Audiobook Review: The Outsider by Stephen King

Publisher: Simon Schuster Audio

Pub. Date: May 22nd, 2018

Length: 18 hours, 41 minutes

Genres: Fiction / Horror / Mystery / Thriller

Synopsis

An unspeakable crime. A confounding investigation. At a time when the King brand has never been stronger, he has delivered one of his most unsettling and compulsively readable stories.


An eleven-year-old boy’s violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City’s most popular citizens. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. Their case seems ironclad.


 As the investigation expands and horrifying answers begin to emerge, King’s propulsive story kicks into high gear, generating strong tension and almost unbearable suspense. Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy, but is he wearing another face? When the answer comes, it will shock you as only Stephen King can.

What Did I Think About the Story?

I always know when I pick up a Stephen King novel that I'm in for a hell of a wild ride. The Outsider is no different, taking this graphic and horrific murder in small town America and turning it on it's head with a supernatural element that I couldn't have guessed at if I tried.

The story initially presented seems impossible: a much beloved local hero is accused of viciously murdering and violating a boy, something that seems to be backed up by eyewitness testimony and DNA evidence no matter how much the accused swears he didn't do it and that he was actually out of town at the time. Then video corroborating his story shows up. How is this possible? How can a man seemingly be in two places at once? Here begins the real fun as Detective Ralph Anderson and others work to decipher what went on and who the real killer is. I won't say anything else about the plot as this is definitely one you'll want to see unfold for yourself.

I listened to this story as an audiobook and I think the narrator (Will Patton) did a good job of keeping the tension tight and the listener engaged throughout the many twists and turns the story took. He also did a great job of changing his voice to differentiate between characters and to give us some particularly unique voices, especially Holly Dibney, a character who appears in other installments of this "Finders Keepers" series. I actually didn't even realize this was part of a series until after I read The Outsider, but I've now added the rest of the series to my listening lineup. And Will Patton is again the narrator, so that's a wonderful surprise!

The Outsider has quite a lot more interesting aspects that I want to discuss but I'm wary to do so in case I give anything away. Just know that it's graphic at times but also filled with really interesting and relatable characters. The supernatural aspect is delicious and really takes this story down an unusual road that's entertaining to say the least. If you are already a fan of Stephen King's novels you will most likely really enjoy this one as well.

What Did I Think About the Cover?

It's definitely unsettling! It's also intriguing to see the world turned on it's head, making someone just picking it up wonder why that might be, and why the man's shadow has red eyes. Simple but effective for sure!


My Rating: 4.0/5.0

I borrowed a copy of the audiobook version of The Outsider from my library's Overdrive account. All opinions are mine alone. To find more information about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, see Goodreads HERE.

 

 



Audiobook Review: Dark Water by Robert Bryndza

Pub. Date: October 20th, 2016

Publisher: Bookouture

Length: 8 hours, 55 minutes

Genres: Contemporary Fiction / Crime Drama / Thriller / Mystery

Book Series: Erika Foster #3

Synopsis

Beneath the water the body sank rapidly. She would lie still and undisturbed for many years but above her on dry land, the nightmare was just beginning.


When Detective Erika Foster receives a tip-off that key evidence for a major narcotics case was stashed in a disused quarry on the outskirts of London, she orders for it to be searched. From the thick sludge the drugs are recovered, but so is the skeleton of a young child.

The remains are quickly identified as seven-year-old Jessica Collins. The missing girl who made headline news twenty-six years ago.

As Erika tries to piece together new evidence with the old, she must dig deeper and find out more about the fractured Collins family and the original detective, Amanda Baker. A woman plagued by her failure to find Jessica. Erika soon realises this is going to be one of the most complex and demanding cases she has ever taken on.

Is the suspect someone close to home? Someone is keeping secrets. Someone who doesn’t want this case solved. And they’ll do anything to stop Erika from finding the truth.


From the million-copy bestselling author of The Girl in the Ice and The Night Stalker, comes the third heart-stopping book in the Detective Erika Foster series.

What Did I Think About the Story? 

The Detective Erika Foster series has made it's way to the top of my "I really need an exciting audiobook listen" list and, with Dark Water, the third story in the series, the mystery and drama jumps up a notch. As the synopsis says, Erika is again presented with a historic case that will test every fiber of her resolve and abilities, a case that could bring her and those she cares about closer and closer to danger. At the same time the reader/listener has a front row seat to Erika's continuing process of mourning her husband (who died in the field as part of an investigation that Erika led) while also craving companionship and contact. She's tough as nails, always ready to act first and ask for forgiveness later, but also funny and vulnerable and caring. She's the full package and the exact sort of character I can't help but go back to over and over again.

I think what I love most about this series is that the same characters you begin enjoying in book one come back in subsequent installments, with a few added here and there to expand your appreciation of this world that author Robert Bryndza has built. The team that Erika has built around herself is excellent, each adding their own personality to the mix and giving you a little bit of everything - drama, humor, aggravation - all within the scope of a strict and ordered law enforcement system. There are rules to be followed, but that doesn't mean Erika doesn't create a little wiggle room when needed for her team to solve the case.

I also really enjoy learning more about British crime procedures. For this particular case, Erika and her team are forced to cypher through boxes upon boxes of evidence from the original Jessica Collins disappearance case, something that, while absolutely necessary in case there are clues hidden within that information, takes an incredible amount of time, time which wears on Jessica's family and the media at large as everyone is desperate to know how Jessica ended up in that quarry. It's fascinating and the author does a great job of showing you the police work that is actually behind these sensational sorts of cases.

I can't forget to mention how wonderful the narrator of the Detective Foster series is. Jan Cramer gives personality and differentiation to each of the characters, making it so I'm not sure I would want to experience an Erika Foster novel without her. Her skills at narration combined with Robert Bryndza's excellent writing just make this such an enjoyable experience.

Dark Water is a wonderful edition to Erika Foster's story. It advanced her personal story - and those of her team - while also presenting a new case for the reader/listener to puzzle over. I will fully admit that I did not guess at what happened to Jessica Collins or who was involved in her disappearance and death. I am itching to listen to the next installment and see what kind of excitement Erika (and Bryndza) will bring to us next.

 

What Did I Think About the Cover?

It's perfect, as are the other covers in this series! I seem to be drawn to covers with people under water, so this one in particular is eye-catching for me. Whoever is in charge of coming up with these covers is excellent.


My Rating: 4.5/5.0

I purchased a copy of Dark Water for my own library. All opinions are mine alone. To find more information about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, see Goodreads HERE.

 

 

Reviews of Other Books in the Erika Foster Series

 

 

The Girl in the Ice (Book One)

The Night Stalker (Book Two)

 

 

 

 





Audiobook Review: After Anna by Lisa Scottoline

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Pub. Date: April 10th, 2018

Length: 10 hours, 51 minutes

Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Mystery / Suspense / Family Drama

Synopsis

Nobody cuts deeper than family...


