Tag Archives: suspense

7 Chilling Summer Listens

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If the air conditioner doesn’t give you goosebumps this summer, these thrillers will.

 

1. A Blood Thing by James Hankins, narrated by Timothy Andrés Pabon

A Blood Thing.

Governor Andrew Kane, is at a public meet-and-greet when a stranger slips him a phone and whispers, “Keep this… you’re going to need it after the arrest.” Hours later, Andrew’s brother is framed for murder, and discovers there is only one way to free him: answer the phone and agree to a blackmailer’s demands. He complies, but the stranger isn’t done. He has another little condition. Then another. And another…
Read more and sample the audio.

 

2. Unwelcome Guests by Anna Willett, narrated by Cat Gould

Unwelcome Guests

A weekend getaway in an isolated country house is just what Caitlin needs to fix her relationship with husband Eli. Her spirits are up as they enter the retreat and cool off in the nearby lake. But her husband is cold and dismissive so Caitlin decides to drown her sorrows, and heads into the wine cellar. What she finds there will change their lives forever.
Read more and sample the audio.

 

 

3. Her Pretty Face by Robyn Harding, narrated by Kirby Heyborne, Cassandra Campbell, Rebekkah Ross

Her Pretty Face

Frances Metcalfe thought her troubled son getting accepted into an elite school would change their lives. But after an incident that ostracizes the Metcalfes, she feels more alone than ever. Until she meets Kate Randolph. Kate is everything Frances is not: beautiful, wealthy, powerful, and confident. As they bond, a secret erupts. One of these women is not who she seems. Her real name is Amber Kunik. And she’s a murderer.
Read more and sample the audio.

 

4. The Cabin At The End Of The World by Paul Tremblay, narrated by Amy Landon

The Cabin At The End Of The World.

Seven-year-old Wen and her parents are vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet lake. As Wen catches bugs, a stranger appears. Leonard is the large, young, and friendly. Leonard and Wen talk and play until Leonard abruptly apologizes and says, “None of what’s going to happen is your fault.” Three more strangers arrive, beginning a gripping tale of paranoia, sacrifice, apocalypse, and survival.
Read more and sample the audio.

 

5. Half Moon Bay by Alice Laplante, narrated by Gabra Zackman

Half Moon Bay

Jane loses everything when her teenage daughter is killed in an accident. Devastated, she makes one tiny stab at a new life: she moves to the tiny seaside town of Half Moon Bay. She is able to cobble together some version of a job, friends, and peace. And then, children begin to disappear. As the disappearances continue, her neighbors wonder is if it is Jane herself who has unleashed the horror of loss.
Read more and sample the audio.

 

6. The Fifth To Die by J.D. Barker, narrated by Edoardo Ballerini and Graham Winton

The Fifth To Die

Detective Porter has been pulled from the hunt for Anson Bishop, the Four Monkey Killer, by the feds. When the body of a young girl is found beneath frozen waters, she is identified as Ella Reynolds, missing three weeks. But how did she get there? The lagoon froze months earlier. More baffling? She’s found wearing the clothes of another girl, missing less than two days. 
Read more and sample the audio.

 

7. Last Girl by J. G. Hetherton, narrated by Laura Jennings

Last Girl Gone

Fired from the Boston Globe, Laura Chambers takes a job with the local paper. The work is boring – at least until a missing girl turns up dead. Years earlier, child after child disappeared, a reign of terror the town desperately wants to forget. Now that terror has returned to seize another girl. And another. And another. She dives deeper into a case, only to discover the truth may be far closer to home than she could have imagined.
Read more and sample the audio.

 

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STAFF PICK: The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

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Title: The Wife Between Us
Author: Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen
Narrator: Julia Whelan

I’m ashamed to admit my ego convinced me I could figure out the tangled anatomy of the love triangle in The Wife Between Us. The book description even warns that listeners will make many assumptions.

you will assume you are listening to a story about a jealous ex-wife.
you will assume she is obsessed with her replacement – a beautiful, younger woman who is about to marry the man they both love.
you will assume you know the anatomy of this tangled love triangle.
Assume nothing.

I thought my creative thinking and investigative skills would allow me to piece things together on my own long before the plot unfolded. I was dead wrong.

