Ruth Rendell, in her Barbara Vine guise, is in top form here with a thoroughly modern gothic novel. Her narrator, not Jane Eyre, but young Swede Kerstin Kvist, takes a job caring for an Englishman whose family members claim he's schizophrenic and drug him to the gills. The patient, his mother, and three of his sisters live in a forbidding hall called Lydstep, with a locked library and multiple guilty secrets. The sexless local rector is engaged to one sister, the village lothario is sleeping with two of them. Rosalyn Landor's lovely oboe voice subtly distinguishes among the ladies of this creepy family as well as artfully modulates the tension as it builds around the appalled young narrator.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2006
Duration: 12 hrs, 9 mins
Publisher: Books on Tape
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Part of the joy of Tom Clancy novels is one's belief that the stories could come true. His latest entry stretches that some as we find international terrorists building a nuclear bomb which is used to set Americans and Russians against one another. Jay Robertson reads with a newscaster's voice, crisp and clear with a light touch of drama. However, he does little to help listeners identify Clancy's huge cast of characters, and dialects seem difficult for him as he occasionally slips in and out of character. Nonetheless, patient listeners are rewarded as the plot unfolds. This will be a welcome addition to any library justifying the price of the multi-cassettte volumes.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 16 hrs
Publisher: Books on Tape
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
John Sanford is back with another psychological thriller in his Prey series. Surgeon, psychopath and serial killer Bekker is on the loose again after the easiest jailbreak in recent memory. Ken Howard's reading moves along with all the brooding energy a reader could want from a suspense book. His narration is deep, clear and well-suited to the gravelly voices of retired detective Lucas Davenport and the other cops. While Howard manages good dialects and shifts in character, his female voices leave a lot to be desired. For the most part, the abridgment gleefully throws logic and characterization overboard in favor of thrills, but the basic flavor of many characters is still fairly well maintained.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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