Behind the Mic With Kirkus Reviews

Host Jo Reed talks with Ann Powers, critic and correspondent for NPR Music, and editor Alison Fensterstock about collaborating on HOW WOMEN MADE MUSIC, AudioFile’s spring Audiobook Club Pick. A mosaic of essays with archival recordings of the artists, HOW WOMEN MADE MUSIC: A Revolutionary History from NPR Music is an Earphones Award winner and was one of AudioFile’s Best Audiobooks of 2024. Alison and Ann talk about the origins of this vibrant and ambitious project, the use of archival audio, what this recentering reveals about music history, and more. Read our review of the audiobook at our website https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/261162/. Published by Harper Audio. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Carson’s SILENT SPRING has been the gold standard of the environmental movement for more than 50 years. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss how narrator Susie Berneis is more than up to the task of making the complex workings of the natural world easy for the average person to follow. Berneis truly excels when her narration mirrors the emotion Carson made so evident in her work. She is by turns passionate, saddened, uplifted, and furious at the history and impact of synthetic pesticides on every aspect of nature and our lives. Read our review of the audiobook at our website https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/151168/ Published by Dreamscape Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Golden Voice narrator Gerard Doyle once again brings the quirkiness and erudition of D.I. Sean Duffy to life as he takes on a case that his boss, who is away on vacation, can’t handle. It’s 1992 in Belfast, and the murder of an IRA assassin means that Duffy must clock more time hunting for the killer despite his efforts to cut back as he nears retirement. AudioFile’s Robin Whitten and host Jo Reed discuss how Doyle’s slyly humorous tone makes the story feel like a caper at times as he revels in Duffy’s unorthodox approach. Read our review of the audiobook at our website https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/257606/ Published by Blackstone Audio Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Teen listeners are given a well-rounded portrait of the leading figure in the Civil Rights movement, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King—fleshed out by fascinating and coherent accounts of the events of the day and the people around him. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss how Golden Voice Dion Graham masterfully portrays the voices and emotions of Dr. King’s orations. This production succeeds at reinforcing the fact that the inspiring civil rights leader “is a person, not just a holiday.” Read our review of the audiobook at our website https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/265129/ Published by Macmillan Audio Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AudioFile’s Robin Whitten and Host Jo Reed discuss this 2025 Audie Award winner for Audio Drama, which is also an Earphones Award winner and was one of AudioFile’s Best Audiobooks of 2024. Andrew Garfield and Cynthia Erivo lead a crew of inspired English actors in creating a full-cast, filmlike 21st-century reimagining of one of the twentieth century's most important novels. The production is peppered with eerie urban soundscapes and a haunting musical score. Andrew Scott gives a terrific turn as the enigmatic O’Brien, who leads our heroes into a world of doubt and betrayal. Read our review of the audiobook at https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/251022/ Published by Audible, Inc. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A full cast of narrators, including the author, delivers this enchanting collection of short stories about love, magic, and betrayal. AudioFile’s Alex Richey and host Jo Reed discuss how each of the 14 stories is tenderly delivered by an emotionally committed narrator. Some standouts include Stephanie Németh-Parker as a woman who grants wishes at a bridge during the full moon and David Monteith portraying a man who accidentally kills the woman he intends to marry, only for her to come back and haunt him. Read the full review of the audiobook on AudioFile’s website https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/256526/ Published by Macmillan Audio. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Liz Femi is the primary narrator of this meta-narrative about a paraplegic Nigerian American woman and her unexpected rise to fame. Suddenly unemployed, Zelu risks writing a novel unlike any she’s ever written before, a futuristic sci-fi epic about androids who exist after humanity becomes extinct. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alex Richey discuss how Femi’s distinct voices and the rest of the narrators’ performances complement each character's personality, thoroughly enriching this Earphones Award-winning audiobook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AudioFile’s Alex Richey and host Jo Reed discuss how this fantastic ensemble of narrators excel equally at emotionally connecting to complicated emotional characters, elevating colloquial language, and enhancing mysterious, violent horrors. Kristolyn Lloyd portrays 25-year-old Calla as she struggles to hold her life together. Calla would do anything to keep her brothers alive and safe, but neither sibling listens to her. When Calla’s brutal nightmares come to life, the siblings must escape to a remote cabin in the woods. