Every month, AudioFile Magazine reviewers and editors select the best new audiobooks just for BookTrib’s readers. If you’re anticipating the chillier weather and you’re ready to spend the last days of summer with a good book, look no further than these award-winning audiobooks. Check out samples of each before you choose what to dive into!
THE CLIFFS by J. Courtney Sullivan
Read by Kimberly Farr, Tanis Parenteau, Emily Lawrence, Brittany Pressley, Cassandra Campbell | AudioFile Earphones Award
[Random House Audio | 15.5 hrs.]
With its stellar cast and sprawling story, this audiobook is outstanding. Jane, an archivist at Harvard, returns to her childhood home on the coast of Maine to get her late mother’s affairs in order and discovers that her dream house there has been sold. Cassandra Campbell portrays Jane with passion; the other narrators treat the characters’ concerns, hopes, and fears with care. The level of detail in Jane’s interactions with the townspeople is a memorable highlight.
THE MECHANICS OF MEMORY by Audrey Lee
Read by Sunny Lu, Keong Sim, Charlie Thurston | AudioFile Earphones Award
[CamCat | 10 hrs.]
Sunny Lu, Keong Sim, and Charlie Thurston narrate a mesmerizing thriller about a woman who must confront the unreliability of her own memory. Hope’s memories of her life before her time at a facility designed to reconsolidate lost memories are spotty. Each treatment is slow to bring order to the chaotic remnants of her past. But as secrets come to light, she begins to doubt the facility itself. Lu imbues Hope with endearing eagerness despite her uncomfortable experiences during her unusual therapy treatments. All three narrators enhance this stunning thriller’s unique atmosphere of paranoia.
FIRE AND BONES: Temperance Brennan, Book 23 by Kathy Reichs
Read by Linda Emond | AudioFile Earphones Award
[Simon & Schuster Audio | 8.75 hrs.]
Narrator Linda Emond returns to deliver a masterful performance in the 23rd installment of the Temperance Brennan series. Emond has found the perfect voice for the forensic anthropologist who relentlessly works to put together the puzzles provided by body remains. Through tone, accent, and pace, Emond confidently portrays the male and female characters, good and evil. She skillfully ratchets up the tension as Brennan finds herself in life-threatening situations. Author Kathy Reichs’s engaging plot partnered with Emond’s exceptional narration will keep listeners glued to their earbuds.
NEPHEW: A Memoir in 4-Part Harmony by M.K. Asante
Read by M.K. Asante, Dion Graham, Adenrele Ojo, Neph | AudioFile Earphones Award
[Harper Audio | 5.25 hrs.]
M.K. Asante’s performance captures the essence of what makes the audiobook medium vital: a living experience that grabs listeners from start to finish. Here, Asante’s work is filled with hip-hop rhythms creating rich images that embody a journey through Black history and community via the streets of Philadelphia. Supporting performances by Dion Graham as Nasir’s estranged father, Uzi, and Adenrele Ojo as the family matriarch are equally moving and, at times, heartbreaking. Listeners experience a collective performance that captures the power of art to touch the soul.
YOU’LL NEVER FIND ME: Angelhart Investigations, Book 1 by Allison Brennan
Read by Hillary Huber | AudioFile Earphones Award
[Harlequin Audio | 10.5 hrs.]
How fun for listeners to dive into the launch of this series. Hillary Huber has found the perfect voice for PI Margo Angelhart, portraying her as confident, righteous, and brave. Margo’s chapters, told in the first person, let listeners experience her thoughts and emotions as she protects an abused woman and uncovers her own client’s deceptions. Listeners hear the points of view of several other characters who have their own chapters, all masterfully differentiated by Huber. Brennan’s inventive approach of showing the same scene from different perspectives adds depth.
OYE by Melissa Mogollon
Read by Elena Rey | AudioFile Earphones Award
[Random House Audio | 9 hrs.]
Elena Rey rises to the challenge of narrating this emotionally charged and hilarious story of love and trauma shared among three generations of women. Luciana, the youngest daughter in a Colombian American family, becomes exasperated when her eccentric grandmother refuses to evacuate from Miami during a hurricane. In a series of phone calls to her older sister, Mari, Luciana hilariously rants and raves about her family. Rey’s vocal prowess and command of accents give the characters depth and dimension, allowing listeners to laugh, cry, and fall in love with them.
THE FACULTY LOUNGE by Jennifer Mathieu
Read by Lisa Flanagan | AudioFile Earphones Award
[Penguin Audio | 8.5 hrs.]
Lisa Flanagan performs this group story of a faculty at one public high school as if she were herself an entire acting company. At the beginning of the story’s school year a superannuated substitute teacher dies ingloriously on a couch in the eponymous lounge. That episode and each one following introduces more linked characters, events, complications, and unintended consequences, sometimes funny, sometimes sweet, occasionally shocking, but all absorbing and believable. It’s a deeply satisfying performance; Flanagan’s skill and control are a quiet marvel.
SLOW DANCE by Rainbow Rowell
Read by Rebecca Lowman | AudioFile Earphones Award
[Harper Audio | 11.5 hrs.]
Listeners will savor this story of high school soulmates reuniting under less-than-ideal circumstances. Narrator Rebecca Lowman has a subtly elegant voice that allows the story to shine. Telling the story from alternating perspectives, Lowman aptly portrays different characters with subtle vocal changes. Cary and Shiloh have relatable real-world obstacles to overcome. Lowman captures complicated emotions in her performance with her pacing and tone.
THE BRIAR CLUB by Kate Quinn
Read by Saskia Maarleveld | AudioFile Earphones Award
[Harper Audio | 15 hrs.]
Narrator Saskia Maarleveld enlivens the characters in this masterfully crafted window into the 1950s. While there are murders and other crimes, the focus is the individual stories of the women boarders of Briarwood House in Washington, DC. Maarleveld perfectly delivers the voice of each character. Her talent for accents coupled with Quinn’s vivid writing makes this audiobook a compelling and informative listening experience.
THE RECRUITER: A Rick Carter Novel by Gregg Podolski
Read by Jamie Renell | AudioFile Earphones Award
[Blackstone Audio | 9 hrs.]
This audiobook’s high action, espionage, solid characters, and well-paced story are enhanced by Jamie Renell’s expert narration. Rick Carter is a recruiter of criminals—most notably, hit men. Now, his latest job hits a little too close to home. Renell shines in the multitude of voices he creates for those who surround Carter, a tough guy with a sense of morality. Major and minor characters come alive in a riveting story that leads to a great cliff-hanger.
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