Noah Alderman, a doctor and a widower, has remarried a wonderful woman, Maggie, and for the first time in a long time he and his son are happy. But their lives are turned upside down when Maggie’s daughter Anna moves in with them. Anna is a gorgeous seventeen-year-old who balks at living under their rules though Maggie, ecstatic to have her daughter back, ignores the red flags that hint at the trouble that is brewing. Events take a deadly turn when Anna is murdered and Noah is accused of the crime. Maggie must face not only the devastation of losing her only daughter, but the realization that her daughter's murder was at the hands of a husband she loves. New information sends Maggie searching for the truth, leading her to discover something darker than she could have ever imagined.

What Did I Think About the Story?

After Anna is an interesting mystery, one that starts after the main situation - Anna's murder - has already occurred. Going back and forth in time, the reader is at first led to see what happened through the eyes of Anna's mother, as well as the trial and aftermath through Noah's point of view. The reader is then exposed to a twist that turns everything on its head, leading to a shocking discovery that I never saw coming.

Each chapter of the first two-thirds of the book alternates between Maggie "before" - when her estranged daughter reaches out to Maggie after her father's death - and Noah "after" - when he is charged with Anna's murder. I thought this was a great way to develop the story as it almost gives it the feeling of two separate stories converging into one. In Maggie's storyline we get to see how her ex-husband used her post partum psychosis against her, lying and keeping her daughter from her even after she had recovered. This leads Maggie, once she has Anna back in her life, to ignore red flags and put her daughter above everyone else, even her husband and her step-son. In Noah's story we see his trial unfold and have to determine if his statements of innocence are true, even when the evidence against him seems to be mounting and mounting. Then that twist I mentioned starts the final one-third of the story, changing everything and leaving me, at least, wondering how I didn't see it coming (and I really didn't!). It's quite a twist, one that keeps twisting until an ending that was satisfying, if a bit unrealistic.

The narrators of the story - we get two, one for Maggie's portions and one for Noah's - did a pretty good job of keeping the two storylines flowing towards each other and keeping me engaged. I have to admit that the narrator for Maggie, at times, somewhat grated on me, but I still can't decide if that is mainly due to her actual voice or the actions and dialogue written for her. Maggie, as a character, did some things that really got on my nerves and seemed pretty unrealistic. For example, at one point she's at a police station getting some unexpected information (this is a big understatement but I don't want to give anything away) and she demands to go along on what will surely be a very dangerous police matter....and the police let her tag along! This felt so far-fetched (along with some other actions) that I lost some appreciation for the story. The big twist that we discover seems somewhat unlikely by itself, adding Maggie's wild behavior to it doesn't help it feel at all like something relatable or something that would actually happen. Part of what I first enjoyed about the story was how these ordinary people had their lives completely destroyed by what happened to Anna, something that could, inevitably, happen in real life. Adding situations and reactions that I can't conceive of ever happening just took away from some of that enjoyment.   

After Anna is definitely a twisty tale. While I didn't love it I did enjoy being surprised by the big revelations. This might be a case of a story that would have been better read and not listened to, I've still not decided. I've read another book by Lisa Scottoline and remember really enjoying it, so I'll definitely give her another try in the future! I'd recommend this to anyone who likes twists and turns that don't necessarily need to be too realistic.

What Did I Think About the Cover?

I think it's a pretty great cover for the story. The girl turned away and against a darkening backdrop gives it a sense of eeriness, and the fact that she's walking away from the lit-up houses makes her seem separate from that world (all of which fits). I love the slash down the middle as well, giving it texture and even more of a sinister feeling.


My Rating: 3.5/5.0

I borrowed a copy of the audiobook version of After Anna from my library's Overdrive account. All opinions are mine alone. You can find more information about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, on Goodreads HERE. 

Audiobook Review: Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith

Pub. Date: October 20th, 2015

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Length: 17 hours, 58 minutes

Series: Cormoran Strike #3

Genre: Fiction / Mystery / Thriller / Crime Drama

Synopsis

When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman's severed leg.

Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible - and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality.

With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them....


Career of Evil is the third in the highly acclaimed series featuring private detective Cormoran Strike and his assistant, Robin Ellacott. A fiendishly clever mystery with unexpected twists around every corner, it is also a gripping story of a man and a woman at a crossroads in their personal and professional lives.

What Did I Think About the Story?

Career of Evil is my favorite Cormoran Strike novel yet! I feel like I can't get enough of Strike or Robin and love seeing each of their characters, as well as their relationship together, develop and grow from book to book. In this novel we really get to see further into their personal histories and how those experiences have influenced the development of their personalities. Both of them have gone through some very dark situations, situations that, in Strike's case, lead around to the case at the center of this story.

As you can read from the synopsis, there is a serial killer/body mutilator sending body parts to Robin along with taunting messages that tie back to Blue Oyster Cult lyrics. Strike's mother, an infamous rock groupie who died of a drug overdose years before, was a fan of the group and this instantly puts Strike on alert that the killer is somehow tied to his and his mother's past. As Strike searches for the various men who he sees as suspects we get to peek into his sad and torturous childhood with his mother and her rotating group of "boyfriends" who, often, treat Cormoran, his sister, and his mother horribly. For me this really solidified Strike's personality and why he's often somewhat withdrawn and impersonal with those that get too close to him. He's built a wall up around his heart and it isn't easy for him to let people in, even when he does, deep down, care for them and want to protect them.

While this is all going on we get to know Robin Ellacott better as well. We learn the shocking and devastating reason she quite college and the dark secret she's been trying to hide from Strike, scared that, if he knew, he'd fire her from the only job she's ever truly loved.  We see why she fights so hard to be strong and independent, and seen as such by those around her. We see her relationship with her fiancée take some unexpected turns, turns that kept me personally glued to the page as much as the investigation.

The narrator once again did an exceptional job of giving all these characters distinct voices, voices I'm very much going to miss as I wait for the (fingers crossed) next installment in this series. I should mention that Career of Evil, as well as the rest of the series, is filled with quite a bit of graphic imagery, situations, and profanity. While this doesn't bother me I wanted to mention it so people who do have a problem with those sorts of situations are aware.

I really do hope there are more books in this series to come out. I've listened to each audiobook this year and I'm now a little sad that I don't have another to listen to. I definitely recommend this series for those that enjoy a gritty murder mystery and ones that have characters that are both humorous and troubled in particular.

What Did I Think About the Cover?

Much like the cover of The Silkworm, it doesn't really represent this story very well. However, it does add that touch of mystery you'd expect from this sort of story, so I do like that.


My Rating: 4.5/5.0

I borrowed a copy of the audiobook version of Career of Evil from my library's Overdrive account. All opinions are mine alone. You can find more information about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, on Goodreads HERE.

 

 

 

 



Audiobook Review: The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

Pub. Date: June 19th, 2014
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Length: 17 hours, 22 minutes

Series: Cormoran Strike #2

Genre: Fiction / Mystery / Thriller / Crime Drama

Synopsis

Private investigator Cormoran Strike returns in a new mystery from Robert Galbraith, author of the #1 international bestseller The Cuckoo's Calling.


When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, Mrs. Quine just thinks her husband has gone off by himself for a few days—as he has done before—and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.

