Behind the Mic With Kirkus Reviews

Fairuza Balk’s talented narration will draw listeners into this retelling of a mysterious Tyrolean folktale. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss the rich sound effects and music that bring Jon Klassen’s tale to life. Balk captures the youth and curiosity of Otilla, a young girl fleeing into the forest who discovers a mysterious home inhabited by a skull. Balk renders Otilla and the...

Nina Yndis narrates a bewitching short story about a girl, Judith, who longs for adventure and romance in her quiet life. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss this atmospheric tale from Silvia Moreno-Garcia that reads like an enchanting—and slightly sinister—fairy tale. Judith dreams of the world beyond her small village, and resents her lot working for her beautiful and cruel older...

Four talented narrators voice a compelling story of teenagers finding community and struggling with loss over a tumultuous week in their small Canadian town. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss Jen Ferguson’s skilled writing, creating a window into the lives of four teens who all worked at the Pink Mountain Pizza parlor, and were impacted by the ongoing missing and murdered Indigen...

Steve West gives a lively performance of this romantic fantasy audiobook, voicing each mortal, immortal, and undead character with the humor, sarcasm, and sinister whispers required. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss the fun of diving into this fantasy world from Olivie Blake. Fox D’Mora is a bit of a rake posing as a medium, though as the godson of Death he has an unusual connec...

Five talented narrators join forces to deliver a nuanced performance of Jhumpa Lahiri’s new collection of short stories. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss this collection written originally in Italian, the author’s third language, and translated into English. The contemplative and elegant stories revolve around outsiders drawn to the City of Light. The mix of voices - Indian subc...

Mike Ortego artfully performs Gay Talese’s polished sentences and captures the flavor of his urbane worldview with a writerly tone. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss Talese’s audiobook focused on three of his works. He returns listeners to the sights and sounds of his most famous piece of creative nonfiction, “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold,” entertaining listeners with the backstory. T...

Lauren Fortgang performs Julia Taranto’s clever satirical novel with a quick pulse and snappy cadence. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss how Fortgang gets the tone just right for the story’s protagonist, a self-referential narrator with a sense of the absurdity of her situation and plight. A brilliant scientist, Helen follows her mentor to a research university set on an imaginary...

Gisela Chípe, Vas Eli, and Arthur Morey enrich these tilt-a-whirl stories from Steven Millhauser. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss this Earphones Award-winning audiobook full of a remarkable variety of imaginary worlds. Three different yet all very convincing narrators voice simple characters whose lives become fantastically disrupted. Mischief, restrained malevolence, and twisty...

Shaun Taylor-Corbett performs Brendan Shay Basham’s immersive audiobook in a restrained style. Magical realism colors this fine debut novel. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss how Taylor-Corbett shifts his tone to reflect the various characters and authentically delivers the Diné language in the text. He inhabits the soul of Damien, who has just lost his younger brother, and seeks...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss Richard Russo’s newest book, given a very fine narration by Mark Bramhall. Russo is at his storytelling best here, returning to the North Bath community of NOBODY’S FOOL and EVERYBODY'S FOOL. A broad array of characters interacts credibly thanks to Bramhall’s strong performance. As Peter Sullivan mulls over his relationship with his estranged son,...

Vaneh Assadourian and Gail Shalan perform the intimate coming-of-age story of a woman in her thirties. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss the story of Yara, a 30-something daughter of Palestinian immigrants who has it all—but who still feels burnt out and wishes for more. After an incident at her job, she starts seeing a therapist, begins to confront the trauma of her past, and...

Eunice Wong performs this immersive tale of an Asian American chef during an apocalyptic event in Earth’s near future. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss how Wong captures the chef’s strong narrative voice. The unnamed narrator is unable to return to America after smog covers the globe, blocking sunlight and killing most of Earth’s plants and animals. To escape impending disast...

