Reviews of Intrigue Audio Books

Mystic River by Dennis Lehane

Mystic River
Author: Dennis Lehane
Reader: Scott Brick
Short Review: A well-read, strong mystery with one major flaw.
Long Review: I’ve been sitting on this review for ages, because I like almost everything about this book except for the thing I absolutely hate about it. And of course, I can’t explain what I dislike about the book without [...]

Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier

Rag and Bone Shop
Author: Robert Cormier
Reader: Scott Shina
Short Review: Cormier’s final novel, published posthumously, read by the talented Scott Shina. It’s disturbing, and upsetting, and good despite its flaws.
Long Review: The title alone would have made me listen to this audiobook. I am an obsessive W.B. Yeats fan, [...]

The Precipice by Ben Bova (The Asteroid Wars)

The Precipice (The Asteroid Wars)

Author: Ben Bova
Readers: Scott Brick, Amanda Karr, Christian Noble, Karesa McElheny and Stefan Rudnicki (with a cameo by Theodore Bikel)

Short Review: Well-woven story set in a not-too-distant-future full of corporate intrigue and environmental chaos, both on earth and in colonized outer space. The amazing readers bring our cast of characters to life – I highly recommend it and am scheming for when I can start the next book in the sequence.

Local Custom by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Local Custom

Author: Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
Reader: Michael Shanks

Short Review: Star crossed lovers set in an intricately woven universe including space ships, elements of magic and linguistics. The reader needed someone to insist on better pacing in an otherwise very solid performance.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

 The Graveyard Book
 Author: Neil Gaiman
 Reader: Neil Gaiman
 Short Review: Neil Gaiman reads his Newbery Medal winning book beautifully. His nod to Kipling’s The Jungle Book is just scary enough, intriguing, inventive, well-written, enchanting . . . it’s downright wonderful. I loved Bod, Silas, Scarlett, Liza, Miss Lupescu, and the rest of the graveyard’s denizens [...]

The Likeness by Tana French

The Likeness
Author: Tana French
Reader: Heather O’Neill
Short Review: Tana French’s strong second novel read beautifully by Heather O’Neill. In this sequel to In the Woods, we follow Cassie Maddox in a strange undercover murder investigation. Cassie gets back on her feet and then gets knocked right back off balance imitating her deceased doppelganger while looking [...]

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union: A Novel
Author: Michael Chabon
Reader: Peter Riegert
Extra features: The audiobook includes an interview with Michael Chabon about his inspiration for the book, his favorite books and genres, and his writing process.
Short Review: Chabon’s Hugo and Nebula award-winning alternate history of a world without Israel but with a temporary Jewish [...]

Thud! by Terry Pratchett

Thud! (A Discworld Novel)
Author: Terry Pratchett
Reader: Stephen Briggs
Short Review: This fun, funny, and often thoughtful story follows Sam Vimes as he investigates the murder of dwarven leader Grag Hamcrusher. Vimes is a father and husband, an unwilling member of the nobility, Commander of the watch, and a good old copper. He is [...]

Storm Front (Dresden Files, Book 1) by Jim Butcher

Storm Front Audiobook by Jim ButcherBook 1

Author: Jim Butcher
Reader: James Marsters

Short Review: Down on his luck detective Harry Dresden also happens to be a real, live wizard. This introduction to Harry’s world includes magic, potions, a talking skull named Bob, werewolves – and of course a murder mystery. James Marsters is brilliant.

In the Woods by Tana French

 In the Woods
 Author: Tana French
 Reader: Steven Crossley
Short Review: This Edgar Award winning novel traces a murder in Ireland, following the detectives investigating the case and flashing back to an earlier, similar unsolved case. It is a good novel beautifully read by Crossley, but the novel itself annoys me in a few spots (which [...]