A top-notch narration by Vikas Adam transforms Raymond Chandler's iconic 1940s detective Philip Marlowe into a 21st-century PI. Marlowe is hired by a once-famous, notoriously nasty movie star to locate her missing 17-year-old stepdaughter. When he finds her, Marlowe stashes her with his prickly father, a hard-drinking ex-cop, for safekeeping. Marlowe reluctantly accepts a second case, to locate the young son of a visiting British professor. When it becomes clear that the Armenian and Russian mobs are behind the chaos, Marlowe has his hands full. Adam is terrific at delivering believable women's voices, and his characterizations of minor players ring true. Name-dropping and contemporary references attempting to set the novel in the present are somewhat overdone, but Adam makes it all work.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022
Duration: 9 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781549101533
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Novelist Benet Archdale and housemaid Carol Stratford are two young, single parents who have no reason to know each other. They become tangled in a nightmarish spiral of kidnap, fraud, family violence and death. Ruth Rendell creates psychological suspense in thrillers that are compulsively readable or, in this case, listenable. British actress Imelda Staunton's reading is perfectly paced, and the characters are well defined. You'll have a hard time turning it off.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 9 hrs
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America/ Chivers
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
C.J. Box writes about life in wild Wyoming, short stories of people living a rugged life by choice or by circumstance. David Chandler narrates in a rough-edged whiskey voice that suggests summer heat, bitter winters, and windswept prairies, guiding the listener through 10 adventures of men like Fish and Game Officer Joe Pickett. Chandler brings the listener into this strange world where, more often than not, men have to create their own justice. His performance of the economical stories, some rarely seen, is perfect. The tale of the frozen body of a Native American basketball player turned speed freak, her arm reaching through the ice of a lake in a final jump shot, is one of the most fascinating in the collection.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 7 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781470392796
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
