Tag: audiobook

Book Review | Sunshine by Robin McKinley

Posted April 17, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Sunshine by Robin McKinley

Rae Seddon, nicknamed Sunshine, lived a quiet life working at her stepfather’s bakery. There are places in the world where darkness rules, where it’s unwise to walk. Sunshine knew that. One night, she went out to the lake for some peace and quiet. There hadn’t been any trouble out at the lake for years, and Sunshine just needed a spot where she could be alone with her thoughts.

Big mistake.

Vampires never entered her mind. Until they found her. And set upon her, and took her to an old abandoned mansion. They took her clothes and sneakers. They dressed her in a long red gown. And they shackled her to a wall-within easy reach of a figure stirring in the moonlight, who is also chained. She knows that it is a vampire. She knows that she’s to be his dinner, and that when he is finished with her, she will be dead. Yet, when light breaks, she finds that he has not attempted to harm her. And now it is the vampire, Constantin, who needs her to help him survive the day, to protect him from the sun with her magic…

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #TBD)

The Reason

This is a reread. I’ve read this book twice before and it’s one of my favorite vampire stories. I also really love the author’s works.

The Quotes

“What we can do, we must do: we must use what we are given, and we must use it the best we can, however much or little help we have for the task. What you have been given is a hard thing–a very hard thing… But my darling, what if there were no one who could do the difficult things?”

“It is halfway true that if you are involved in a family coffeehouse you don’t have a life.”

“You can be a really nasty, selfish little jerk when you’re scared enough. I was scared enough.”

“He was a vampire. I was a human. We weren’t supposed to have any bonds between us, except straightforward generic ones of murderous antagonism and so on.”

The Narrator(s)

Laural Merlington. I had a really hard time with the low vampire voices. I could barely hear them and couldn’t make out what they were saying. I had to get a copy of the ebook and refer to it periodically.

My Thoughts

I love this book. I have loved this book, and I still love this book. Listening on audio was not the best experience, unfortunately, because I couldn’t make out what some of the low voices was saying, but I still love the story. I read it for the first time maybe 20 years ago and I thought it was one of the more interesting vampire stories, and 20 years later it’s still true for me.

The relationship between Rae and Constantin is a constant push/pull, and I love that vampires aren’t seen as dashing, romantic bad boys in this world but rather dangerous, animalistic creatures of prey. I mean, to an extent, Constantin is romanticized a little bit but to a reasonable degree in comparison to so many other vampire stories.

There are so many reasons why I love this book; the interesting world-building, the vampire lore, the rich character backgrounds. When the book first came out years ago, I hoped there might be more books set in this world, but unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any so far, and the author hasn’t published any new books in the last decade. Still, there are plenty of books in her catalog I haven’t read and I love rereading the ones I’ve read. I never get tired of them.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Posted April 16, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but it is the truth. Some of us are good, others are bad, and some just unfortunate.

I’m Ernest Cunningham. Call me Ern or Ernie. I wish I’d killed whoever decided our family reunion should be at a ski resort, but it’s a little more complicated than that.

Have I killed someone? Yes. I have. Who was it? Let’s get started.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #TBD)

The Reason

There’d been a lot of hype for this book and I’ve been hearing about this book for a while. I thought it sounded really interesting.

The Quotes

“Family is not whose blood runs in your veins, it’s who you’d spill it for.”

“You can tell a lot about someone from whether they can handle an uncomfortable silence. If they ride it out or snap it off.”

“Anger is as much an heirloom as any Rolex.”

“Every basic task starts to feel like a decision, and that becomes so draining that you end up unable to make any of them.”

The Narrator(s)

Barton Welch. He was very pleasant to listen to.

My Thoughts

I must admit I didn’t love this book. I had high expectations coming into it and had been anticipating reading it and the other books in the series, but I’m not sure that I’ll continue with it. It’s not horrible, but I didn’t enjoy the writing style. It felt gimmicky, and the constant breaking of the fourth wall annoyed me and took me out of the story.

The story itself wasn’t incredible either and I didn’t connect very much with the characters. In fact, I would say that the book as a whole was quite forgettable to me. Perhaps the most memorable thing about it for me is the title of the book. I just finished it and I couldn’t tell you anything about the characters or significant things that happened because nothing and no one really stood out to me.

However, it is well-written and -crafted despite my dislike of the writing style, and there are some great quotes I really liked in the book. I can understand why people would enjoy this book, but it just didn’t connect for me unfortunately.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | All The Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell

Posted April 7, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

All The Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell

A deeply compelling exploration of the death industry and the people—morticians, detectives, crime scene cleaners, embalmers, executioners—who work in it and what led them there.