But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realizes. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were to be published, it would ruin lives—meaning that there are a lot of people who might want him silenced.

When Quine is found brutally murdered under bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any Strike has encountered before...

What Did I Think About the Story? 

Book Two in the Cormoran Strike series begins with Strike flush with clients and slightly famous after solving the Lula Landry case in the Cuckoo's Calling. Robin Ellacott is still working as his secretary, enjoying her job even while getting increasingly frustrated with the fact that he won't trust her with more detective work and with her fiancée's continued snobbery about the job and jealousy of Cormoran. Into this busy madness walks Mrs. Quine, a woman without much money or standing who simply wants Strike to find her wayward husband so he can come home and take care of her and their mentally disabled daughter. But, as the facts begin to fall into place and Owen Quine's mutilated body is found in the exact same manner as he describes in his not yet published book, Strike has to follow the bizarre clues and use his excellent deduction skills to find the murderer before the wrong person goes down for the crime.

I found this case to be particularly interesting as it's a real literary whodunit, with a limited number of possible suspects but each with their own, very deep-seated reasons for wanting Quine dead. Watching Strike gather together this list of suspects and interpreting how they figured into Mr. Quine's forthcoming book (and which salacious character they each represented) kept my attention, especially as there were certain aspects of the characters that ended up being clues to what actually happened, clues that I completely overlooked! I won't say who ended up being the killer but I will say I didn't figure it out before the fast-paced and thrilling ending.

I think what I love more than the actual mystery at the heart of the story are the characters themselves. I find Cormoran to be such a complicated character: ex-military police, annoyed by the limits his disability causes (he lost one of his legs), caring - if standoffish - with those in his limited inner circle, yet always willing to put in the time needed to help the underdog and make sure that the truth, whatever it is, always comes out in the end. Seeing Robin next to him is almost comical as she's vivacious, whip-smart, and far more capable than he - or her fiancée - give her credit for. It was great watching her finally voice to Strike her need to be considered as more than just his secretary, as a partner who can put in the time and energy as well to solve their various cases. This obviously causes issues with her fiancée, and that dynamic added another interesting layer to not only her character but the overall story.

I should also mention that the audiobook version of The Silkworm is narrated by the same person as The Cuckoo's Calling (Robert Glenister) who did just as exceptional a job of bringing these characters to life and keeping me glued to my car's stereo during my commutes as he did before. He really is a great audiobook narrator and I'm excited to see he'll be doing the narration for the third book in the series - Career of Evil - as well.    

The Silkworm reaffirmed by love of Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott and has me excited to see what they will get up to next, both at work and in their personal lives.  If you like good mystery with interesting and sometimes dryly comical characters, you will find much to enjoy with this series.

What Did I Think About the Cover?

It's okay. It doesn't really represent the story at all - or anything specific to this particular story - and I'm not even sure who the man on the cover is meant to be (is it Cormoran? Or Quine? Someone else?). However, it does give off a feeling of mystery and I enjoy that aspect of it.


My Rating: 4.0/5.0

I borrowed a copy of the audiobook version of The Silkworm from my library's Overdrive account. All opinions are mine alone. You can find more information about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, on Goodreads HERE.  

 

 



Audiobook Review: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Publisher: Phoenix Books, Inc.
Pub. Date: April 17th, 2007
Length: 6 hours

Genres: Horror / Fiction / Suspense

Synopsis

The classic supernatural thriller by an author who helped define the genre


First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

What Did I Think About the Story?

I've enjoyed the movie version of The Haunting of Hill House since it came out years ago, but somehow never got around to reading (or listening, in this case) to the actual story as written by the author. In the movie we see a mix of the paranormal and the psychological, wondering how much of what was occurring was a result of ghosts and evil spirits or more within the twisted minds of the characters. I found this audiobook to be very similar, at least where it comes to that key mystery, and to have much about it to enjoy, even as the ending left much to be desired.

The characters are very similar: shy, lonely Eleanor; vivacious and outgoing Theodora; charming and appeasing Luke; and the doctor at the center of it all, studying the others and pulling the strings somewhat. The house itself is even a character, being strangely constructed with off-kilter doors, strange hallways and rooms, and oddities that would leave anyone feeling slightly uncomfortable or slightly insane within it. It's an overall fun house even as it can also feel quite terrifying.

The narrator was great, having that classic posh English accent that you would expect and want from this sort of story. While each of the voices didn't necessarily sound distinct of and to themselves they were still varied enough that it wasn't difficult to figure out who was talking to whom and he definitely made up for any lack of distinction with his great skills at keeping the narration foreboding and sinister feeling.

I have to admit I'm either disappointed with the ending or somewhat confused on what actually  happened. I don't want to say too much in case anyone else hasn't read/listened to the story and wants to, but I was left feeling like not that much actually happened by the end of the story. Sort of a "this happened and now we are all moving on" situation. I might have completely missed something while listening to the audiobook...that happens sometimes when you listen while driving...but otherwise it ended up being something of a letdown.

The Haunting of Hill House is a good, classically sinister story that gets under your skin even as not that much really happens. It's more about what isn't happening and the bumps in the night that we cannot see. While this doesn't make me a lifetime fan of Shirley Jackson's I'm definitely interested to see what her other stories might have to offer.

What Did I Think About the Cover?

I'm not a big fan of this particular cover as it's just the movie tie-in photo and doesn't really represent, for me, the story as a whole. I've seen other covers that show a creepy old house, which is great, but even those don't seem to have much depth to them.



My Rating: 4.0/5.0

I borrowed a copy of The Haunting of Hill House from my library's Overdrive account. All opinions are mine alone. If you'd like to find out more about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, see Goodreads HERE.

 

 



Audiobook Review: The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

Pub. Date: May 16th, 2013
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Length: 15 hours, 54 minutes

Book Series: Cormoran Strike #1
Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Mystery / Crime Fiction

Synopsis

The Cuckoo's Calling is a 2013 crime fiction novel by J. K. Rowling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.


A brilliant mystery in a classic vein: Detective Cormoran Strike investigates a supermodel's suicide.

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.

Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.

You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this.

What Did I Think About the Story?

I feel very late to the game with this series of contemporary mysteries by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling). I saw this first book in the series pop up on my library's Overdrive account and thought, why not give it a go? I'm been really enjoying mysteries this year and it sounded like a good premise. I'm glad I went with my gut because not only did I enjoy the story very much I also really enjoyed the narrator.

The main character - Cormoran Strike - is a gem. As the story began I pictured him as a classic sort of bumbling detective, kind of gritty and unkempt and seeming to be falling apart even when you know he's following all the clues. He's also got much about him that's very unique, having been in the military police and having been injured in the line of duty, as well as being the illegitimate son of a aging rockstar, something that put him in a very interesting predicament as he investigates the death of a supermodel that was surrounded by people who also know his father.

His (at first temporary) assistant, Robin Ellacott, is wonderful as well, serving as a great Girl Friday, keeping Cormoran in line and on target while also wrestling with whether she wanted to continue on assisting him in this unsteady detective business (something she very much enjoys much to the dismay of her fiancée) or move on to the next better paying and more secure position. I'm surprised that she isn't even named in the synopsis above as she plays a large part in the story and is just as enjoyable and fleshed out as Cormoran. I would definitely say I at least appreciated both of these characters equally.

