustrated with the quickening of the old man’s beating heart. The reading is played out against the stillness of the police as a dramatic counter-point.

This audio version really escalates the tension with good music and a narrator speeding up in harmony with the story and the still-beating heart.

This is definitely a unique piece of literature which you must not skip. Enjoy listening to Poe’s masterpiece – the Tell-Tale Heart.

You can listen to The Tell-Tale Heart here.

Visit Amazon for the Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe on Kindle.