Yes, this Marley is THAT Marley. Dickens's perennial staple, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, gets a fascinating prequel with this audiobook, performed with a perfect blend of authenticity and over-the-top caricature by Matthew Lloyd Davies. While this portrait is rendered in darker tones, and Clinch's considerable authorial skill is uniquely his own, the Dickensian touches of quirky names, ruthless villainy, and thoughtful details make this a rich listen. Davies's pacing, accents, and distinctive voices are spot-on; each colorful presence comes alive to provide an imaginative backstory for Scrooge and his partner, Marley. Rather than visits from Christmas ghosts, Davies voices the complex relationship of two greedy men--and the lives they impact--with a performance that is very alive and often no less chilling.
Pub Date: 2019
Duration: 7 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9781508296942
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
American colleges are favorable locales for ghastly event and hair-tearing circumstance. There is, for instance, a good deal of pleasure to be had out of professor and past-prodigy Grady Tripp's awful life, as portrayed by Michael Chabon in WONDER BOYS. There is a certain amount of slapstick here, but it's balanced by Chabon's superb portrait of a gale-force mid-life crisis, a soul-destroying albatross of an unfinished novel and the mind-numbing inconsequence of writers' conferences. David Colacci sounds a little starved for oxygen in his reading, but that's not exactly out of keeping with Grady Tripp's personal gestalt.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: N/A
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
As a group of men bring their own emotional baggage to their football-obsessed reunion, R.C. Bray delivers his usual solid narration. He shifts his tones slightly but enough to put the listener in the motel with the men, revealing their foibles as the story progresses. The narrator's role in this book is a descriptive one, and Bray is a good guide. His narration becomes extra important because this is a rare instance when there almost isn't a protagonist. The author's well-written story--which alternates between serious and laugh-out-loud funny--uses quarterback Joe Theismann's 1985 injury, a broken leg, as a McGuffin.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 5 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781681680057
Publisher: HighBridge Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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