Jay Myers, Amber Benson, and Xe Sands narrate the perspectives of a group of childhood friends who reunite as adults. Twenty years after Matty disappeared up a staircase in the woods, Nick convinces Hamish, Lore, and Owen to return and find out what happened. Myers delivers the quiet panic of Owen's internal dialogue while also excelling at sound effects like the buzzing of a vibrating phone and the scratching sound of a fingernail picking away skin. Sands captures Lore's emotional volatility, making her sound like she may burst out yelling at any moment. Benson's voice is so similar to Sands's that listeners won't know a different person is narrating.
Pub Date: April 29, 2025
Duration: 13 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217065950
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
An excellent cast delivers vividly written characters.
An ensemble cast narrates this folk horror audiobook, which unfolds in two timelines. Ashley, voiced by Jeremy Carlisle Parker, inherits a house in a small town her grandmother never mentioned, which might hold the key to solving her mother’s disappearance. Parker narrates passionately, carrying the majority of the thrills. A hundred years earlier, Frankie, voiced by Jennifer Pickens, grapples with a mysterious illness that starts with the town’s knackerman, who disposes of dead animals. Pickens’ voice wavers with curiosity and horror as the illness takes its toll. In a youthful voice tinged with fear, Cassandra Campbell narrates as Mini, a local girl marked by the knackerman after failing to follow the town’s sacred rituals.
An excellent cast delivers vividly written characters.Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2026
Duration: 12 hrs, 50 mins
DD ISBN: 9781668115558
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2026
For an immersive experience, listeners might be best served by following along with the print book.
In her rendition of Aguda’s latest novel, Délé Ogundiran forgoes the sparkle and flash of a voice actor for a more traditional role as a storyteller. Yosoye is a naïve, rather provincial 23-year-old recent transplant to Lagos, where she’s just beginning a coveted internship with an uber-modern architectural firm. But her excitement about her new life is soon tempered when she winds up pregnant after a one-night stand. More sinister is that she keeps hearing about pregnant women across the city who’ve been willfully drowning themselves. While Ogundiran’s narration is a boon for listeners eager to hear the prose delivered with a Nigerian accent, she doesn’t create unique voices to distinguish among characters, and the pacing is frequently off, with too-short pauses between sections and chapters that allow the prose to run together.
For an immersive experience, listeners might be best served by following along with the print book.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
Duration: 6 hrs, 39 mins
DD ISBN: 9798349166433
Publisher: Dreamscape
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2026
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