Behind the Mic With Kirkus Reviews

Soneela Nanknai’s talents are in full force in this monstrous and magical fantasy series. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss Roseanne A Brown’s thrilling sequel to SERWA BOATENG’S GUIDE TO VAMPIRE HUNTING. Serwa has discovered a shocking secret—she’s an obayifo, a vampire witch, just like those she’s spent her life training to fight. Nankani’s dynamic voice and boundless energy ma...

André Santana and Meg Sylvan narrate this friends-to-lovers romance with compassion and full-hearted emotion. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss this story of two lonely people finding friendship and love where they least expect it. Santana’s thoughtful narration gives us insights into former firefighter Jesse’s anxiety and warm heart. Lulu’s a history professor living in her pare...

Bahni Turpin narrates Saara El-Arifi’s high fantasy tale that’s laced with romance and danger. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly dive into the story of Black elves, fae, and magic. After banishment by their chieftain, elven sisters Yeeran and Lettle wind up prisoners in fae lands and must adapt if they hope to survive. Turpin portrays Yeeran as a battle-hardened warrior, proud and energe...

Narrator Avi Roque conveys all the creeping horror of T. Kingfisher’s sequel to WHAT MOVES THE DEAD. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss Roque’s skilled narration of this fantastical horror story. Alex Easton, a retired soldier, travels to their family’s hunting lodge in their damp and unwelcoming home country, Gallacia. Alex discovers the lodge cold and empty and learns that the c...

Natalie Naudus narrates a spirited romance loosely inspired by the classic screwball comedy “Bringing Up Baby.” Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly talk about this fun romance by Opal Wei that’s centered around two chaotic characters. Zoey Fong’s always lived her life guided by The Plan . . . until she meets Davy Hsieh and he upends almost every aspect of it. Naudus’s portrayal of Zoey hig...

We’ve been celebrating the 2024 Audie Awards all week long on Behind the Mic. Today we’re wrapping up our coverage by highlighting our episode about this year’s Best Mystery Audiobook winner, VERA WONG’S UNSOLICITED ADVICE FOR MURDERERS, written by Jesse Q. Sutanto and read by Eunice Wong. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb have a discussion about how Wong’s brisk performance makes this fun...

AudioFile is celebrating the 2024 Audie Awards all this week, and today we’re featuring this year’s winner in the Narration by the Author category: NPR anchor Mary Louise Kelly for her memoir IT. GOES. SO. FAST: A Year of No Do-Overs. Listen in as host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss Kelly’s captivating narration of her book about the challenging life of a working parent. Read the ful...

We’re celebrating the 2024 Audie Awards all this week. Today we’re honoring the winner of the inaugural Best Non-Fiction Narrator award, Golden Voice Dion Graham for KING: A LIFE, by Jonathan Eig. In fact, Dion narrated a whopping three finalists in this category! On today’s episode, we’re sharing a discussion between host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff about this moving biography of Dr. Ma...

AudioFile Magazine is celebrating the 2024 Audie Awards all this week. Today’s episode is all about this year’s Audiobook of the Year award winner — SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story, written and read by Bono. Listen in on an earlier episode with host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discussing this memoir that blends Bono’s words with singing, music, and sound effects to make for a fascinating l...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb get together to talk all things Audie Awards! This year the Audies are in L.A. and will be celebrated with an in-person gala event, and with a livestream that audiobook lovers can watch from the comfort of their home. Listen in as Jo and Michele discuss some of the changes to the Audies this year and give their insights into the new Best Non-Fiction Narrat...

The sure touch of Golden Voice narrator Julia Whelan transforms Kristen Hannah’s absorbing novel about Vietnam War combat nurses into an addictive listen. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss this intimate portrait and sprawling account of a searing time. The story focuses on 20-year-old Frances McGrath, who, in 1965, impetuously chooses the Army Nurse Corps over cotillions and marri...

Narrator Rachel Atkins is a gift. Her performance of Lucy Dawson’s suspenseful psychological thriller will seep into listeners’ consciousness. AudioFile’s Robin Whitten tells host Jo Reed about this listen that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Atkins’s talents are showcased immediately in the opening scene in which the protagonist, Jude, stands in a courtroom, awaiting the jury’s decision about...