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Narrator Rong Fu returns in the next audiobook in the Iron Widow series. Zetian has awakened Qin Zheng, legendary emperor of Huaxia from centuries past. He desires a complete overhaul of Huaxia to eliminate corruption and misogyny, but despite a common goal, it is still one Zetian is forced into. AudioFile’s Alex Richey and host Jo Reed discuss how Rong Fu skillfully adjusts her accent when voicing Qin Zheng, using a British accent most of the time, and switching to a different accent as he changes dialects. Her depictions of old and new characters are easily distinguishable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Marshall Karp and narrator January LaVoy join AudioFile’s Michele Cobb for a conversation about Marshall’s latest novel, DON’T TELL ME HOW TO DIE - a mystery-turned-thriller where January LaVoy’s superb talent brings an array of dimension to Karp’s carefully crafted characters. Marshall is the author of over a dozen crime fiction novels - including the popular NYPD Red series, co-written with James Patterson - and January is an award-winning narrator who has voiced books by Nora Roberts, Dean Koontz, and John Grisham to name just a few. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss the 2025 winner for Best Fiction Narrator, awarded this week at the 30th annual Audie Awards. Listen to hear their conversation and a clip from the winner! You can catch up with the Audie Awards ceremony livestream: https://www.youtube.com/live/DZ6KZvPtgEA And see the full list of this year’s finalists at the Audio Publishers Association website: https://www.audiopub.org/2025audies Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss the 2025 winners for Audiobook of the Year and the Best Nonfiction Narrator, awarded at last night’s Audie Awards gala. Listen to hear their conversation and a clip from the winner! And you can catch up with the Audie Awards ceremony livestream: https://www.youtube.com/live/DZ6KZvPtgEA And see the full list of this year’s finalists at the Audio Publishers Association website: https://www.audiopub.org/2025audies Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb preview the 2025 Audie Awards! This year the Audies’ 30th anniversary will be celebrated with a gala event in New York City, and with a livestream that audiobook lovers can watch from the comfort of home. Listen in as Jo and Michele discuss some of the highlights to watch for in this year’s Audie Awards. Follow along with the Audie Awards ceremony tonight: https://www.youtube.com/live/DZ6KZvPtgEA And see the full list of this year’s finalists at the Audio Publishers Association website: https://www.audiopub.org/2025audies Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard Powers’s PLAYGROUND is a 2025 Audie Award Finalist for Audiobook of the Year. We’re revisiting host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff’s discussion of how the six narrators' words flow forth, immersing the listener in four central characters and the minute details that comprise their respective worlds. Sections lack titles or labels, so the distinct voice of each narrator is key to distinguishing which story is which. The performances of narrators Edoardo Ballerini, Robin Siegerman, Eunice Wong, Pun Bandhu, Krys Janae, and Kevin R. Free are equally deft; in fact, there is a consistency in pace and tone that makes this complex story accessible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adjoa Andoh narrates a short story collection of speculative fiction by Ann Leckie. We’re revisiting host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discussion of this 2025 Audie Award Finalist in Science Fiction. This collection includes works in the worlds of the Imperial Radch and the Raven Tower, as well as stand-alone pieces. Andoh’s stellar skills are on display in every piece, making the stories of gods, humans, and other assorted beings incredibly compelling. A stunning performance by a master narrator. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re revisiting this discussion from Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly about this 2025 Audie Award Finalist in Science Fiction. Kevin R. Free is the perfect voice for Murderbot, the rogue security unit who would rather just be watching serials, but is protecting its humans — and having a mental breakdown. In a story that takes place immediately after NETWORK EFFECT, Murderbot, ART, and their humans continue to assist colonists on a planet marked for corporate salvage. Free’s depiction of Murderbot’s unresolved mental trauma is harrowing, especially as it digs into its memories to find the possible sources. There is plenty of action, too, as the team faces possible corporate and alien dangers and corruption Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Grant Overstake’s audio drama details racial strife in Wichita, Kansas, in 1968. We’re revisiting Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff’s discussion of this 2025 Audie Award Finalist in Young Adult. A seventh-grade boy’s life becomes upended when a Black family moves in next door. The narrators of this fraught coming-of-age story are excellent. The audio drama has moments of remarkable verisimilitude: from the play-by-play announcing of a basketball game to the whirring of a helicopter in Vietnam. Performed by a gifted cast, this slice of our history stays with the listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ramiz Monsef performs Taylor Brown’s historical novel set during the Battle of Blair Mountain in the early 1920s. We’re revisiting Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester’s discussion about this 2025 Audie Award Finalist in Fiction that will keep listeners on edge until the very last second. Lebanese American “Doc Moo” Muhanna serves as a medical doctor during the Mine Wars. Monsef’s narration enlivens the characters as they give listeners various perspectives on these