Behind the Mic With Kirkus Reviews

Danielle Vitalis delivers a stunning performance in this family drama set in London that will have listeners hanging on every word. AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester tells host Jo Reed about Vitalis’s excellent performance of Candice Carty-Williams’s sophomore novel. Cyril Pennington’s five children barely know each other, but when Dimple seems to have accidentally killed her boyfriend in self defense...

Cassandra Campbell’s melodious tone and deliberately paced delivery seem created for the figurative language and poetic lilt of this audiobook. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff talk about catching up with Frances Mayes, who first delighted readers with her tales of making a home in Italy in UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN. Mayes’s memories range from her southern roots to her passion for restoratio...

Narrator Edoardo Ballerini immerses listeners in a lost world with André Aciman’s 1996 memoir. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss how Ballerini brings this memoir of Aciman’s boyhood to life. The author longs for his home in cosmopolitan Alexandria, Egypt, and Ballerini masterfully portrays the characters, especially his quirky grandmothers, and ensures the other members of his liv...

This audiobook read by the author and eleven other narrators offer a cornucopia of T.C. Boyle’s vivid imaginings. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss the stories in the collection, including dark fantasies and a haunting story of a couple quarantining on a luxury cruise ship in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Boyle’s poignant stories and the skilled narrations create a sati...

British actor and narrator George Weightman gives Tom Bradby’s tale of espionage the gravitas and polish it deserves. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss the thriller set in 1953 Iran, poised on the CIA backed overthrow of Mossadegh by the Shah’s henchmen, with flashbacks to pre-WWII Germany and post-war England and Yugoslavia. Harry Tower, the anti-hero of the novel, has to travel...

Gabra Zackman’s intelligent performance of Annie Proulx’s eloquent nonfiction audiobook encourages listeners to absorb its powerful message. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss this audiobook that blends memoir, speculation, and a warning about impacts on the environment. Listeners learn much from Proulx’s longtime focus on the wetter world. Her prose sparkles and is enlivened by st...

Narrator Cyrina Fiallo shines as the voice of the brave little witch Seven Salazar in Claribel A. Ortega’s charming children’s fantasy. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly talk about this adventurous series opener full of bravery and magic for kids. Turning 12 makes Seven Salazar eligible to join a coven during her town’s Black Moon Ceremony, but she’s shocked when she isn’t sorted into on...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss Kelly Robson’s fantastical take on Brexit. Narrator Amy Scanlon’s British intonations and wry tone suit the delightfully charming, lazy, and witty scribe Lana Baker, who finds herself stuck among the fairies and monotony of life in the Low Parliament. There she’s made to transcribe endless angry debates that inevitably end up in hung votes—despit...

Narrators Michael Gallagher and Rachanee Lumayno bring life to a whimsical fantasy romance between a demigod zombie-hunting marshal and the beautiful undertaker who infuriates him. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss an audiobook full of alarming magic that also makes for excellent cozy listening. Lumayno’s compassionate narration of Mercy helps listeners understand her growing app...

Narrator Dara Rosenberg gives a magnificent performance of this hilarious and heartwarming rom-com. Host Jo Reed and and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly talk about Jean Meltzer’s romance set during the whirlwind months from the High Holidays all the way to Hanukkah. Dara Rabinowitz, a 30-something developer of a Jewish matchmaking app, appears on a television show hosted by her favorite anchor, Christo...

Narrator Robert Petkoff clearly enjoys himself in recounting the insightful and humorous misadventures of hapless gay minor novelist Arthur Less, first encountered in Andrew Sean Greer’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, LESS. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly talk about the fun of getting back on the road with Arthur, this time traveling across the United States on a literary tour to earn d...

Versatile narrators convey interwoven characters’ perspectives in Tiffany D. Jackson’s YA retelling of CARRIE, made more horrific by its themes of racism. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this story of a biracial teen, Maddy, who has been forced by her father to hide her identity. Karen Malina White narrates her perspective with full angry verve as she is bullied at school—and her...