We are surrounded by death. It is in our news, our nursery rhymes, our true-crime podcasts. Yet from a young age, we are told that death is something to be feared. How are we supposed to know what we’re so afraid of, when we are never given the chance to look?

Fueled by a childhood fascination with death, journalist Hayley Campbell searches for answers in the people who make a living by working with the dead. Along the way, she encounters mass fatality investigators, embalmers, and a former executioner who is responsible for ending sixty-two lives. She meets gravediggers who have already dug their own graves, visits a cryonics facility in Michigan, goes for late-night Chinese with a homicide detective, and questions a man whose job it is to make crime scenes disappear.

Through Campbell’s incisive and candid interviews with these people who see death every day, she Why would someone choose this kind of life? Does it change you as a person? And are we missing something vital by letting death remain hidden? A dazzling work of cultural criticism, All the Living and the Dead weaves together reportage with memoir, history, and philosophy, to offer readers a fascinating look into the psychology of Western death.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #TBD)

The Reason

It was the BOTM for my in-person bookclub, member’s choice.

The Narrator(s)

Hayley Campbell, the author herself. I really enjoyed the narration and listening to the book through her voice. It’s technically scientific nonfiction but I also think it’s a little bit of a memoir about her own journey researching the book, and I loved that she shared her personal experiences through the journey.

My Thoughts

Our in-person bookclub had a very deep and meaningful discussion about this book, our own thoughts on death and dying, and how we felt about the book and death. Personally, this book blew me away, I’ve always been morbidly curious about death and the business of death, but I didn’t expect the author to also delve into the emotional aspects of those who work in the business.

There are so many things we don’t think about until it affects us, but at the same time, this is one of those things that when it does affect us, we’re not necessarily in the right frame of mind to think about them. I love that Campbell have so much compassion and empathy for those who work with death and the dying, and I love that she puts a spotlight on the topics that we typically avoid.

One of the criticisms that came up as our bookclub was discussing the book was that Campbell inserted her own emotions and judgement a little to much while interviewing some of her subjects. I agree in that particular instance, but I also think that it was her way of trying to understand it. That doesn’t excuse it at all, because I personally feel that she did push a little too hard and I didn’t like that she did that. I did like that she got emotionally invested and personal in the book, but I think there should be a balance between being professional and letting her interviewees tell their story, and inserting her own emotions and judgement into their stories.

It is still a very good book and I learned so much. I loved it so much, I bought my own copy so that I can reread it over again. There really is a lot to be gained from reading this book, morbid as it is, and I would highly recommend it to anyone!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center

Posted April 6, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center

A year after getting divorced, Helen Carpenter, thirty-two, lets her annoying, ten years younger brother talk her into signing up for a wilderness survival course. It’s supposed to be a chance for her to pull herself together again, but when she discovers that her brother’s even-more-annoying best friend is also coming on the trip, she can’t imagine how it will be anything other than a disaster. Thus begins the strangest adventure of Helen’s well-behaved life: three weeks in the remotest wilderness of a mountain range in Wyoming where she will survive mosquito infestations, a surprise summer blizzard, and a group of sorority girls.

Yet, despite everything, the vast wilderness has a way of making Helen’s own little life seem bigger, too. And, somehow the people who annoy her the most start teaching her the very things she needs to learn. Like how to stand up for herself. And how being scared can make you brave. And how sometimes you just have to get really, really lost before you can even have a hope of being found.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #TBD)

The Reason

I have enjoyed Katherine Center’s other books, and this one in particular had been talked up so much by Rissi from RissiWrites.com that I just had to read it.

The Narrator(s)

Marguerite Gavin. I enjoyed the narration very much.

My Thoughts

Okay, there is quite a bit of cheesiness and some cringy parts in this book, but overall I loved it and thought it was such a cute read. It’s also what I needed because I have been reading so many heavy books in recent months and very few romances. I have read several of Katherine Center’s books and really enjoyed them, so I thought I would take a chance on this one too. I’m glad I did because even though it was a little cheesy/cringy, there was also some really great scenes and heartwarming stuff that made me happy.

I also realized that there was a movie adaptation and I ended up watching it immediately after reading the book!