The actual search into what happened to Lula Landry was fun to follow. The rich and vicious world Lula lived within was quite entertaining, if superficial, and I was constantly left feeling like these people who were supposed to care about Lula weren't telling the whole truth about what they knew about her or the events leading up to her death, whether that was because of secrets in their own lives or because of some sort of involvement. When the last shoe does drop and we find out exactly what happened to Lula - in great detail as Cormoran has figured out - I can honestly say I did not see it coming. I almost feel like I should have, given what we discover, but as it stands I was completely surprised.

The narrator of The Cuckoo's Calling was exceptional, varying the voices into distinct characterizations (and there are quite a few secondary characters) as well as keeping the narrative flowing evenly so as not to bog the listener down in all the details. He also perfectly expressed Cormoran's dry wit, making me connect with him as a character even more than I might have otherwise.

The Cuckoo's Calling was a fun audiobook to listen to on my commute. The story flowed, the characters and the mystery were interesting, and I'm left wanting more. I've now reserved the next book in the series and hope to be able to listen to it really soon! I'm also really excited to see the TV series that I read is being made based on the series.

What Did I Think About the Cover?

While I think this image represents the overall story well, I don't think the woman on the cover at all matches the image of Lula Landry that I had built up in my head while reading the story. I always prefer if the model on the cover matches the description of the character. Other than that, I love the blinding flashbulbs and the way the name is sort of scrawled within it. I also like that the author's name is quite small so as not to draw attention away from the rest of the cover.


My Rating: 4.0/5.0

I borrowed a copy of the audiobook version of The Cuckoo's Calling from my library's Overdrive account. All opinions are mine alone. You can find more information about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, on Goodreads HERE.

 

 



Audiobook Review: The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

Publisher: Random House Audio
Pub. Date: August 5th, 2008
Length: 19 hours , 15 minutes

Genre: Fiction / Fantasy / Historical Fiction / Contemporary Fiction / Romance / Dual Timeline

Synopsis

An extraordinary debut novel of love that survives the fires of hell and transcends the boundaries of time


The narrator of The Gargoyle is a very contemporary cynic, physically beautiful and sexually adept, who dwells in the moral vacuum that is modern life. As the book opens, he is driving along a dark road when he is distracted by what seems to be a flight of arrows. He crashes into a ravine and suffers horrible burns over much of his body. As he recovers in a burn ward, undergoing the tortures of the damned, he awaits the day when he can leave the hospital and commit carefully planned suicide—for he is now a monster in appearance as well as in soul.

A beautiful and compelling, but clearly unhinged, sculptress of gargoyles by the name of Marianne Engel appears at the foot of his bed and insists that they were once lovers in medieval Germany. In her telling, he was a badly injured mercenary and she was a nun and scribe in the famed monastery of Engelthal who nursed him back to health. As she spins their tale in Scheherazade fashion and relates equally mesmerizing stories of deathless love in Japan, Iceland, Italy, and England, he finds himself drawn back to life—and, finally, in love. He is released into Marianne's care and takes up residence in her huge stone house. But all is not well. For one thing, the pull of his past sins becomes ever more powerful as the morphine he is prescribed becomes ever more addictive. For another, Marianne receives word from God that she has only twenty-seven sculptures left to complete—and her time on earth will be finished.


Already an international literary sensation, the Gargoyle is an Inferno for our time. It will have you believing in the impossible.

What Did I Think About the Story? 

I have to admit that I probably wouldn't have picked this book up to read/listen to if it wasn't for my boss talking it up and loaning me her audiobook copy. I hadn't heard of the book before and, honestly, it seemed from the synopsis like it would have a heavier fantasy element than I typically read. But, CDs in hand, I started listening to it on my commute and found myself completely immersed in this remarkably unique and encompassing listening experience.

Per the synopsis, much of the beginning of the story is spent within the mind of an incredibly narcissistic narrator. He fully admits to being a snarky, self-centered drug-abuser who loves purposefully morphing into different people in order to trick as many women as he can into sleeping with him. He's just the worst sort of human and it's hard to find anything to like about him. Then he has this horrific accident that results in months of recovery in a hospital. This might sound strange, but I found the vivid details given to his injuries and the (often tortuous) remedies employed to help him absolutely fascinating. I never really thought about what it takes to try and heal a burn victim nor how painful that process is for the patient. It's a terrible and grueling thing to have to go through and, with the intricate details given my the author,  you get an incredible sense of just how bad it would be for the person going through it.

During this arduous process we meet Marianne Engel, a possibly crazy artist who changes our narrator from the moment she walks into his hospital room. Marianne is such a fascinating character and through her the reader is sent through time to see various tragic love stories throughout history, including, supposedly, a long ago love story between the narrator and Marianne herself. She weaves such a magical spell over all that the narrator doesn't even know that she is effectively bringing him back to life and shaping him into a much better person than he ever was before. But his love for Marianne doesn't necessarily save her from believing her fate is determined by God and it was both mesmerizing and heartbreaking to watch him try everything to change her as she had changed him.

The narrator of The Gargoyle, Lincoln Hoppe, was perfect for this story as he easily maneuvered between the jaded, snarky character we first meet and the calmer, more settled and much kinder character we are left with. It helps that the story is so wonderfully vivid throughout and I was amazed at how much detail - from realistic history to the healing process for burn victims to the obsessive madness of someone with mental illness to so much more - the author was able to present. There is one part of the book in particular where, while being weaned off drugs, the narrator goes straight into Dante's inferno and the reader is brought along on a terrifying adventure like no other. This part alone could have been it's own story yet is only one of many incredible components of this novel.

Part of being such a wonderful novelist, however, is making your readers love the characters and the world you've created and it was this point in particular that made me really disappointed in the ending. I felt like I had invested so much in this story and been taken along on such a magical and all-consuming ride that the way the author choose to end it just made me feel sort of cheated. I can see why the author made the choices he did, however I felt like everything had been leading somewhere else and I really, really didn't think it had to end as it did. I don't want to say anything else to spoil the story, but I will leave it with the fact that the ending is the only thing keeping this from being a 5 star book for me.    

The Gargoyle is a fascinating look at pain, growth, love, art, mental illness, and faith unlike anything I've read before. It's worth a read for anyone as it's got so much to appreciate, as long as the reader isn't squeamish about graphic language or details. I definitely recommend it as an audiobook as well as you are sure to spend hours enraptured by the authors words.

What Did I Think About the Cover?

I think it's okay. I like that it represents Marianne Engel as well as the fiery heart that is symbolic of some things that happen in the story, but other than that it's somewhat plain given how complex and intricate the story is. There are just so many possibilities of what the cover could showcase!


My Rating: 4.0/5.0

I borrowed the audiobook CDs of The Gargoyle from a coworker and all opinions are mine alone. To find more information about the stories, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase your own copy, see Goodreads HERE.