Filled with wild twists and turns that make it painful to hit pause, The Wife Between Us swallowed me into the rabbit’s hole of a seemingly picture perfect marriage with unimaginable secrets and dangerous truths. Narrator Julia Whelan makes this story even more tantalizing with her ability to transform into a spectrum of characters, from the calculating Vanessa to the condescending Richard to the impressionable Emma.

At the end of every chapter, I was dying to know more, hoping there would be a critical piece of evidence in solving the plot’s puzzle. More often than not, I was left with more questions than answers. Nothing could’ve braced me for its shocking ending.

The spellbinding relationship between authors Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen began nearly a decade ago when Hendricks was the editor of Pekkanen’s debut novel. They credit their similar narrative instincts and approaches to storytelling, as well as their ability to be “curious students of human nature,” to the success of The Wife Between Us.

The Wife Between Us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Listen to a sample and get the whole story here.

Page to Screen in September 2017

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The month of September will see a couple of shows and movies adapted from popular books. Check out what’s upcoming and take a listen before they hit the screen!


It, by Stephen King
Expected Release: September 8th

Stephen King’s #1 national bestseller 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 twenty-eight years ago calls them 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.… Read more and listen to a sample

Fallen, by Lauren Kate
Expected Release: September 8th

There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce–and goes out of his way to make that very clear–she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her. Read more and listen to a sample

American Assassin, by Vince Flynn
Expected Release: September 15th

New York Times bestselling author Vince Flynn returns with his most exhilarating political thriller to date, a pulse-pounding tale of espionage that introduces fans to the young Mitch Rapp as he takes on his first, explosive assignment. Read more and listen to a sample


Victoria & Abdul ( Movie Tie-in): The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant
Expected Release: September 22nd

Tall and handsome Abdul was just twenty-four years old when he arrived in England from Agra to wait at tables for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. Within a year, Abdul had grown to become a powerful figure at court, the Queen’s teacher, or Munshi, her counsel on Urdu and Indian affairs, and a friend close to the Queen’s heart. “I am so very fond of him.,” Queen Victoria would write in 1888, “He is so good and gentle and understanding….a real comfort to me.” This marked the beginning of the most scandalous decade in Queen Victoria’s long reign. Devastated first by the death of Prince Albert in 1861 and then her personal servant John Brown in 1883, Queen Victoria quickly found joy in an intense and controversial relationship with her Munshi, who traveled everywhere with her, cooked her curries and cultivated her understanding of the Indian sub-continent-a region, as Empress of India, she was long intrigued by but could never visit. The royal household roiled with resentment, but their devotion grew in defiance of all expectation and the societal pressures of their time and class and lasted until the Queen’s death on January 22, 1901… Read more and listen to a sample


Stronger: Fighting Back After the Boston Marathon
Expected Release: September 22nd

Up until the marathon, Jeff had been a normal 27-year-old guy, looking forward to moving in with Erin and starting the next phase of their lives together. But when his life was turned upside down in ways he could never have fathomed, Jeff did not give up. Instead he faced his new circumstances with grace, humor, and a sense of purpose: he was determined, no matter what, to walk again. Read more and listen to a sample

Which of September’s renditions are you most excited for? Let me know!

Page to Screen in August 2017

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The month of August will see a much anticipated movie adaption from a popular Stephen King novel. Check it out and take a listen before it hits the screen!


The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger by Stephen King
Expected Release: August 4th

A #1 national bestseller, The Gunslinger introduces readers to one of Stephen King’s most powerful creations, Roland of Gilead: The Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting figure, a loner on a spellbinding journey into good and evil. In his desolate world, which mirrors our own in frightening ways, Roland tracks The Man in Black, encounters an enticing woman named Alice, and begins a friendship with the boy from New York named Jake.… Read more and listen to a sample

Let me know what you think!

Listeners loved these 4 un-pauseable thrillers

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If you’re the type of listener that stays for long stretches of time in your car in the parking lot unable to pull away from your audiobook… then this list is going to be rough for your productivity. Here are four gripping mystery and suspense audiobooks, both new and old, that our listeners recommend:

 

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins.
In this addictive new thriller by NYT bestselling author, a single mother turns up dead at the bottom of a river. Earlier in the summer, a vulnerable teenage girl met the same fate. They are not the first women lost to these dark waters, but their deaths disturb the river and its history, dredging up secrets long submerged. 