historical events. Monsef skillfully performs many different accents, and maintains the tension as the action of the novel picks up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re revisiting our conversation about KNIFE, a finalist for Narration by the Author in the 2025 Audie Awards. Narrating his own work, Salman Rushdie offers an emotionally resonant account of the shocking knife attack that almost ended his life. Host Jo Reed and AudioFIle’s Michele Cobb discuss his memoir of the attack, its immediate aftermath, and the difficult recovery. Interwoven throughout are musings on literature, writing, politics, friendship, religion, and more, delivered with passion and more than a little humor. Wide-ranging and deeply insightful, this meditation on life, love, and resilience makes for compelling listening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AudioFile’s Leslie Fine and host Jo Reed discuss how this brief novel set in a small Irish town in 1985 is no bucolic Irish tale. Aiden Kelly gives a masterful narration. Bill Furlong, the son of an unwed mother and now a coal merchant with a family, leads a comfortable life.During a coal delivery to the town’s convent, he finds a young woman locked and freezing in an outbuilding. As he learns more, he is shaken by the fate of the occupants of the Magdalene schools/laundries for unwed mothers and their babies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The stories in this audiobook collection have subjects as wide as the list of narrators is long, and the result is excellent. AudioFile’s Leslie Fine and host Jo Reed discuss how there is not a weak performance, and each narrator is perfectly suited to his or her story. “Radiolab: Singularities,” with its multiple narrators, makes great use of the audio format. Whether it’s Zachary Chastain’s outstanding dialogue in “August in the Forest,” or Nick Offerman’s ominous “Journal of Thomas Thurber,” or some other work, each title leaves a distinct emotional impression. The result is a truly transporting experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Grief is a looming presence in this audiobook. The three Blue sisters try to move on after the death of Nikki, their vivacious and beloved fourth sibling. AudioFile’s Leslie Fine and host Jo Reed discuss how Kit Griffiths narrates the sisters' parallel stories with a measured cadence, conveying the survivors' internal and external struggles as they wrestle with the past and try to salvage their futures. Overall, Griffiths offers a strong narrative voice, but she keeps the listener at a distance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Literary skill ensured Charlotte Brontë's place in the "classics" category, and this audiobook delves deeply into her life and times. AudioFile’s Leslie Fine and host Jo Reed discuss how Lucy Scott is the consummate British narrator, with a brisk pace and animated tone that remain consistent through an extensive audio performance. Supporting cast members are used well to voice various primary sources; these moments highlight the quotations and break up considerable blocks of research and explanation. The transitions among the supporting voices are seamless. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AudioFile’s Leslie Fine and host Jo Reed discuss how narrator Alexander Skarsgard provides the ideal voice for this audiobook. Just as one settles in with what seems like a typical Western, something occurs that reveals there’s nothing typical about it. Hakan, a reserved Swede of intimidating size, must navigate a strange country where dangers abound. Skarsgard’s gentle tone suggests an innocence glowing halo-like over Hakan. At the same time, a tone of melancholy suggests the folly of that expectation. Not for the faint of heart, this story will awaken an appreciation for the better aspects of human nature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Add outstanding audiobook narrator to Brown’s deep resumé. He is aftercall a Food Network personality, cookbook author, and avid food science researcher. Given his long running gigs on Iron Chef, Good Eats and his work as a pitchman for GE, among others, no surprise that he performs his “essays and ruminations” smoothly, smartly and wittily. His range of interests is expansive: blue crab (eat in the soft shell variety), martinis (be wary of ice), Japanese cuisine (seek it out), but it’s his funny and quirky opinions—men should dress like Bond villains, kitchen tables must be wood, utensils need to multitask--that stay with the listener. A master of the bon mot, he tells stories creatively with excellent pace and tone. Highly recommended.(123) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss Jerry Brotton’s brief but delightful and highly informed audiobook exploring geographic direction. Narrator Liam Garrigan has a natural storytelling style, and his British accent and professional delivery work well for the material. The central idea is how the cardinal directions gave life meaning throughout history but are now being displaced in the digital age, when the ideas of east against west and south versus north have geopolitical, rather than geographical, meanings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Set in Canada and the European theater during World War Two, this moving debut from Jack Wang tells the story of Josiah Chang, a Canadian logger and riveter of Chinese ancestry. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss Feodor Chin’s precise and clear narration. The novel details Chang’s challenges and unveils a love story with Poppy, whom he meets when he and she both work at a Vancouver shipyard. This is a wartime novel (Josiah is a heroic paratrooper), a love story (Josiah and Poppy flout convention) and an indictment of restrictive laws on race. Meticulously researched and well written. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The fate of continents is written in water," this audiobook professes, and the vital role of the ocean is at the heart of this expansive listening experience. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss Richard Powers’s new audiobook, narrated by a full cast. At the start, the narrators' words flow forth, immersing the listener in four central characters and the minute details that comprise their respective worlds. Sections lack titles or labels, so the distinct voice of each narrator is key to distinguishing which story is which. All six narrators' performances are equally deft; in fact, there is a consistency in pace and tone that makes this complex story accessible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss an exceptional audiobook from Bernhard Schlink. Both Richard Burnip and Sarah Moule are fine narrators who perform with an impeccable tempo, pace, and cadence. The mysterious plot concerns a Berlin bookseller, Kaspar, who engineered his wife Birgit’s escape from East Germany 40 years earlier. After her death, Kaspar finds her memoir, which reveals she had given birth to a daughter. His relationship with his ultra-nationalist granddaughter occupies much of the second half of the story. Schlink masterfully reveals the complexity of a reunified Germany. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss a captivating memoir by English writer and academic Sarah Moss, performed by Morven Christie. From an early age, society taught Moss that girls are to be restrained, smart but not too smart, and at home, she learned a girl must stay thin above all else. Moss’s memoir follows her life as she pushes back against the patriarchal structures that threaten to confine her. Christie’s performance perfectly captures Moss’s narrative voice, creating a quiet intimacy. As Moss battles with an eating disorder, Christie’s narration develops layers of emotional depth and keeps listeners enraptured. Read our review of the audiobook at our website. Published by Macmillan Audio. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

National Book Award winner Imani Perry contemplates the connection between the color blue and African and African American history and culture. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss Perry’s narration of her audiobook. From the traditional practice of dying indigo cloth in West Africa to the blues musical tradition in America, Perry posits that Black life has always been entangled with the color blue. She performs her stunning narration in a soft, rhythmic voice, drawing listeners into her riveting examination of the color blue in all its forms. The depth of Perry’s research and her love of the topic shine through her performance, creating a truly beautiful listening experience. Read our review of the audiobook at our website. Published by Harper Audio. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christine Lakin performs Adrienne Young’s atmospheric mystery novel set in a small town in Northern California. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss a story full of twists and turns. When James receives a call that her twin brother Johnny has unexpectedly died, she travels back to her tiny hometown to take care of his affairs. But when she arrives, James begins to suspect that Johnny’s death may not have been an accident. As James investigates her brother’s death and the tension rises, Lakin’s performance matches the tense tone of the story. Lakin’s narration keeps listeners’ attention until the very end. Read our review of the audiobook at our website. Published by Random House Audio. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hannah van der Westhuysen gives a quiet, melancholic performance of this contemplative, grief-filled reimagining of KING LEAR. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss Julia Armfield’s story set in a vague future of drowned cities and constant rain. The story revolves around three queer sisters after the death of their famous father, an architect. Van der Westhuysen captures the meandering, watery quality of the novel with their soft, almost musical narration. A sad and beautiful listen; Armfield fans will not be disappointed. Read our review of the audiobook at our website. Published by Macmillan Audio. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss Nobel Prize winner Han Kang’s latest novel, a haunting story focused on the friendship of two women. Greta Jung performs the story of Kyungha, who receives an urgent request from her friend, Inseon, to come see her at a hospital in Seoul. Inseon asks Kyungha to care for her bird, Ama, at her home on Jeju Island, and Kyungha arrives just as a snowstorm consumes the island. Jung’s wistful narration evokes the dreamlike prose and wintery atmosphere as Kyungha trudges through the snow, trying to reach Ama. As the plot unfolds, Jung’s pacing is impeccable, and she maintains the mysterious tension of the story until its rapturous conclusion. Read our review of the audiobook at our website. Published by Random House Audio. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sally Phillips’s heartfelt performance of Alice Franklin’s novel has perfect pacing and inflection. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss a story of a young girl who believes she is an alien. From Little Alien's first attempt at language, listeners sense something extraordinary about her. The story’s narrator, an analytical linguist, breaks down Little Alien's sentences with empathy, while Phillips’s detached tone and well-timed pauses emphasize the complexities of English and the narrator’s snarky undertones. Phillips’s mastery of cadence deepens the emotional connection to Little Alien, making her journey relatable and poignant. Read our review of the audiobook at our website. Published by Hachette Audio. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah LaBrie, a successful television writer based in Los Angeles, narrates her gripping memoir of family trauma in a calm, sweet voice that keeps listeners engaged. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this deeply personal memoir that explores mental health and self-acceptance. Throughout LaBrie’s childhood her mother ricocheted from one psychiatric episode to another, terrifying and caring ineptly for the girl. With hard work and luck, LaBrie made it to an Ivy League college. There, a Black woman in a predominantly white school, she encountered new challenges. When, at last, her mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia, LaBrie began to explore the family’s history of mental illness and her own survival. A harrowing and engrossing listen. Read our review of the audiobook at our website. Published by Harper Audio. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maggi-Meg Reed shines in Christopher Bollen’s psychological thriller pitting an octogenarian against an 8-year-old boy. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this story full of dark humor, plot twists, and increasing suspense. Set during Covid at the Royal Karnak Hotel on the banks of the Nile, the story features 81-year-old Maggie Burkhardt, a meddler who gets involved in fixing people's lives—even when she shouldn't. Reed does a remarkable job of transitioning between Maggie's role as narrator and her interactions with others, making for engrossing listening. Read our review of the audiobook at our website. Published by Harper Audio. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oscar-winning actor, respected singer, and self-declared icon whose comebacks and reinventions have had their own comebacks and reinventions, Cher offers the first volume of her memoir. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this memoir narrated both by Cher and by actor and friend Stephanie J. Block, who portrayed Cher in a Broadway musical biography. Both narrators are charming, effective, and pleasing to the ear. The work is intimate and revealing while sparing listeners gossipy details. Read our review of the audiobook at our website. Published by Harper Audio. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sebastian Humphreys delivers an enthusiastic performance of a delightful cast of characters in Orlando Murrin’s new mystery. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this British mystery with a foodie bent. Chef Paul Delamare steps in as a culinary teacher to help his injured friend, celebrity chef Christian Wagner, and finds himself in the middle of a kitchen disaster. Humphreys’s warm, pleasant voice and English accent pair perfectly with Paul’s empathetic personality. When Christian is found brutally murdered, Paul and his students are natural suspects, and Paul must use his expertise and observation skills to find the real culprit Read our review of the audiobook at our website. Published by Recorded Books. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sam Woolf creates a foreboding atmosphere in this disturbing mystery with strong Christie vibes. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss this newest story from Ragnar Jónasson set in Iceland in 1952, 1983, and 2012. Listeners enter a tuberculosis sanatorium repurposed from the 1940-50s and meet likable Helgi, who is reopening an investigation into earlier unsolved murders. Woolf maintains a consistent atmosphere of dread while flawlessly segueing from ordinary to terrifying situations. Audio is ideal for the slowly unfolding police procedural and its abrupt, disturbing conclusion. Read our review of the audiobook at our website. Published by Macmillan Audio. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss a new historical audiobook from Fiona Davis. Charlotte Cross is an assistant curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 1978. Charlotte is quietly conducting Egyptology research that harkens back to her devastating experience in Egypt in 1936. Linda Jones’s excellent narration reflects Charlotte’s ambivalence: She’s determined to prove her controversial theory about an Egyptian ruler but fearful of returning to Cairo. When an artifact is stolen, Charlotte and her young student Annie must travel to Egypt to pursue the thief and prove Charlotte’s hypothesis. Read our review of the audiobook at our website. Published by Penguin Audio. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss this compelling coming-of-age novel set on a Maine island. Evan Sibley performs Lewis Robinson’s audiobook with narrative drive, a convincing tone, and a sure sense of the unfolding drama. The setting is a posh but remote club on fictional Whaleback Island—just the place to retrain young misfits to work hard on land and sea to please the billionaires who have founded this Outward-Bound-style experience to fight against the “soft” youths of today. Skillfully written and performed. Read our review of the audiobook at our website. Published by Vibrance Press. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When executed as beautifully as this one, multigenerational novels are all consuming in the best way. Sandra Oh's performance of Min Jin Lee’s audiobook makes the experience even more immersive. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss this story of young Sunja, who is saved from ruin and moves from Korea to Japan. Thus a family tale begins and proceeds through four generations in the early 20th century. Oh is an outstanding narrator. Her pace is brisk yet easy to follow, and her crisp enunciation and gentle tone are a pleasure to hear. PACHINKO is a visit to another place and time, and Oh is an exceptional guide. Read our review of the audiobook at our website. Published by Hachette Audio. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Danez Smith, a poet, performance artist, and devotee of Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes presents a selection of Hughes’s early poems, songs, and other writings, created from 1921 to 1927. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss this collection and Smith’s extraordinary performance. With their clear baritone voice and extraordinary vocal talent, Smith’s performance is beautiful to hear and unfailingly connected to the core messages within these poems, journal entries, and other works. Performed with stunning authenticity and verve, this audiobook is a showcase for the artistry of Danez Smith, as well as a revelatory lesson on one of America’s greatest writers. Read our review of the audiobook at our website. Published by Hachette Audio. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Each American poet laureate is expected to carry out at least one project, and the 24th, Ada Limón, created this anthology of poems about humans in nature. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss Kim Ramirez’s narration of this collection that includes a range of exemplary contemporary poets. Ramirez gives each of the 50 poems its due, acting but never overdramatizing, allowing rather than forcing the emotions to emerge. This is an exploration of our changing relationship to the natural world, and an invitation to share in it. Read our review of the audiobook at our website. Published by Tantor Media. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shannon Tyo’s gentle, soothing tone proves effective and engaging as she narrates Miye Lee’s Korean bestseller, now in translation by Joosun Lee. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss the whimsical story. Penny lands her dream job at the Dallergut Dream Department Store. Each floor of the store sells different types of dreams. As Penny learns about the importance of sleep and dreams from the store owner, Mr. Dallergut, she and her kooky co-workers realize what an important function the store fulfills. In a light, relaxed tone, Tyo delivers dreamy characters and an imaginative premise. Read our review of the audiobook at our website. Published by Harlequin Audio. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ciaran Saward gives an appealing narration of Maiga Doocy’s fantasy. AudioFile’s Emily Connelly tells host Jo Reed about the fun of this magical adventure. Leo, a rakish scriver from a privileged gentry family, and Sebastian Grimm, a studious caster whose parents are farmers, are rivals in their fifth year at the Fount, a school of magic. After Grimm unwittingly casts a spell on Leo that compels him to do whatever Grimm says, they eventually decide to enter the Unquiet Wood, full of monstrous plants and animals, in search of a counterspell. Saward’s characterization of the mysterious sorcerer they encounter there is a delight. Read our review of the audiobook at our website. Published by Hachette Audio. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cindy Kay sweeps listeners away into Samantha Sotto Yambao’s memorable and otherworldly story. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss an audiobook full of magic and adventure. On the day Hana is due to inherit her family’s pawn shop, where people from our world can trade away their greatest choices and regrets, she wakes to find it ransacked, her father missing—and one of their precious choices gone. Kay’s narration balances this story that alternates between dreamy and thrilling, carrying listeners on a great adventure. Hana seeks out her father alongside Kei, a scientist, who discovers that Hana’s world is full of beautiful magic and mystery but there’s grave danger, too. Read our review of the audiobook at our website. Published by Random House Audio. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Caitlin Davies performs Sarah Beth Durst’s enchanting fantasy story about a reclusive librarian finding her way home. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss the fun of listening to this magical audiobook. Academic librarian Kiela has lived in the Great Library of Alyssium for years, caring for the Empire’s spellbooks with only a sentient spider plant named Caz for company. When the fires of the Revolution reach the library, they escape by sea to her secluded childhood home with a few crates of precious books. Could she use their magical knowledge to aid the struggling islanders without risking her safety? And why are they all so friendly?? Davies uses a prim yet empathetic narration that suits the introverted librarian and brings the colorful cast of characters to life for listeners. Read our review of the audiobook at our website. Published by Macmillan Audio. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss this anthology that presents widely varied mystery and suspense tales. They are quite well read and will hold the attention of mystery lovers and curious listeners. Jane Oppenheimer’s intimate and expressive narration of Abby Geni’s “The Body Farm” tells a story of justifiable homicide. Nicole Lewis captures the multiple voices, quick pulse, and meta quality of Alyssa Cole’s “Just a Girl”, while John Pirhalla performs Nate Kolakowski’s “Scorpions,” an ironic story, with verve and subtlety. Read our review of the audiobook at our website. Published by Harper Audio. Discover thousands of audiobook reviews and more at AudioFile’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices