Behind the Mic With Kirkus Reviews

Elisabet Velasquez narrates her debut novel-in-verse for teen listeners with vividness, honesty, and poignancy born of her life experience and performance expertise. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this captivating audiobook told in short, powerful, and energetic vignettes. Like her heroine, Sarai, Puerto Rican American Velasquez grew up in Bushwick and knows what it’s like to be...

Author and narrator Qian Julie Wang captivates listeners with this poignant and powerful memoir. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this Civil Rights Attorney's story that absolutely should be heard in the author’s own voice. Wang vividly describes living with her family in poverty and fear in New York City as undocumented immigrants from China. While often heartbreaking, Wang’s wri...

Narrator Aoife McMahon’s voice makes the conflicts of Irish millennials beautiful in Sally Rooney’s messy world. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this tableau of friends—Eileen, Alice, Felix, and Simon—who are wrestling with relationships, mental health, politics, and the purpose of life. McMahon’s musical Irish voice enhances the story, and she brings a flair for storytelling and...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss the joy of hearing GOOD OMENS once more in a full-cast, unabridged production! Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s fan favorite comes to life with this new recording. Rebecca Front’s narration perfectly matches the wry, dry, very British humor. A star-studded cast chimes in with character dialogue—including Michael Sheen and David Tennant reprising...

Frankie Corzo narrates Donna Barba Higuera’s sci-fi thriller with the perfect combination of gusto and tenderness. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly talk about the upper-middle-grade listen that takes you off into space with Petra—after Earth has been destroyed. Petra’s family is supposed to be crossing the universe to a new life on a recently discovered planet, Sagan, but when she wakes...

Dion Graham makes every audiobook he narrates into a special event, and his charisma just overflows in this one about Ant, a 10-year-old boy from South Carolina. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss Varian Johnson’s newest middle-grade audiobook about Ant’s obsession with winning the community’s spades tournament—and getting his father’s hard-won approval despite changes at home. Wh...

Moira Quirk brings an easy charm to a queer Regency romance between bluestocking Philippa York and rakish master of disguise Thomasina “Tommy” Wynchester. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly talk about the fun of listening to Moira animate all the many characters in this audiobook, including the clever women of Philippa’s beloved reading circle and Tommy’s remarkable family. Tommy always s...

Adjoa Andoh’s masterful narration channels the power running throughout Lauren Groff’s latest. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss the National Book Award Finalist novel about Marie de France, half sister of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, who is sent to a decrepit, far-flung abbey in England. Andoh allows listeners to fully experience the nuns’ rich personalities, using an impressive...

Author Morris Gleitzman returns to narrate a well-paced, heartfelt final adventure featuring Felix Salinger in the seventh installment of his series spanning WWII to the present day. AudioFile’s Robin Whitten tells host Jo Reed about the thrill of hearing Gleitzman narrate the work. Wassim, a biracial 10-year-old boy living with his uncle in Eastern Europe, turns to Felix, now in his 80s, for help...

Andrew Haswell Green’s life and death lingered in obscurity until it was revived through this fascinating audiobook. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss Graham Halstead’s smooth narration that makes the story come alive. Green’s murder was the tragic ending to the life of a key architect of Central Park, the New York Public Library, and more. His shooting was never solved, but Jonat...

Entertainment icon Eartha Kitt’s daughter, Kitt Shapiro, offers a stirring and nuanced memoir of her mother and herself. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss narrator Karen Chilton’s performance that is evocative, moving, and makes listeners believe in the connection between mother and daughter. Eartha insisted that her daughter travel with her wherever she performed, so Kitt went ev...

Scott Brick returns to perform the justice-seeking, iron-man Jack Reacher. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss this latest that will appeal to the authors’ many fans. Brick’s voicing of Reacher brings listeners right into Jack’s thoughts as he makes his way to the West Coast and gets distracted on the Arizona-Mexico border by an ex-Army woman looking to rescue her brother. Brick rat...

Stig Wemyss’s outstanding narration, accompanied by awesome sound effects and ambient music, animates the zany antics in this tenth audiobook of the beloved Australian series by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss the fun of listening to this imaginative performance. Treehouse residents Andy and Terry and their friend, Jill, introduce listeners to th...