 

 

Audiobook Review: Origin by Dan Brown

Publisher: Random House Audio

Release Date: October 3rd, 2017

Length: 18 hours , 9 minutes

Genre: Fiction / Contemporary Fiction / Thriller / Technothriller / Suspense

Book Series: Robert Langdon, Book #5

Synopsis

Where do we come from?

Where are we going?

The stunningly inventive new novel from the world's most popular thriller writer.


Bilbao, Spain

Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology, arrives at the ultramodern Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to attend a major announcement - the unveiling of a discovery that "will change the face of science forever." The evening's host is Edmond Kirsch, a 40-year-old billionaire and futurist whose dazzling high-tech inventions and audacious predictions have made him a renowned global figure. Kirsch, who was one of Langdon's first students at Harvard two decades earlier, is about to reveal an astonishing breakthrough...one that will answer two of the fundamental questions of human existence.

As the event begins, Langdon and several hundred guests find themselves captivated by an utterly original presentation, which Langdon realizes will be far more controversial than he ever imagined. But the meticulously orchestrated evening suddenly erupts into chaos, and Kirsch's precious discovery teeters on the brink of being lost forever. Reeling and facing an imminent threat, Langdon is forced into a desperate bid to escape Bilbao. With him is Ambra Vidal, the elegant museum director who worked with Kirsch to stage the provocative event. Together they flee to Barcelona on a perilous quest to locate a cryptic password that will unlock Kirsch's secret.

Navigating the dark corridors of hidden history and extreme religion, Langdon and Vidal must evade a tormented enemy whose all-knowing power seems to emanate from Spain's Royal Palace itself...and who will stop at nothing to silence Edmond Kirsch. On a trail marked by modern art and enigmatic symbols, Langdon and Vidal uncover clues that ultimately bring them face to face with Kirsch's shocking discovery...and the breathtaking truth that has long eluded us.


Origin is Dan Brown's most brilliant and entertaining novel to date.

What Did I Think About the Story?

Readers seem to either love or hate Dan Brown's books and I fall heavily into the former category. All of his novels have been fast-paced, action-packed explorations into countries, cultures, and hidden aspects of history that I would probably never get to experience otherwise. He brings the reader along as he explores the world and teaches us fascinating little factoids about the locations or object being discussed, making you feel like you are getting a deeper picture of what is happening within the story. In this way Origin is a typical Dan Brown, going even farther than normal to ask and answer questions that are at the heart of humanity: where do we come from? Where are we going?

Origin tackles some of the biggest and most controversial warring aspects of modern life: religion vs. science, classical vs. modern, new vs. old, fact vs. belief. While Brown veers heavily towards the belief in science and technology he also shows an appreciation and love for the classical and the artistic, showing links between the measured science of and the beauty and chaos of nature and life as we know it. I can't tell you too much more about the overall plot of the story without giving something away, but I will say that Brown offers up some compelling answers to the questions he presents, ones that make me both excited for and terrified for humanity's future.

My favorite aspect of the story, and one that sort of drives home the point of the ceaseless advancement of technology, is the fact that one of Robert Langdon's companions on this madcap journey is a virtual docent at the museum, one created by Edmond Kirsch himself. "Winston" is a key player in helping Langdon discover what Kirsch was going to reveal to the world and making sure that his revelations are released. While he doesn't physically travel with the human characters he's able to interact with them virtually and search through copious amounts of information to assist in a fraction of the time it would have taken Langdon. To be honest I'm not sure how they would have proceeded without him! That isn't to say that Winston is perfect, but you'll have to read/listen to the story to discover his downfalls.

I listened to this story as an audiobook and I think it was the perfect way to experience it. The narrator (Paul Michael) was excellent, keeping the tension tight and the action flowing while also never glossing over those delightful little facts Brown throws in to educate and entertain his readers. Michael also did a wonderful job of changing the accents between characters, given their various countries of origin, something I imagine can't be easy to do. The sound of his voice perfectly matched the Robert Langdon in my head so it was an all around enjoyable experience!

If you already enjoy Dan Brown books you are sure to enjoy Origin as well. If you've never read a book by Brown before this might be a great place to start as you don't have to have read the previous Langdon books to jump into this story. It's a thought-provoking yet quick read that keeps you entertained from cover to cover.      

What Did I Think About the Cover?

It's okay. I like the sort of circling around, closed environment effect of the shell that hints at the cyclical qualities of nature discussed in the story. Other than that it's pretty plain, which is a shame given how vivid and colorful the story is.


My Rating: 4.0/5.0

I borrowed a copy of Origin from my library's Overdrive account. All opinions are mine alone. To find out more about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, see Goodreads HERE.  

 

 



Audiobook Review: IT by Stephen King

Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
Pub. Date: March 9th, 2010
Length: 44 hours, 57 minutes

Genre: Fiction / Horror / Fantasy

Synopsis

"A landmark in American literature" (Chicago Sun-Times) Stephen King's number-one national best seller about seven adults who return to their hometown to confront a nightmare they had first stumbled on as teenagers...an evil without a name: It.


Welcome to Derry, Maine. It's a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real.

They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But the promise they made 28 years ago calls them to reunite in the same place where, as teenagers, they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city's children. Now children are being murdered again, and their repressed memories of that terrifying summer return as they prepare to once again battle the monster lurking in Derry's sewers.


Readers and listeners of Stephen King know that Derry, Maine, is a place with a deep, dark hold on the author. It reappears in many of his books, including Bag of Bones, Hearts in Atlantis, and 11/22/63. But it all starts with It.

What Did I Think About the Story?

I grew up absolutely LOVING the Tim Curry TV miniseries version of Stephen King's IT. Then I went and saw the first installment of the new movie version coming to theatres, which was so different from the miniseries, and knew I needed to see how the two compared to the original story. Lucky me I spotted an audiobook version available to borrow from my library and thought it would be the perfect opportunity to see how Stephen King intended the story to unfold. I'm not afraid to admit that the audiobook version of IT was as terrifying as I imagined it would be!

Anyone who reads, watches, or listens to horror stories most likely already knows the basic premise of IT. If you don't the synopsis above will fill you in. This is a story about visceral and all-consuming fear. It's an evilness that has lurked below this small town for centuries and a group of teenagers who set out to destroy it once and for all. It's mind-bending and nightmare-inducing and a consuming story, especially when experienced as an audiobook. It also, surprisingly enough, has mixed in to it this touching coming-of-age and first love story that would seem out of place in less capable hands than Stephen King's. It really does have something for everyone, as long as readers or listeners are able to handle some graphic language and situations.

Steven Weber as narrator for this story is perfection. He has this wonderful speaking voice that is great for narration as well as this ability to change his voice for the various characterizations and really inhabit the insanity that is Pennywise (the clown personifying the evil). He has this way of speaking, this low-burning growl and terrifying shrieking quality, that made Pennywise so scary that I could feel my heart begin to race when he entered a scene. I was amazed at how well he read this long and multi-layered story and really want to find some other audiobooks narrated by him.