Shannon Tyo, Sean Patrick Hopkins, and Thomas Pruyn perform this riveting story that begs the question, how well do we truly know the members of our family? Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss a story Kendra calls one of the best of 2023. Twenty-year-old Mia and her twin brother are home from college during the pandemic. Their father goes missing while at the park with their you...

Zadie Smith expertly performs her historical novel inspired by true events. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss this story set in 1873, when Mrs. Eliza Touchet, a Scottish housekeeper, is watching the trial of a working-class Australian man who claims to be the true inheritor of a great estate and title. Listeners explore Mrs Touchet’s past and get the perspective on an enslaved...

Michelle Sekine performs this debut short story collection by Native Hawaiian and Japanese American author Megan Kamalei Kakimoto. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss how the collection celebrates what it means to be Kānaka Maoli, in all of its complexities and contradictions. Each story examines the life of a different woman or girl as they try to make their way in the world. S...

Gerard Doyle performs this stand-alone dispatch from Mick Herron’s cynical “spook street” world with such dry resignation that it is often laugh-out-loud funny, or would be if it weren’t so believable. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss how perfectly Doyle narrates this series, laconic at just the right points while also slyly building tension. His vocal control is masterly, and hi...

Golden Voice narrator Rupert Degas takes listeners to Sydney, Australia, where Elaina Williams and yoga student Ric Peters are shocked to find a student dead after class. Degas’s spirited Elaina and ingenious Ric delightfully play off each other—the most fun arises from their zany disguises as they try to learn whether the student died of natural causes. Audio is ideal since conversations and evoc...

Narrator David Rintoul returns in another charming trip to Alexander McCall Smith’s Department of Sensitive Crimes. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss this tongue-in-cheek take on the dour Scandi noir genre, with Detective Ulf Varg investigating the missing cabin of a bacon magnate while negotiating trouble at work. Rintoul strikes the perfect balance between seriousness and satire...

Robert Petkoff is the perfect narrator for Dwyer Murphy’s quirky heist novel. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss this New England noir crime novel with an engaging narration. Jack Betancourt is a people mover — when questionable people need to disappear, Jack is their go-to guy. When his ex-girlfriend returns to Jack’s tiny beach town with a plan for a heist, things do not go accor...

George Guidall once again enchants listeners with his performance in this 19th audiobook in Craig Johnson’s Longmire series. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss this new title that dives back into a 70-year-old crime involving Longmire’s grandfather. Guidall’s rich, weathered tones continue to be the perfect match for the series characters. Listeners learn more about Longmire’s fami...

Tiago Forte reads his updated 2022 book on digital organizing with a laid-back and inviting narrating style. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this organization system that uses four categories to define your files: Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archives, that works with any digital platform. It is a brief and easy to follow title written to help listeners achieve more of what is...

Stand-up comic Maria Bamford shows her sense of timing, audience, and humor as she narrates her memoir. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss Bamford’s audiobook that takes listeners all through her life, dealing with mental health, eating disorders, and more, following a nonlinear structure. While pondering bouts of mental illness and her need to belong, Bamford continually takes deto...

Writer R. Eric Thomas’s second essay collection is just as funny and exuberant as his debut—and if possible, even more nuanced and moving. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss Thomas’s fun and heartfelt narration of his collection that’s laugh-out-loud funny but real enough to make you cry. Writing about the complicated emotions that arise when he moves back to his hometown, the beaut...

Kerry Washington’s heartfelt memoir takes listeners from her childhood in the Bronx through her award-winning acting career. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss an audiobook narrated by the author with ferociousness and emotional intelligence. Washington recounts her extraordinary life as an actor, an activist who aims to break down barriers, and a devoted daughter, mentor, director,...

Narrator Kirby Heyborne embodies the gruesomeness, terror, and beauty in Daniel Kraus’s novel. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss the story of a scuba dive that goes horribly wrong. Teenage scuba diver Jay is consumed by guilt as he seeks to find the remains of his father, who died by suicide, in the Pacific Ocean. As Jay searches the ocean’s depths, he’s swallowed by a sperm whale....