Marin Ireland and Simon Jones sparkle as they narrate this immersive time-travel novel from Anthony Doerr. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss the story presented with five interlocking plots from the fall of Constantinople to present day Idaho, and into the future. Marin Ireland narrates the majority of the audiobook and is splendid with a multitude of accents, while Simon Jones br...

Stanley Tucci narrates his moving, funny, heartwarming, and gut-wrenching audiobook with vigor and style. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss Tucci’s skills as a performer. Listeners who are looking for mouthwatering stories about food will not be disappointed. Delightful pastas, sauces, and signature cocktail recipes are shared. But he also delves into the story of his family, and...

Stacey Glemboski performs T.C. Boyle’s unique audiobook about the power of human love for an animal with a convincing style and unswerving fairness. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss Glemboski’s skill at bringing an unusual story to life, centered around a love triangle between a researcher, an assistant, and Sam the chimp, who has learned to communicate with sign language. Read t...

Narrator Frankie Corzo’s lovely smooth voice eloquently depicts the mostly female characters in María Amparo Escandón’s novel. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss her skill with the high drama, emotional undertow, and cultural complexity of the story set in 2016. It is centered on the inner lives of the Alvarados, a disintegrating Mexican American family in fictional Rancho Verde, w...

Narrator John Lee delivers a well-constructed, ably paced, and stylish performance of John Banville’s elegantly written mystery. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss Lee’s Irish intonations that help bring the characters to life. Lee’s portrayal of the garrulous pathologist, Quirke, sets the tone. Quirke and his Austrian wife are vacationing in San Sebastian, Spain, when he sees a wo...

In today’s bonus edition of Behind the Mic, host Jo Reed interviews renowned actor Alfred Molina. He’s a chameleon, with amazing versatility in the characters he plays on stage, on film and television, and in the recording booth. Jo and Molina discuss his work on audiobooks, including the new full-cast audio adaptation of Agatha Christie’s THE MURDER ON THE LINKS. Listen in to hear about Molina’s...

Narrator Gisela Chípe successfully juggles the many characters and subplots in Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s exciting mystery set in 1970s Mexico. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Sandi Henschel discuss the fun of listening to this mystery from the author of the bestselling MEXICAN GOTHIC. The story focuses on Maite, a lonely secretary with an active imagination, and Elvis, a conflicted enforcer for a group...

An ensemble of talented narrators enhances the humanity of the family members in Harriet Kline’s beautifully conceived novel. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Sandi Henschel discuss the emotional story of a family deeply affected by the terminal illness and death of a loved one. After Rich is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, the shock reverberates throughout the lives of his family, exploring...

Narrator Adam Grupper is impressive as he portrays writer-director James Lapine in this audiobook that is part oral history, part memoir, and part description of the making of a musical. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Sandi Henschel discuss this tale of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Tony Award-winning SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. Alyssa Bresnahan, Eva Kaminsky, T. Ryder Smith, and Graham Wi...

Mira Dovreni’s narration of Claire Heywood’s reimagining of the Trojan War from the points of view of Klytemnestra and her sister, Helen, will enthrall lovers of mythology. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Sandi Henschel discuss Dovreni’s performance, including her excellent storytelling skills and Greek pronunciations. The novel’s focus is on women and their place in society rather than on the war. D...

Nothing is exactly what it seems in Louise Candlish’s expertly plotted mystery. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Sandi Henschel discuss Steven Mackintosh’s chilling performance. Jamie and Claire live well off Claire’s income, and due to extreme claustrophobia, Jamie commutes to work by boat. He begins a friendship of sorts with a fellow commuter and shen she disappears, Jamie is suddenly the focus of...

Narrator Sneha Mathan mesmerizes listeners with Shruti Swami’s coming-of-age novel set in 1960s and ’70s Bombay. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss the emotional tale of Vidya, a young girl whose mother has died by suicide and who is left to help her father and raise her brother. Longing for her absent mother, Vidya immerses herself into kathak, a rigorous traditional dance, through...