As you can see above, this is a LONG story. It was so long, in fact, that I had to check it out from my library in two installments (only being allowed to check it out for two weeks at a time). Because it's so popular these two separate rentals were literally months apart. My eagerness to finish the story was so great, though, that I happily waited for the book to become available again and then put everything else aside to make sure I could finish it the second time around. And I don't regret a minute of it. The story never dragged and every minute of the almost 45 hours felt needed to fully tell this story. I don't think I've ever devoted this much time and energy into a story before and felt this satisfied at the end.    

IT might be my favorite audiobook experience to date (Locke and Key is hard to beat) and is definitely the best audiobook version of a novel I've come across. The combination of an excellent horror story and an exceptional narrator are hard to resist and anyone who's been thinking of giving this story a try, as I was, need to run out and get your hands on a copy. I've read a few stories by Stephen King and very much enjoyed them, and this is no exception. He's considered by many to be the master of horror and it's not hard to see why.

What Did I Think About the Cover?

This cover doesn't really do much for me, however I've seen some more recent covers that give you more of a chill befitting this terrifying story. To be honest I would have picked up this audiobook regardless of the cover so I didn't really care about what it looked like for once!


My Rating: 5.0/5.0

I borrowed a copy of IT from my library's Overdrive account. All opinions are mine alone. To find out more about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, see Goodreads HERE.

 

 



Audiobook Review: Horns by Joe Hill

Publisher: HarperAudio
Pub. Date: February 16th, 2010
Length: 13 hours, 55 minutes

Genre: Fiction / Horror / Mystery / Thriller / Supernatural

Synopsis

Ignatius Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke up the next morning with a pair of horns growing from his temples.

At first, Ig thought the horns were a hallucination, the product of a mind damaged by rage and grief. He had spent the last year in a lonely, private purgatory, following the death of his beloved, Merrin Williams, who had been raped and murdered under inexplicable circumstances. A mental breakdown would have been the most natural thing in the world. But there was nothing natural about the horns, which were all too real.

Once, the righteous Ig had enjoyed the life of the blessed. But Merrin's death damned all that. The only suspect in the crime, Ig was never charged or tried. And he was never cleared. Nothing Ig can do or say matters. Everyone it seems, including God, has abandoned him. Everyone that is, but the devil inside. . . .

Now Ig is possessed of a terrible new power—a macabre talent he intends to use to find the monster who killed Merrin and destroyed his life. It's time for a little revenge . . . it's time the devil had his due . . .

What Did I Think About the Story?

Man, I have become somewhat obsessed with Joe Hill since I read his novel, Heart-Shaped Box, a few months ago. I had previously listened to the audiobook version of his graphic novel series, Locke and Key, which was exceptional, but it wasn't until I read his full-length novel that I knew I wanted to read, listen, absorb...whatever you want to call it!...all of his stories. I can't seem to get enough! I've purchased all of his books, including his newest collection of short novels, Strange Weather, which I read as soon as it came out (review to come soon!). I decided to check out the audiobook version of Horns from my library, just to see how it might compare to the audiobook version of Locke and Key and to change up the way I'm experiencing Hill's novels, and I'm so glad I did because the narrator took this already intriguing and unique story and made it even better!

I am continually amazed at how interesting and unusual Joe Hill's novels are, and just how much heart is infused into the horrifying elements of his stories. There are so many layers to what unfolds as the stories progress. In the case of Horns, it starts off with this intriguing concept of our main character, Ig Perrish, waking up with small horns growing out of his head. Right away he learns that when he comes into contact with people they don't seem concerned by his appearance and, stranger than that, they can't seem to keep themselves from telling him their deepest, darkest secrets, the kind of depraved things that people don't like to admit to themselves, let alone say out loud to someone else. If he touches someone Ig can actually see the person's memories, usually something pretty bad that they've done or hidden from others. On top of all this, he can manipulate people, get them to do stuff they would never willingly do normally. It's all quite twisted and Ig, grief-stricken and angry as he is, gets more upset as he finds out what really happened to Merrin, who was involved, and how much has remained hidden while everyone assumed he was the killer. And as his knowledge and anger grows so do the horns and Ig's revenge....

Layered beneath this main situation is a tender first-love story, one that had a tragic ending but is quite beautiful when you discover all the pieces. Ig really is an exceptional character, kind and giving to a fault before Merrin's death and, funny enough, easy to manipulate by those that he cares about (which the worst characters, we discover, use to their advantage). There's also the fact that Ig's father and brother are both famous musicians (who play the HORN!) but Ig has never been able to play successfully because of his asthma. However, he does have a huge love of music and that musicality weaves throughout the story.

The narrator of Horns was phenomenal! He kept the tension thick - even screaming when a character was described as doing so! - and did an exceptional job of appropriately balancing the depravity and beauty interlaced within the overall story. He altered the voices between characters as I always appreciate and kept me wanting to listen to more even when I knew I had to stop. I can't think of anything else I would want in an audiobook narrator.

While I didn't love this audiobook as much as Hill's Locke and Key series (that would be really hard to do as it was the best audiobook I have ever listened to), Horns came in not far behind. It is an exceptional story with so many elements - the supernatural, horror, mystery, thriller, romance - and I can't really think of anything I would have wanted changed. It's just a really interesting and unusual story! 

What Did I Think About the Cover?

The cover doesn't really do anything for me. It's okay and obviously fits the story well, but it doesn't really draw the eye.


My Rating: 4.0/5.0

I borrowed a copy of Horns from my library's Overdrive account. All opinions are mine alone. To find more information about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, see Goodreads HERE.

 

 



Audiobook Review: Abandon by Blake Crouch

Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Pub. Date: July 7th, 2009
Length: 11 hours, 23 minutes

Genres: Fiction / Dual Timeline / Mystery / Suspense

Synopsis

On Christmas Day in 1893, every man, woman and child in a remote gold mining town disappeared, belongings forsaken, meals left to freeze in vacant cabins; and not a single bone was ever found. One hundred thirteen years later, two backcountry guides are hired by a history professor and his journalist daughter to lead them into the abandoned mining town so that they can learn what happened. With them is a psychic, and a paranormal photographer—as the town is rumored to be haunted. A party that tried to explore the town years ago was never heard from again. What this crew is about to discover is that twenty miles from civilization, with a blizzard bearing down, they are not alone, and the past is very much alive.

What Did I Think About the Story?

Okay, so this synopsis hooked me right away, and the idea of a totally abandoned ghost town and a search for what really happened made me need to buy this audiobook when I saw it was on sale. Add to that the fact that I really enjoyed the show based on the author's book series, Wayward Pines, and I just knew I was in for a treat. While I will say that the audiobook was good, it was definitely nothing like I was expecting.

The story goes back and forth in time, between the Christmas of 1893, when Abandon was a struggling little town still occupied by its townspeople, and 2009, when a small group of people (the ones described in the synopsis) set off to explore Abandon and to try and figure out what really happened in 1893. The history professor is an expert on the town and it has been his life's mission to not only discover what happened but to see if he can find a cache of gold bars rumored to have been in Abandon when everyone left. This back and forth style was excellent as the author often left off on a cliffhanger of sorts between switching timelines, keeping you drawn into the action and drama, while also advancing both stories at an interesting pace. Sounds good, right? Well, it was. It just wasn't what I wanted it to be.

