Narrator Edoardo Ballerini anchors the full-cast performance of a story that takes place in Spokane, Washington, in the early twentieth century. The audiobook centers on two brothers who arrive in town seeking seasonal work. Events take a turn when they get caught up in the free speech movement and union organizing. Other narrators deliver first-person vignettes that provide... Read More

Louise Brealey's performance is just one good reason to listen to the second in Philippa Gregory's Fairmile series. Gregory's unparalleled storytelling is another. Alinor's health never recovered after being "swum" as a witch in the tidelands in 1648. It's now 1670. Alinor's close-knit family members live peaceful, if hardworking, lives in London. Their quiet is disrupted by... Read More

Margaret Atwood is best known as a novelist, of course, but she is also quite a fine poet, and her reading of her poems is also quite fine. The poems focus largely on nature and the nature of being a woman in the modern world, but these potentially fraught subjects do not tempt Atwood, in writing or reading, into stridency. Her performance throughout the collection is low-key,... Read More

John Lee returns to narrate the long-awaited prequel to the Pillars of the Earth epic series. In 997 CE, Vikings attack a small English fishing village, and a young boatbuilder named Edgar must strike out to survive elsewhere. With his trademark eloquence, Lee portrays the ambitious Edgar, who finds success through his carpentry skills and develops a growing friendship with the... Read More

Lorelei King is back narrating the latest in the Stephanie Plum series. For the first time, the audiobook is deemed "A Novel," with no installment number in its subtitle. (It's #27.) But not much else has changed in the bounty hunter's world. Fans will find it comforting to revisit Stephanie, Lulu, Morelli, Ranger, Grandma Mazur, Connie, and Stephanie's mother, all masterfully... Read More

Joel de la Fuente gives a spectacular performance filled with drama, theatrics, and razzle-dazzle that beautifully showcases Charles Yu's satire of Asians in America, told in a funky screenplay format. Willis Wu's life unfolds like a movie in which he is "Generic Asian Man." Each night he returns to his crowded Chinatown highrise hoping that the next day will bring him closer... Read More

Ron Butler lends expertise, elegance, and an unerring expressiveness to his heartbreakingly beautiful performance as King, a black tween living in Louisiana who is coping with the death of his older brother. When his ex-best friend, Sandy Sanders, goes missing and King finds him hiding in his backyard, he is forced to confront questions about himself and his grief. As the story... Read More

Peter Giles, who has become the voice of Mickey Haller in Connelly's popular Lincoln Lawyer series, returns to take listeners on a legal roller-coaster ride. What could be more dramatic than Haller having to defend himself against a murder charge and prepare for his trial in prison? Giles masterfully conveys the fear and frustration that Haller experiences facing the prospect... Read More

Nikki Giovanni's slightly raspy, slightly sibilant voice draws listeners into this important collection of poetry and prose. Letting her poet's sense guide her tempo, Giovanni wrings the humor, anger, and sorrow out of being Black in America. In "And So It Comes to This," Giovanni's mocking tone is the perfect match for a scathing indictment of white men and their obsession... Read More

In this second outing for editor-turned-sleuth Susan Ryeland, narrators Lesley Manville and Allan Corduner deliver pleasures galore in this book within a book full of sleight of hand and red herrings. Manville's crisp, warm voice is engaging, and her emotionally attentive performance nicely differentiates between characters in the Ryeland investigation of a hotelier's... Read More

Narrator Channie Waites thrills in this fantasy, which blends historical and supernatural storytelling to revisit the Ku Klux Klan's reign of terror in the Jim Crow South. Waites gives depth and unique vocal stamps to the main characters, who possess extraordinary powers they use to exterminate otherworldly monsters called Ku Kluxes. Waites's performance of the various... Read More

Narrator Scott Brick returns to portray Jack Reacher in this first-time collaboration between author Lee Child and his brother, Andrew. Reacher--usually the strong, silent type--is still the defender of the underdog and seeker of justice who travels the country with just a toothbrush in his pocket, engaging in multiple incidents of well-choreographed violence as necessary.... Read More

The venerable author's latest legal thriller brings back attorney Jake Brigance, this time defending a teen accused of killing a sheriff's deputy. Grisham starkly lays out how the deck is stacked against the poor in small-town Mississippi as they struggle with closed minds, mounting financial challenges, and other obstacles. Narrator Michael Beck is superb. He is a vocal... Read More

Rick Riordan's epic Trials of Apollo series comes to an end with this fifth and final installment. Narrator Robbie Daymond has been the smug, funny, and entirely convincing voice of Greek god Apollo from the very beginning. As Apollo, Meg, and their friends return to New York after a cross-country road trip and prepare to wage their final battles against baddies Nero and... Read More