A steady narration intensifies a pressure cooker of Dominican family dynamics and folk-horror dread.
Danyeli Rodriguez del Orbe brings an instinct for rhythm and patience to her narration of this gothic horror. The novel traps an extended Dominican American family inside a Yonkers, New York mansion after a patriarch's will accuses one of them of being “el bacà,”—a demonic deal made flesh—and Rodriguez del Orbe's performance keeps things feeling claustrophobic. Her Spanish-inflected cadences land with cultural authenticity, and she distinguishes the sprawling cast through controlled shifts in pitch and register. Rodriguez del Orbe relies on a steady, monotone narration for the prose that is both unsettling and uncomfortable. The real-time structure, each chapter a ticking hour, sustains dread, and Rodriguez del Orbe delivers paranoia as a steady, creeping presence beneath the family's escalating accusations.
A steady narration intensifies a pressure cooker of Dominican family dynamics and folk-horror dread.Pub Date: March 10, 2026
Duration: 9 hrs, 8 mins
DD ISBN: 9780063383265
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2026
Outstanding suspense, gripping narration, and a highly topical premise.
A page-turner of the highest quality gets the star treatment it deserves. Mackintosh, queen of the thrilling plot twist, knocks it out of the park in this riveting production, brought to life by a quartet of outstanding vocal talents: Richard Armitage, Samuel Barnett, Tuppence Middleton, and Vineeta Rishi. From the moment Nadeeka arrives home to find police at the door and her boyfriend on the carpet, covered in blood, the listener is swept up into an intricately plotted political thriller where nothing is what it appears. As the story is told from four points of view, the suspense never lets up, and each well-voiced character is forced to confront, or reveal, the horrifying truth.
Outstanding suspense, gripping narration, and a highly topical premise.Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2026
Duration: 11 hrs, 31 mins
DD ISBN: 9781464297335
Publisher: Sourcebooks Audio
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2026
This quirky audiobook is both profoundly nonsensical and nonsensically profound.
In an impassioned voice, narrator Kimberly Wetherell tells the surreal, offbeat story of Dinah, a self-absorbed Vermont woman who is unable to process reality. She is fixated on her adolescence, bears, creatures of the night, various rules and codes of conduct, and fairy tales. Most of all she is haunted by memories of Rex, the charismatic but manipulative leader of the Nobodies, a group of vigilante teens, including Dinah, whoonce meted out punishment to bullies. Twenty years later, Dinah returns to her hometown to solve a mystery. What follows are riveting suspense, mystical revelations, and talking bears and cats. Wetherell makes one really hear Dinah, even if understanding her proves challenging.
This quirky audiobook is both profoundly nonsensical and nonsensically profound.Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2026
Duration: 13 hrs, 35 mins
DD ISBN: 9781668657041
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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