I love Ellie Kemper so I was really looking forward to the movie and seeing what they did with it. They took out some of the cringiest bits, which I’m glad of(!), but it also felt a little less charming. I felt like the MC wasn’t as charming as in the book, and there wasn’t enough chemistry between the two leads. But I still enjoyed it and it was such a nice book and movie combo to take me away from the other solemnities in life. I would still recommend both.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The Making of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman

Posted April 6, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

The Making of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman

Now in paperback, the eye-opening book that was nominated for a 1998 James Beard Foundation award in the Writing on Food category.

In the winter of 1996, Michael Ruhlman donned hounds-tooth-check pants and a chef’s jacket and entered the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, to learn the art of cooking. His vivid and energetic record of that experience, The Making of a Chef, takes us to the heart of this food-knowledge mecca. Here we meet a coterie of talented chefs, an astonishing and driven breed. Ruhlman learns fundamental skills and information about the behavior of food that make cooking anything possible. Ultimately, he propels himself and his readers through a score of kitchens and classrooms, from Asian and American regional cuisines to lunch cookery and even table waiting, in search of the elusive, unnameable elements of great cooking.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #TBD)

The Reason

I am a foodie and I have a weird fascination for food writing. I also have a couple of books by Michael Ruhlman that I haven’t read yet. This book happened to be available from my library so I dove in!

The Narrator(s)

Jeff Riggenbach. It was great!

My Thoughts

I loved the writing and the storytelling. I got so immersed in the whole book as I was reading that it just transported me away from real life and into a culinary dream world. It made me think about food and cooking so much more deeply; my relationship with food, the way I approached cooking for myself and my family, the appreciation I have for food and food culture. I loved the way the author talks about food and cooking and his own appreciation for food and his experience of working in the kitchen.

It almost made me want to sign up for culinary classes but I know myself well enough to know that I wouldn’t do well as a professional cook. I love food, and I love cooking, but as Ruhlman’s teacher talks about in the book, I don’t think I have that drive to cook for others professionally and to always show up no matter the weather and the occasion (and unlike Ruhlman, I’m totally fine with that!).

I love Ruhlman’s candidness and the way he talks about his experience with such transparency. I love the way he is so passionate about food and cooking, and I love the way he really makes me feel like I’m right there. I want more of this and I hope to come back to this book again in the future.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan

Posted February 28, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan

A novel about a Malayan mother who becomes an unlikely spy for the invading Japanese forces during WWII—and the shocking consequences that rain upon her community and family.

Malaya, 1945. Cecily Alcantara’s family is in terrible danger: her fifteen-year-old son, Abel, has disappeared, and her youngest daughter, Jasmin, is confined in a basement to prevent being pressed into service at the comfort stations. Her eldest daughter Jujube, who works at a tea house frequented by drunk Japanese soldiers, becomes angrier by the day.

Cecily knows two things: that this is all her fault; and that her family must never learn the truth.

A decade prior, Cecily had been desperate to be more than a housewife to a low-level bureaucrat in British-colonized Malaya. A chance meeting with the charismatic General Fuijwara lured her into a life of espionage, pursuing dreams of an “Asia for Asians.” Instead, Cecily helped usher in an even more brutal occupation by the Japanese. Ten years later as the war reaches its apex, her actions have caught up with her. Now her family is on the brink of destruction—and she will do anything to save them.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #TBD)

The Reason

This book is set in Malaysia (Malaya back then) and the author is Malaysian. I’m always excited for Malaysian-produced media and try to support them when I can!

The Narrator(s)

Samantha Tan. She was great and I loved hearing the Malaysian accent on the dialogues.

My Thoughts

I really wanted to like this book but I’m quite disappointed with it. The story started out really well; it was compelling and the characters were interesting even if they weren’t exactly likeable. There were a few minor problems with the book in the beginning, but they weren’t big deals and were easily forgiveable. A lot of the cultural beliefs and racism was a little triggering to me because of how familiar it was for me living in Malaysia, but in a good way, bringing me deeper into the story.

However, the part where it lost me completely was with Jasmine and her story. I am very much a character-driven reader, and while I don’t have to like the characters, I very much need to believe in the plausibility of their behaviors. She was seven, almost eight years old, in the chapters with her POV, and I won’t go into details because of spoilers, but she was just not a believeable character to me. Nothing she did made sense for her age and background. I could believe it if she was older, I could believe it if she had a horrible relationship with her family, I could believe it if there were any other myriad of changes made to her character, but as she was, it just ruined the story for me. It might even still be okay because she’s only one character and one part of the story, but her story was such an integral part to the book as a whole that I just couldn’t ignore it.