 

 

“Doesn’t disappoint! Excellent story. Kept me guessing until the end. Good depth of characters. I did have to listen to the first hour or so twice in order to get the characters straight. I’d recommend this one highly. When I wasn’t able to listen to it (between chapters), I was thinking about the story and all the who-done-it possibilities.”
-Merritt C.

 

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough
One night at a bar, Louise kisses a man. That Monday, she finds out that he’s her new boss. Then she meets Adele, his wife. If you think you know where this story is going, think again. As Louise is drawn into the couple’s orbit, she uncovers more questions than answers. The only thing that’s clear is that something in this marriage is very, very wrong. 

 

“Loved this book!!! I can usually guess the endings of the books I read which is irritating. I thought I had this one figured out but, I didn’t. It was a total shocker and surprise. I loved it!!! The narration was done very well. This book kept me interested all the way through!!”
-Jackie S.

 

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Fresh from a stay at a psych hospital, Camille’s first assignment from the daily paper where she works brings her reluctantly back to her hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. Again in her family’s Victorian mansion, Camille is haunted by the childhood tragedy she has spent her whole life trying to cut from her memory. 

 

 

“Riveting! Flynn’s supple prose and fresh, insightful use of metaphor keep the somber events of the story afloat while embracing the muddiness of human intent and family dynamics. A complex mystery unfurls elegantly, and maintains suspense through to the last few pages.”
-Abigail L.

 

The Escape by David Baldacci
A combat veteran and special agent with the U.S. Army, Puller is the man they call to investigate the toughest crimes facing the nation. But all his training, all his experience, all his skills will not prepare him for his newest case, one that will force him to hunt down the most formidable and brilliant prey he has ever tracked: his own brother.

 

 

“David Baldacci continues to impress with third installment of the John Puller series. Although the book was written several years ago, he correctly predicted a real life horrible event that happened overseas this year. Both narrators are awesome at their different voices for each character so that you easily know who is talking, which makes for seamless listening.”
-Daniel W.

 

 

STAFF PICK: 11/22/63 By Stephen King.

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I’ve listened to extremely long books before so I know it can be daunting at times.  For the month of May, my book of choice was 11/22/63: A Novel by Stephen King. Well, the 30 hours and 45 minutes flew by and I was pleasantly surprised! Having not picked up a Stephen King book since the early 90’s (and even then having only read the popular horror stories, Dolores Claiborne, Misery, The Shinning and It), 11/22/63 was not at all what I was expecting.

11/22/63 audio book by Stephen King

Stephen King takes the listener on fantastic voyage through time back to the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, with the goal of preventing the assassination of JFK. But as our time-travelling hero takes multiple trips through the rabbit hole, he discovers that by changing one moment, one tiny little event, his life in the present time does not always work out the way he’d hoped for. For me, this book was a surprise to say the least. I was expecting some sort of horror elements.  Nope!  None to be found. I was expecting some elements of science fiction, as this is a book about time travel. Nope! King treats time travelling in a very straight forward manner: there are no mad scientists, or huge machines. It’s simply a man with a portal in the back of a sandwich shop that you have to walk through to be transported. What I did find in 11/22/63 was a tragic love story and the cold hard truth that changing the past does not always make the future a better place.

The story starts quickly and continues at a great pace throughout. This is partly due to the talents of the narrator Craig Wasson.  I don’t think I could have finished a book this long if the narrator wasn’t perfectly cast.  And thanks to this great first experience with Craig, I would not hesitate to pick up another book where he’s at the helm.

11/22/63, is so much more than a story about trying to stop the assignation of JFK.  In fact, for me that was just a side story for the wonderful that Stephen King took me on.  This book has something for everyone; mystery, history, politics, and romance.  With 11/22/63, we are offered an amazing glimpse into history, so don’t let the extraordinary length of this book scare you off.  It’s well worth the time.

Let me know what you think!