Karissa Vacker and Hillary Huber deliver excellent performances in this gripping audiobook. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss an audiobook that evokes themes of empowerment, personal growth, and discovery. The story, set in the Adirondacks, depicts emotional insights and decades-spanning intrigue. Vacker voices failed screenwriter Rowan, who discovers a mysterious handbook that ma...

Dion Graham narrates this biography of playwright and poet August Wilson. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss how Graham excels at performing both as storyteller and actor, for this biography contains not only narrative but also passages from some of his plays. His rich voice carries the biography along nicely, but it is when he recites lines from plays such as FENCES and quotations...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss Andy Ingalls’s narration of a literary detective novel. Ingalls delivers all the nuances of a full cast in Spufford’s story set in an alternate universe. In an authoritative tone, Ingalls brings to life Cahokia, located on the banks of the Mississippi. In the novel, this ancient Indigenous society lives on in the 1920s, seeming to flourish in its...

Janice Hallett’s marvelous tale unfolds through a series of emails complete with verbal emojis— a narrator’s challenge. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this mystery about an investigation of a cult—the Alperton Angels. Kristin Atherton gives a smackdown performance as journalist and true-crime author Amanda Bailey. The narrators all help build up the tension at the heart of this...

Robert Fass captures the natural interplay between a father and son during an emotional struggle for survival. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss Michael O’Donnell’s story of a mountain excursion in New Hampshire. Eight-year-old Tim and his father, Doug, are reeling from the recent death of Tim's mother. News of an unidentified national catastrophe forces the two hikers to seek refu...

An ensemble of wildly talented narrators elevates Daniel Sweren-Becker’s fictional true-crime case, told through first-person interviews. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss a full-cast narration that takes the listener on a rollercoaster ride. The narrators infuse a generous amount of personality and empathy into their portrayals of the community, media, and family involved in the t...

Listeners will be convinced there’s a full cast delivering this fast-paced thriller from Ashley Elston. Yet it’s just one narrator, Saskia Maarleveld, who masterfully voices all of the characters. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss another thrilling mystery. Evie Porter has many names and personas she has adopted for her work for the mysterious Mr. Smith. The narrative goes back and...

Hannah Curtis, Sarah Cullum, and Christine Rendel, led by the incomparable Dan Stevens, skillfully deliver this extraordinary twisty novel. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb Discuss Matthew Blake’s new murder mystery. One night, Anna Ogilvy, a young wannabe writer, inexplicably stabs two people to death while sleepwalking. She hasn’t woken up since the crime. Now Anna’s psychiatrist, Ben,...

Sarah Lohman is an effective narrator of her thoughtful audiobook about vanishing foods. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss how Lohman narrates with a pointed reportorial style and measured cadence that suit her text. Lohman’s forays take her to the Salish Sea to work reef-caught salmon; to a Navajo reservation to help butcher the unique four-horned sheep called Churro; and to Ohio...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss how Manjula Martin delivers her “personal and pyronatural history” as if reading to a friend. She captures the complications of living in proximity to wildfires in Sonoma County, California, which was devastated by conflagrations in 2020. Her story is part memoir of illness and part accounting of living with massive wildfires and the pandemic. Lis...

Bianca Bosker narrates her witty audiobook—a remarkable experiential romp through the rarefied air of the contemporary art world—with pizzazz. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss how Bosker comes across as an authentic seeker and enthusiastic learner as she participates in performance art, stretches canvases, hangs out with gallerists and painters, sells art at a posh art fair, and...

Vaneh Assadourian delivers this novel about a dysfunctional Armenian American family in a knowing style and understanding tone. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss Aida Zilelian’s novel of three daughters and their struggles. Kohar, the eldest, had trouble with fertility; Lucine’s husband takes her money and disappears; and Azad, the youngest, seems lost and incapable of relationshi...

Lincoln Hoppe demonstrates his skill with a stellar narration of Andrew J. Graff’s immersive novel. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss Hoppe’s ability to subtly shift in tone and tempo from character to character, making this audiobook stand out. In a work with some high-adrenaline white water scenes, Hoppe controls the most intense action. Set in northern Wisconsin in the fictiona...