Jennifer Jill Araya's narration recalls the "Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" as she portrays another smart and comedic woman who rebels against societal pressures of 1954 New York. Katharina's life looks perfect: She has a Fifth Avenue address, healthy sons, and a husband who is a pediatric surgeon. She longs, though, for the variety and purpose she once had as a single woman working as a United Nations interpreter. When the FBI asks Katharina to become an informant, she accepts, but navigating Communist secrets could turn her boring life deadly. Araya smoothly transitions from accent to accent to emphasize nationalities and class; she delivers the perfectly rolled "r's'' of the French, a yodeled aristocratic "yoo-hoo," and a doctor's upper-crust diction. Squeaky kid voices and shocked tones from housewives complete the scene.
Pub Date: 2021
Duration: 13 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9781250802286
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
George Blagden's pleasant performance of William Boyd's second suspense novel about occasional spy Gabriel Dax floats equably along like a story told over a glass of postprandial whiskey. It's an adventure set in 1963 England and Berlin, where, between conducting MI5 jobs, Dax and his compatriots savor many cocktails and cigarettes. Blagden's vocal register rarely varies from mid-tenor, a range that risks sounding uninflected but seems right for our hero, who is a young man, a young man caught up in the Cold War and world-changing events, including President Kennedy's famous Berlin visit. Blagden's command of American, Russian, and Latin accents adds to the verisimilitude. While indistinguishable females all murmur softly, it makes them sound mysterious and of another era.
Pub Date: 2025
Duration: 8 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781668157763
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
With his easy wit and comfortable Irish lilt, Gerard Doyle is once again the go-to narrator for Mick Herron's bestselling Slough House series. It's business as usual in this ninth story, in which the "slow horses"--demoted and/or disgraced British intelligence officers--are once again left to stand down and watch their careers crumble. Instead, they take on the case in question and attempt to save the day. Doyle is especially adept at navigating the witty and insightful dialogue, which ranges from the boss's grumpy malapropisms to the underlings' eye-rolling asides. Doyle's voice has become such a part of the series that he sounds like an extra member of this fascinating and extremely dysfunctional family of spies who are caught between betrayal and redemption.
Pub Date: 2025
Duration: 12 hrs
DD ISBN: 9798897564293
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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