It’s a shame because I love reading stories about Malaysia. There are too few Malaysian books and authors, and it’s such a comfort to read about Malaysian people and Malaysian life. The subject matter and time frame of this book is also such an important historical event that I wanted to learn more about, and while I disliked Cecily very much as a person, she was such an interesting character to read about.

The book is still very much worth reading if you’re not a character-driven reader or as much a stickler for believeable characters as I am. It’s also worth reading to see the impact WW2 and the Japanese occupation had on Malaya at the time. I certainly learned something and despite my issues with it, I’m glad I read this book.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

Posted February 28, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

A gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history.

Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.

Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.

Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #32: Includes a diary entry)

The Reason

Full disclosure, I judged this book by its cover and just really wanted to read it. Up until I started reading it, I had no idea it was based on real people and events.

The Quotes

“The act of mothering is not limited to the bearing of children.”

“Memory is a wicked thing that warps and twists. But paper and ink receive the truth without emotion, and they read it back without partiality. That, I believe, is why so few women are taught to read and write. God only knows what they would do with the power of pen and ink at their disposal.”

“It’s an unimaginative accusation and one that I am frankly tired of hearing. Witchcraft. As though there is no other explanation for a woman who excels at her work.”

“Though you never think it possible, you can celebrate and grieve in the same breath. It is a holy abomination.”

The Narrator(s)

Jane Oppenheimer. I loved listening to the audio narration, it was perfect.

My Thoughts

I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. When I realized it was historical biographical fiction, I expected it to be a slow and meandering, but pleasant, read. I started listening before going to bed and ended up not being able to sleep because it was just so gripping! I had to switch to a different audiobook to get to sleep!

A lot of it was really emotional and infuriating; it’s unfortunate that so many of the issues women faced in the 1700s are still issues we face now. Not much has changed. Not enough has changed.

The author does take some liberties with the story, changed some details and timelines, and of course adds imagined dialogue and encounters towards the story. From what I’ve gathered, the true events aren’t as satisfying as what happens in this book. That doesn’t surprise me. However, this book is such a great read and I highly recommend it!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | How To Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis

Posted February 28, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 1 Comment

How To Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis

How to Keep House While Drowning will introduce you to six life-changing principles that will revolutionize the way you approach home care—without endless to-do lists. Presented in 31 daily thoughts, this compassionate guide will help you begin to get free of the shame and anxiety you feel over home care.

Inside you will learn:
· How to shift your perspective of care tasks from moral to functional;
· How to stop negative self-talk and shame around care tasks;
· How to give yourself permission to rest, even when things aren’t finished;
· How to motivate yourself to care for your space.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
None

The Reason

I think it’s obvious why I read this. I’ve been complaining about feeling overwhelmed and disorganized lately and I thought this book might help.

The Quotes

“You do not have to earn the right to rest, connect, or recreate. Unlearn the idea that care tasks must be totally complete before you can sit down. Care tasks are a never-ending list, and if you wait until everything is done to rest, you will never rest.”

“No one ever shamed themselves into better mental health.”

“Forget about creating a routine. You have to focus on finding your rhythm.” With routines you are either on track or not. With rhythm you can skip a beat and still get back in the groove.”

“You don’t exist to serve your space; your space exists to serve you.”

The Narrator(s)

The author herself. It was good.

My Thoughts

This book is short and sweet. There were parts that didn’t resonate very much or that I felt didn’t apply to me, but there were also parts that were like a salve to my soul and I needed those parts very much. It doesn’t give instructions for how to keep house, which was what I was looking for at first. It focuses more on getting you to the mental and emotional space for taking care of yourself and your space, which I guess was what I ended up needing.

I needed the reminder that my space is meant to serve me, that I’m not required to be perfect, that some things are more important than others and it’s okay to drop the ball on the unimportant things to keep the important ones going. Listening to the audio made me feel like the author was a friend who had my back.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The Measure by Nikki Erlick

Posted January 12, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

The Measure by Nikki Erlick

Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice.

It seems like any other day. You wake up, pour a cup of coffee, and head out.

But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. This box holds your fate inside: the answer to the exact number of years you will live.

From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise?

As society comes together and pulls apart, everyone faces the same shocking choice: Do they wish to know how long they’ll live? And, if so, what will they do with that knowledge?

The Measure charts the dawn of this new world through an unforgettable cast of characters whose decisions and fates interweave with one another: best friends whose dreams are forever entwined, pen pals finding refuge in the unknown, a couple who thought they didn’t have to rush, a doctor who cannot save himself, and a politician whose box becomes the powder keg that ultimately changes everything.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #3: Title starts with the letter “M”)

The Reason

I’m not kidding, I just found it in my borrowed books on Libby one day. I didn’t click on this book, I didn’t even know about this book, it was just there. Then I saw the narrator was Julia Whelan and I love her so I thought I’d give it a try.

