All the Dangerous Things - Stacy Willingham

I really enjoyed Stacy Willingham's debut novel, A Flicker in the Dark, last year and was excited to see she had written a second book. All the Dangerous Things is another excellent suspense novel.

Isabelle's young son Mason was taken from his bedroom in the night a year ago. After all that time, the case has gone cold for the police. But not for Isabelle - she's made it her job at the cost of her marriage and her health. She doesn't sleep, just catnaps and blackouts. When a podcaster asks to interview her, she says yes. Who knows - maybe someone will hear it and have information. 

But he makes her nervous. He's asking questions about herself, her own past, her actions, her marriage and more. Isabelle begins to doubt herself on many fronts. 

Willingham slowly reveals Isabelle's past through a then and now timeline. There's lots of unexpected twists and turns in the past points of view that creep their way into the present. What is real? What truly happened? Willingham does a great job of building the tension of the book with each new uneasy interaction, revelation and unsettling memory. I love unreliable narrators and Isabelle is definitely one of those. It's fun reading to try and find the truth amongst the misdirection. If you love twists and turns like I do, you'll find some good ones here! I was easily caught up in All The Dangerous Things. And the ending? Completely did not see that coming. I appreciate being surprised!

Now, I chose to listen to All the Dangerous Things. The narrator is Karissa Vacker, an award winning reader I've enjoyed previously. She has a lovely, somewhat gravelly undertone to her voice that is really pleasant to. She speaks clearly and enunciates well. I am so impressed at the voices she uses for male characters. She flips back and forth between characters and you'd swear there was more than one reader presenting the book. She has captured Willingham's plotting and does an excellent job of capturing the emotions and action. Hear for yourself -listen to an audio excerpt of All the Dangerous Things.

The Overnight Guest - Heather Gudenkauf

There was a foot of snow around my house as I settled in to listen to Heather Gudenkauf's new book, The Overnight Guest. Which was quite fitting!

Wylie Lark writes true crime books. She's penning her latest in a house that was the scene of two murders. A snow storm knocks out the power. (Always a great setting, 'cause you just know the protagonist is cut off and on their own...) When Wylie looks out the window, she sees a child facedown in the snow....

Well, that's just one of three threads in The Overnight Guest. The second is from the past and told through the eyes of a teenager. And the third? A mother and child - and something is just 'off' in their home. Each thread caught my interest and sparked my curiosity. How and what was going to tie these three seemingly disparate plot lines together? I really enjoy this style of storytelling. Switching between those three stories kept me up late listening to 'just one chapter.'

Gudenkauf did a great job building the tension in each of those three threads. There's danger and darkness in every scenario. As the book progressed, I began to put the pieces together.  Gudenkauf's plotting is clever and well delivered. This was a first listen of Gudenkauf for me and I would happily pick up her next book.

I chose to listen to The Overnight Guest. The reader was Audie award winning Brittany Pressley, who I've enjoyed in the past. She has a very pleasant voice, easy to understand and clearly enunciated. She has a rich undertone to her voice. There's lots of movement to her voice and her reading draws the listener in. She interprets Gudenkauf's work very well, capturing and presenting the action and tension. She provides different voices for all the characters, male, female and child, all suited and believable. An excellent performance. Hear for yourself - listen to an excerpt of The Overnight Guest.

A Conspiracy of Bones - Kathy Reichs

Kathy Reichs has just released A Conspiracy of Bones - the 19th entry in her long running Temperance Brennan series.

I was a few books behind but it was easy to catch up in the opening chapter. A quick recap of what's going on in Tempe's life had me up to speed - and ready to see what was next in store for this forensic anthropologist. A lot, as it turns out....

An unidentified corpse missing many parts - but has Tempe's phone number in his pocket, a new boss who despises Tempe (the feeling is mutual), missing children, conspiracists and their theories, the dark web and more. And on top of it all, she's been diagnosed with a brain aneurysm.

The book starts out strong and I was caught up from the opening pages. And it only gets better as it progresses. Honestly, there was no way to predict where the plot was going to go. I actually stopped listening at one point to go online and see if some of the plot devices actually happened. Frighteningly, the answer was yes - MKUltra is a fact. Each new piece of evidence and every revelation only intrigued me more. And just when I thought I had the ending figured out - there were three or four additional chapters that changed the outcome I had predicted. I really enjoy being surprised.

I've always liked Tempe as a character. She comes across as believable. Love interest Ryan makes an appearance as well - another long running character and relationship that adds another layer to the books. I also like Tempe's mom - her bawdy one liners make me laugh and I picked up some computer knowledge from her explanations. But the supporting player I really like is ex-homicide investigator Skinny Slidell. He's irreverent, loud and a bit obnoxious. But he's a dogged investigator and he and Tempe make a formidable team. He too has some great lines.

As I mentioned, I chose to listen to A Conspiracy of Bones. Having read physical copies of the previous books, I noticed a big difference. I really, really enjoyed the audio version! The reader was Linda Emond and she was fantastic. She has a very versatile voice. Her voice has movement, rising and falling as she narrates. I've never watched the television show Bones, so I didn't have a preconceived notion of what Tempe's voice should sound like. Emond's voice was perfect and will for me always be the voice of Tempe. (I hope she reads forthcoming books) The voice for Slidell was spot on as well - loud, with a down home accent that was just right. When they're talking, you could believe there are two people speaking. She did a good job with Ryan's French accent as well. I found by listening to this one, I took in more. I heard the humor in Reich's writing. Yes, there are lots of funny lines in such a 'deadly' book. Her voice is pleasant to listen to and easy to understand. And as I always say, I feel more drawn in to a tale when I listen. See for yourself - here's an audio excerpt for you.

PS - make sure you listen to the author's notes at the end!

Emergency Contact - Mary H. K. Choi

Summer seems to be the time that I enjoy YA fiction the most. I'm not sure why - lighter reading or maybe I'm just trying to relive those younger years!

Whatever the reason, Emergency Contact by Mary H. K. Choi was great summer listening.

Penny has finished high school (a relief) and is headed to university (lots of worry, but also a relief to escape her mother and start the next chapter) Sam works at a local cafe, sleeps upstairs on the floor and is stuck in his own pit of angst and despair. He wants more, but is having trouble climbing out and getting started again.

Now, you can see it coming, can't you? Yes, the two meet and.....well it's inevitable right? But of course there's a rocky road to the final pages. Lots of yes, no, maybe so. Along the way, Choi's story explores race, relationships (friends and parental), love and self awareness and exploration. Stepping outside your comfort zone and taking a chance.

Choi does 'amplify' her situations and her characters. They're a bit over the top, but I just went with it as I was looking for entertainment, not necessarily to the letter reality.

Emergency Contact was read by two narrators -  Joy Osmanski and Jacques Roy - both favourites of mine. Osmanski's voice fit the mental image I had created for Penny. It's smart and sassy, but still conveys her worry. Roy's voice for Sam is low, quiet and dare I say it - sexy. Both are easy to listen to, clear and well enunciated. Listen to an excerpt of Emergency Contact.

Emergency Contact was fun, fresh and yes, entertaining for this listener. Listen to an excerpt of Emergency Contact.