Paul Tremblay’s psychological thriller gives its narrators the perfect opportunity to exercise their considerable dramatic skills. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this horror story that opens in 1980s New England. Graham Halstead portrays Art Barbara, founder of the Pallbearers Club, while his sultry friend Mercy is portrayed by Xe Sands. Mercy’s creepy penchant for taking photos...

Robert Petkoff is especially effective narrating Paul Pringle’s scathing takedown of the Los Angeles Times and the University of Southern California. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this investigation into the overdose death of Sarah Warren, who was entangled with the Dean of the Keck School of Medicine, Carmen Puliafito. His own editors at the Times didn’t want him to run afoul...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss Jeannette McCurdy’s best-selling new memoir about her childhood acting and her abusive mother. McCurdy uses a dynamic voice for her mother’s parts and a flat one for much of her own dialogue. Known for her slapstick comedy on Nickelodeon, McCurdy shares her dark adolescence out of the limelight. Years after her mother’s death, she is now coming to...

Seth Numrich’s narration of this latest Stephen King novel is moving and frightening in equal measure. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this fantasy novel involving a portal to a dying world and a mission to save it. Seventeen-year-old Charlie Reade befriends a reclusive curmudgeon, Howard Bowdich, walking his dog and being a good neighbor. When Bowdich dies, Charlie inherits his...

Oglala Lakota and Mohawk actress Charley Flyte performs this supernatural mystery novel with the perfect balance of intrigue and suspense. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s contributor Kendra Winchester discuss author Ramona Emerson’s debut novel that makes for perfect creepy fall listening. Rita Todacheene is one of the best forensic photographers working for the Albuquerque police department. But she...

With its stellar ensemble of narrators, this surreal short story collection creates an immersive listening experience. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s contributor Kendra Winchester discuss K-Ming Chang’s collection of short stories, narrated by Catherine Ho, Natalie Naudus, Elaine Wang, Nancy Wu, and Annie Q. The narrators make each story shine, performing works featuring a chorus of dead cousins, a...

From the audiobook’s opening line, Joniece Abbott-Pratt’s narration creates an immersive listening experience. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile contributor Kendra Winchester discuss this impressive debut novel from Leila Mottley. Abbott-Pratt perfectly embodies the first-person perspective of Kiara, a high school dropout living with her older brother. Their father is dead, and their mother is gone, so t...

E.R. Fightmaster’s performance is an example of the unique magic that happens when a great narrator is paired with the perfect book. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile contributor Kendra Winchester discuss Cory McCarthy’s young adult novel chronicling a nonbinary athlete’s coming of age. River McIntyre spends every spare moment practicing for the swim team as a means to escape their internal struggle with...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s new contributor Kendra Winchester discuss a story of survival in 7th-century Ireland by Emma Donoghue. Aidan Kelly’s performance expresses the complex emotional experiences of three monks who are seeking solitude on a deserted island. This historical fiction follows their story as they feel called by God to make a spiritual haven apart from the temptations of the world...

Narrator Edoardo Ballerini returns to perform the 22nd addition to the Gabriel Allon series. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss Daniel Silva’s newest mystery novel. Former Israeli spymaster Gabriel Allon is now retired in Venice, but when his friend needs his help, his newest escapade begins. Ballerini demonstrates his skill with multiple accents and languages, including Italian, a...

Gerard Doyle narrates this latest installment in the Slough House series as the group of screw-up spies attempt to prevent a scandal. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss Doyle’s narration of this 8th installment in Herron’s series. The disappearance of a think-tank specialist has MI5 racing to find her. Doyle’s narration matches Herron’s satirical spy thriller with aplomb. Ideal for...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss the fun of listening to Jason Culp narrating this tale of an unusual journey. Flatboats were once the most common craft on America’s rivers, but when Rinker Buck took his down the Monongahela, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans in 2016—as he recounts in this audiobook—it was an object of considerable curiosity. Culp narrates smoothly as B...

Janine Birkett’s captivating narration does justice to Ann Cleeves’s masterful storytelling in this latest installment of her Vera Stanhope mystery series. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss the surprises to be found in this series, much loved by readers and television viewers alike. Detective Inspector Stanhope and her team arrive at Northumberland’s Holy Island in response to an...