I think my biggest "disappointment" (that word is a bit strong but is the best I can do) is that there were hardly any ghostly element involved. There is one point where the psychic starts having a breakdown of sorts, saying that there are too many voices calling out to her, but that's about it. Both storylines are more about intense greed and the horrific consequences that can result from that greed. Some of the characters are unbelievably depraved and do some horrifyingly cruel things, all led by their lust for riches, and I appreciated how vivid the author painted some of the terrifying and sad scenes (I felt like I could really see the people struggling in the snow storms and feel the claustrophobia of those trapped within caves). I also thought that, while the narrator did an excellent job voicing the characters, his narration was somewhat monotone and lacked the tension that the actions being described should have had (at least until the end...his voice grew in angst somewhat as the story neared its finality).

Abandon was a good audiobook, don't get me wrong.  It just wasn't a great one. Some of this feeling might stem from my disappointment in the fact that this wasn't the ghostly story I wanted and was expecting based on the synopsis. The past wasn't very much alive, other than in the 1893 storyline, which our modern characters obviously don't get to witness. It felt very grounded in reality and the here-and-now and, for our modern characters, the past ended up really being more of a side note to a robbery gone horribly wrong than the main driving force. I will also say that I thought the ending - of both storylines really - was surprising and quite sad. Overall, given the author's ability to transport the reader and vividly showcases the worlds he's creating, I will definitely read more by Blake Crouch. I think I just need to keep a very open mind about what the stories might actually be about.

What Did I Think About the Cover?

When I first saw the cover, I didn't notice the person peeking out between the wooden slats, so thought it was pretty plain. Once I saw those peering eyes I thought it was quite eerie! There's a lot of trapping and attempts at escape going on in this story, so it does fit it well.


My Rating: 3.0/5.0

I purchased a copy of Abandon for my own library. All opinions are my own. You can find more information about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, on Goodreads HERE.

 

 



Audiobook Review: The Circle by Dave Eggers

Publisher: Random House Audio
Release Date: October 8th, 2013
Length: 13 hours, 42 minutes
Narrator: Dion Graham

Synopsis

When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency.

As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company’s modernity and activity. There are parties that last through the night, there are famous musicians playing on the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO.

Mae can’t believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in America - even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public. What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.

What Did I Think About the Story?

I absolutely love the concept of this book! I, like a lot of people, have lots of social media accounts and really enjoy interacting with people online as well as having nearly endless purchasing power right at the ends of my fingertips, no matter where I am. The thought of having all of these various accounts connected in one place, with one log in, sounds amazing!! So does the idea that having more transparency online might bring an end to internet trolling. What could go wrong with this idea? Oh, so many things!

I will fully admit that, if I was a young, single twenty-something person growing up in today's expanded world of technology, I would probably itch, at least at first, to work at a company like the Circle, if for no other reason than being at the forefront of technological advances (which I very much enjoyed learning about within this story) and having so much excitement and innovation - endless parties, endless products to try, the best of everything - always available right there at the company. This, on the surface, seems almost perfect doesn't it? I mean sure, you're expected to put in a lot of extra hours at work and don't get to see your family and friends as much as you used to. But look at all the benefits the job brings! This surface excitement slowly seeps away, however, when you discover just how invasive and stressful this sort of world could actually be.

Through Mae the reader gets to see this invasiveness, where people can see and hear what you are doing literally at every second of the day and at least some of the night, where every messy situation that any normal human experiences with their family and friends is laid bare for anyone to analyze and comment on. You also get to see how stressful it could become when people have constant expectations that you will answer their texts, like their products or services instantly, share their information online, not only join their groups and organizations but also attend them, rate every single place you visit, food you consume, product you use...it's endless madness! There is no way that any human can do all of the things having such an online presence would demand and still be present in the physical life they should actually be living. And there lies the rub.

I will admit that I wasn't a huge fan of any of the characters. They all, probably predictably, are quite self-centered and selfish by nature, and I've never been a big fan of people like this in reality. The narrator also made many of their voices almost comical in nature (I'm not sure if this was intentionally done or not) so they became almost caricatures, or ironic representations, of real people instead of actually feeling real. Some of this feeling might be due to the fact that I don't live in a fast-paced, hipster sort of world, so I don't come across people like this very often, but that was the impression I got from these characters regardless. I will say that the  narrator did an excellent job of giving voice to the frenetic nature of the Circle as well as the build up of stress and anxiety that would become inherent in people working there. I won't say too much regarding the lengths Mae will go to in order to become an integral part of the Circle, but the farther and farther she went down that rabbit hole the less and less sympathetic a character she became. Her total immersion did make the ending wonderfully unnerving in a subtle sort of way, so maybe my aggravation in her character, and most of the others, needed to happen in order to get to that seemingly inevitable ending. Whatever the reason I'm just glad I don't have to deal with frenetic, selfish people like they employ at the Circle in my life!

The Circle was definitely entertaining as well as being a social commentary on the ever-increasing reliability on online presences and social media and a warning of what can happen if that reliability goes too far. I read somewhere that the book is like the offspring of 1984 and Black Mirror and I think that is the perfect way to describe it. Definitely worth a read or listen-to if you're looking for something to keep you interested until the end. I'm now excited to watch the movie and see how it compares!  

What Did I Think About the Cover?

This cover doesn't do anything for me. I can see where the many interconnected and overlapping rings might represent the hive-like structure of the Circle and how they all sort of form a barrier around the central, almost closed circle, however I typically prefer a little more....something, anything...in a cover. With all that is going on within the story it seems like a better cover could have been created.


My Rating: 4.0/5.0

I borrowed a copy of The Circle from my library's Overdrive account. All opinions are mine alone. You can find more information about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, on Goodreads HERE.




Audiobook Review: Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

Publisher: Random House Audio
Pub. Date: June 6th, 2017
Length: 14 hours, 28 minutes

Genre: Historical Fiction / Dual Timeline

Synopsis

Two families, generations apart, are forever changed by a heartbreaking injustice in this poignant novel, inspired by a true story, for fans of Orphan Train and The Nightingale.


Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family's Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge - until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children's Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents - but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility's cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty.

Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiancé, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family's long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption.


Based on one of America's most notorious real-life scandals - in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country - Lisa Wingate's riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong.

What Did I Think About the Story?

It's been a number of weeks since I finished listening to this audiobook and it's taken that time to fully wrap my head around everything that happened within this story and my feelings towards it. Having not read anything by Lisa Wingate before I'm not really sure what I was expecting, other than knowing it had really good reviews and, from the synopsis, sounded like it would be a dual timeline story much like I've enjoyed before. What I discovered was an unbelievably heartbreaking story told with sensitivity and care and expressed through two remarkable narrators.