The Quotes

“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to save the world and a desire to savor the world. That makes it hard to plan the day.”

“The great American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, ‘It is not the length of life, but the depth of life.’ You don’t need a long lifetime to make an impact on this world. You just need the will to do so.”

“Once you know something, you forget what it was like to not know it.”

“We segment ourselves based on race or class or religion or whatever fucking distinctions we decide to make up, and then we insist on treating each other differently.”

The Narrator(s)

Julia Whelan. The only reason I read this book without knowing a single thing about it. And I’m glad I did!

My Thoughts

This book has such an interesting premise; people all around the world are receiving a special box with a string inside that supposedly measures their lives. They start to separate themselves based on their short or long strings, they start Other-ing each other, a lot of philosophical questions are asked and discussed. We see the stories of a select few people whose lives intersect, and we come to care about them.

Coming into this story with zero expectations, I ended up really enjoying it. It felt so dystopian and sci-fi, but also down-to-earth in a way, and horrifying in other ways. I love that it explores the value of a person’s life regardless of how long or short that life is. I hate that the Other-ing and fear-mongering is so true to life. The first part of the book was really intense and exciting, but the ending seemed a little flat, like the author wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen. It was still a very well-written book, and a fine exploration of the premise, and I enjoyed it overall.

In a way, it also tracks that ending wasn’t clear-cut and tied up nicely in a bow. It fits the theme that we don’t know what happens next and that it’s up to us what we want to make of the story, what we want to get from it and what we want to make of our own lives from here on out.

I mostly find it curious that I found this book on my borrowed list without ever hearing about it or clicking on it. It’s almost like the characters having those boxes of string just appear out of nowhere. It’s spooky and weird and it’s very possible that aliens have sent this book to me as a gift. 😂 Still, I’m grateful for it because it turned out to be a great story and I really enjoyed it!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The Outsider by Stephen King

Posted December 23, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

The Outsider by Stephen King

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.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 Audiobook Challenge
The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge

The Reason

This is a reread and a buddy read on my online bookclub. I’m also planning a Stephen King reading challenge, so I’ll be going through his works including the ones I’ve read before!

The Quotes

“If you can’t let go of the past, the mistakes you’ve made will eat you alive.”

“People are blind to explanations that lie outside their perception of reality.”

“Thinking that if a person did begin considering supernatural possibilities, that person would no longer be able to think of himself as a completely sane person, and thinking about one’s sanity was maybe not a good thing. It was like thinking about your heartbeat: if you had to go there, you might already be in trouble.”

“Terry gave him a look of which only high school teachers are capable: We both know you’re an idiot, but I will not embarrass you in front of your peers by saying so.”

The Narrator(s)

Will Patton. I’ve mentioned I loved Will Patton as a narrator for Stephen King’s books, and that is still true, but this audiobook was difficult to listen to. I see it as a production issue rather than a narrator issue; the volume mix was inconsistent and there were times when the narration was almost inaudible and I had to raise the volume, and then it suddenly got louder and hurt my ears. My copy was published by Simon & Schuster Audio, I’m not sure if the same issues exist with other publishers.

My Thoughts

I read this book first out of all the books that feature Holly Gibney, without context at the time about who Holly was, but I remember loving the book and it becoming one of my favorite SK books. Now that I’ve read more of SK’s books, too many of them are becoming favorites and I feel he’s just getting better and better. I’ve also since read all of the other books that feature Holly and it was really interesting to revisit this story knowing her history.

One of the things I loved most about this book is the conversation about how there is no end to the universe and that we must accept the impossible when there’s no other explanation. I love the initial buildup of the story with Terry Maitland, which was painful to read about and so intense, but such a testament to SK’s mastery of telling a story. A lot of things happen in this book that make you feel… a lot of feelings; the injustice of the law enforcement system, the corruption of the people in power, the tragic suffering of so many innocent people. This book just gives so much.

The supernatural aspect of this story is scary and terrifying, and I remember it creeping me out so much the first time I read it. This time I wasn’t as freaked out, maybe because I know what to expect now, but also because, I think, the real life implications are more horrifying to me this time around. Things like this happen in real life, and it’s human beings doing it to other human beings. There are monsters amongst us, and often we can’t do much against them. In a way, this scary horror story is a comfort because in fiction, the heroes win and the monsters are defeated. Maybe it can be an inspiration too.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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