As with many dual timeline stories my heart lies with the storyline taking place in the past. Rill is a remarkably compelling and sympathetic character and there were a number of times while listening to her story that I nearly broke down in tears. It was absolutely devastating listening to the loss, abuse, dashed hopes, and separation from those she loved that Rill experienced again and again. These children, forcefully removed from everything they had ever known and loved, had to live in constant fear of being attacked and abused, going without proper food, clothing, and hygiene, and were forced to lie to those they came into contact with on the off chance that the lies being told to them - that they would be reunited with their parents - might come to fruition. I kept saying to myself "no way, this cannot have actually happened", but, as I discovered when reading the wonderfully informative author notes at the back of the book, it in fact did. It is so hard for me to wrap my head around someone (multiple people actually) who are sadistic enough to put children through what these children went through in this story. Truly, truly heartbreaking and so tenderly told in Lisa Wingate's capable hands.

Avery's story was wonderful as well, but for completely different reasons. Trying to figure out exactly how, and through whom, the two stories were connected kept an air of mystery flowing as the story progressed. Seeing Avery balance her need to find out the dark secrets in her family's past with her need to protect her family's good name was commendable and, it seemed at times, something that might not be possible. I also enjoyed seeing her transformation from the perfect daughter who always did exactly what was expected of her into a strong woman able to make decisions based on what she wanted out of life, including who to love. It is also through her storyline that we see a loose connection drawn between what happened to these poor children in the past and the very real and horrible treatment of the poor elderly in nursing homes today. In both instances we see the rich getting what they want or need and the poor forced to suffer what is given to them by those that just don't care. Avery's story was the driving force pushing the reader to discover these atrocities and, somehow, also a way to bring closure and hope for a better future for all involved (or at least those still living in Avery's storyline).

The narrators were truly amazing! Both narrators (Emily Rankin and Catherine Taber) made you feel what the characters were thinking and feeling and wholly brought the separate worlds of Rill and Avery alive. I think they, as much as the writing, made this such a beautiful story.

Before We Were Yours is both heartbreaking and heartwarming fiction. I'm not sure that I will ever forget these fictional characters, nor will I forget the very real atrocities they represented. I would recommend this to everyone. This is a devastating part of history everyone should learn about and no one should forget.

What Did I Think About the Cover?

This cover is so soft and sweet and tender that it nearly breaks my heart! Before reading the story I thought it was very cute - with the beautiful pastel coloring, cute towheaded little girls, one clutching the teddy bear, the soft-focus background - but now, having finished the story, I can't help picturing Rill and one of her sisters staring longingly at the water that, somewhere, has to hold her family. It really is just a beautiful, heartbreaking cover.


My Rating: 5.0/5.0

I borrowed a copy of Before We Were Yours from my library's Overdrive account. All opinions are mine alone. To find more information about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, please see Goodreads HERE.

 

 



Audiobook Review: The Stars Are Fire by Anita Shreve

Publisher: Random House Audio
Pub. Date: April 18th, 2017
Length: 8 hours, 34 minutes

Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

From the New York Times best-selling author of The Weight of Water and The Pilot's Wife (an Oprah's Book Club selection): an exquisitely suspenseful new novel about an extraordinary young woman tested by a catastrophic event and its devastating aftermath - based on the true story of the largest fire in Maine's history


In October 1947, after a summer-long drought, fires break out all along the Maine coast, from Bar Harbor to Kittery, and are soon racing out of control from town to village. Five months pregnant, Grace Holland is left alone to protect her two toddlers when her husband, Gene, joins the volunteer firefighters. Along with her best friend, Rosie, and Rosie's two young children, Grace watches helplessly as their houses burn to the ground, the flames finally forcing them all into the ocean as a last resort. The women spend the night frantically protecting their children and in the morning find their lives forever changed: homeless, penniless, awaiting news of their husbands' fate, and left to face an uncertain future in a town that no longer exists.

In the midst of this devastating loss, Grace discovers glorious new freedoms - joys and triumphs she could never have expected her narrow life with Gene could contain - and her spirit soars. And then the unthinkable happens - and Grace's bravery is tested as never before.

What Did I Think About the Story?

I've had a love/not love relationship with Anita Shreve's books in the past, but thought that, since this is historical fiction and I did enjoy a few of her previous novels, it might be time to give this newest novel a try. The audiobook version became available from my library and I thought, even better! With such a devastating and action-packed event like a fast-moving fire I thought that a good narrator might really bring this story to life. While I did enjoy aspects of this novel, I'm sorry to say it wasn't a novel to reaffirm my love of Shreve's stories.

It starts out somewhat blandly - with Grace, an unhappy housewife with stair-stepper kids, a distant and sometimes cruel husband, and only one friend she can talk to - languishing away from boredom and unhappiness. It does pick up once the fire starts spreading, and the best part of the novel comes with the detail given to Grace's escape to the ocean with her friend and their children and the terror and physical toll it placed on them. The descriptions of Grace digging out a hole at the ocean's edge and laying with her children, in the freezing water, all night as her body stiffened and she listened to the world fall apart around her from under a wet blanket, was gripping.

While watching Grace pick up her life after the fire was interesting - finding somewhere to life, getting a job, taking care of her mother and children, even a little romance - you get the feeling that it isn't meant to last. I will give credit to Grace's character as she is quite resourceful at finding ways to take care of her family and trying to build a new life for all of them, but when that inevitable other shoe does drop she kind of reverts back into a subservient role for a while,  making me dislike her choices and making it so when she does finally stand up for herself it isn't overly believable. It just seems to come out of nowhere - one minute you're putting up with some unimaginable abuses and the next you've decided to change everything about your life and the way you live it, uprooting everything.

I think my biggest issue, on top of not really caring overmuch for the characters, was the narrator. She had a beautiful voice as she narrated the story, however her vocalization of the characters' dialogue fell flat for me. My biggest pet peeve with narrators is that, if they say the character yelled, gasped, barked, etc., I want to hear the narrator DO what is being described! There's nothing worse than a narrator who blandly read a character's line and then says the character was meant to scream that line. It just gets under my skin and I found that this narrator did just that, barely varying her pitch and tone but saying the character was displaying some sort of emotion that the narrator just didn't display for me.

While the basis of The Stars Are Fire and the driving force - the historic fire that devastated the coast of Maine in 1947 - was fascinating, the family drama wrapped around that history just wasn't as interesting to me. It could be that, with a different narrator that was able to bring the characters' dialogue to life, I might have enjoyed the overall story more, but as it is this story just falls into the "okay" category for me. I'll still continue to give Anita Shreve's novels a try when the synopsis sounds interesting, however I won't rush out to purchase them or snap up the audiobooks when they become available.      

What Did I Think About the Cover?

I think it's gorgeous, even though it's quite simplistic (sparks in a red sky). I've always loved red and gold, so the colors catch my eye, and I love the central placement of the title and author's name. It clearly represents the story well as the fire is the central catalyst to the story, but it could also represent the fire within Grace (if you want to get symbolic). All in all an eye-catching cover for me.


My Rating: 3.0/5.0

 

I borrowed a copy of The Stars Are Fire from my library's Overdrive account. All opinions are mine alone. Find out more about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, on Goodreads HERE.