We Play Games by Sarah A. Denzil

We Play Games

Author: Sarah A. Denzil

Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Drama, Romance, Suspense

Narrator: Billie Piper, Dan Stevens, Shane Zaza, Avita Jay, Felicity Duncan, David Holt, Sarah Whitehouse

Audible length: 8 hours 41 minutes

3/5

An Audible original full of star-studded casts with promising story line but for some reason it just did not hit the right spot for me at the end. Effie and Ben are the perfect young couple, both rich and attractive with great career. They moved to a lovely neighbourhood and both were quickly accepted by their neighbours and their new community. Their neighbours, however, do not know about their little games and their dark secrets.

Effie and Ben quickly got to their usual scheme, planned their "games" and started the manipulation race competing against each other. Effie, played by Billie Piper, seduced a single dad neighbour, David, who on the outside appears to be wholesome but will quickly play an important role in her life. 

The story is narrated from multiple perspectives, mainly Effie, Ben, and David. Throughout the story, you will quickly symphatise with Effie, a famous social media star with a famous mother, with a complicated life. She is navigating her life, trying to escape the shackles of a tragedy that she still could not remember clearly, and trying to escape a controlling husband. Ben also has his own side of the story, dealing with his decisions that brought them both to this neighbourhood, his dark mind, and his need for control. David offers another point of view to the story, although it did not come clear until towards the end of the story. David also has his own agenda in this whole mess. 

One thing that is a bit different is how the different neighbours are portrayed very clearly, with distinct characteristics that each contributes narrative and nuance to the story. All the important characters are voiced by different narrators so it is quite easy to follow. The story is quite well paced, however the downside is that the twists and turns of the story seems to be a little bit predictable. Still, Sarah A. Denzil produced a story worth listening with We Play Games.

Get it on Audible from this link (not sponsored)

Husband & Wife by K. L. Slater

 Husband & Wife

Author: K. L. Slater

Genre: Drama, suspense, thriller

Narrator: Clare Corbett

Audible length: 9 hours 11 minutes

3/5

Parker and Luna look like a perfect couple from the outside. Parker is a hard worker who drives a fancy company car and Luna is beautiful social influencer coming from a rich family. They live in near the city with a beautiful boy, Barney. 

Parker's parents, Nicola and Cal, is the perfect working class grandparents. They love Parker, Luna, and their grandson beyond anything else. Luna's parents, Marie and Joe, are the archetypal rich parents who disapproved of Luna and Parker's relationships because they were not coming from the same society.

But was it all perfect? Luna and Parker had an agreement to keep a big secret, which derailed their already shaky marriage one day at a time. A car accident caused both Luna and Parker to end up in the hospital, badly hurt, having no control over the secret and how much of it would seeped out of their marriage.

Both mothers, Nicola and Marie, were very protective of their respective children and Barney. Nicola has a very strong moral compass and just cannot let go of things, no matter how little. It gets quite irritating at times but that only means how real the portrayal of Nicola is. Marie, however, is about the complete opposite at first glance. Towards the end you will find out that her motive is actually not the worst considering what happened in the past between Marie and Joe.

There is a twist at the end of the book that was not too easy to guess. However, the way K. L. Slater wrote Husband and Wife gives out that the twist will come from early on in the book. The narrative moves quite quickly but because the book is told from different characters' perspectives, some details are repeated. This helps if you read this between a few sessions, however, might get a little bit repetitive if you read quickly. 

All in all, I think Husband and Wife is definitely worth reading or listening if you are into thriller and suspense, especially one that highlight complicated family dynamics. The narrator, Clare Corbett, on Audible did a great job carrying the suspense through the story. She did not use different voices, but you can clearly tell which characters Clare Corbett is reading as, which I really appreciated when listening.

Get it on Amazon on this link or on Audible through this link this link (not sponsored)

The Housemaid by Frieda McFadden

 The Housemaid

Author: Frieda McFadden

Genre: Thriller, Suspense, Drama

Narrator: Lauryn Allman

Audible length: 9 hours 46 minutes

3.5/5

The Housemaid by Frieda McFadden is a mystery thriller book, part of three novel series started in 2022. The first book is told from a few different first person narrative, mainly from the two main female characters. Nina Winchester is a rich housewife who is well-known in the community as the wife of a famous and wealthy businessman, Andrew Winchester. She decided to employ a housemaid to take care of the household, Millie Calloway, a beautiful homeless young woman trying to rebuild her life

The book is quite enjoyable. I listened to it in about a week during the long drives that I had to do back in March. There is a lot of twists and turns, however it was quite easy to guess who the main villain character is in the story. Despite having the antagonist being quite easy to guess from about the first quarter of the book, it did not diminish the fact that The Housemaid is an interesting story that is engaging but still easy to consume. Frieda McFadden used a lot of everyday language that are easy to understand, which as a second language speaker in English, made The Housemaid easy to follow.

The first person narrations were pretty consistent throughout The Housemaid. It brings out the characteristics of Nina Winchester and Millie Calloway in a clear manner, making the story feels more personal. However, there were a few plot points that I think The Housemaid could have dug deeper into. One example would be the antagonist's backstory and motive, which seems to be a bit thin and could have been intertwined in the story more; maybe even giving that antagonist a first person voice. There are also some things that are just illogical, like the language barrier that exists even when Millie Calloway is armed with a smartphone (I think it was an iPhone) which is most definitely loaded with Google Translate, or the ability to surf the web and the internet to go to the web version of Google Translate.

All in all, if you want some easy reading with a lot of twists and turns that will grab your attention, Freida McFadden achieved that with The Housemaid.

Get the audiobook version on Audible or the physical version on Amazon (not sponsored)

Mr Mercedes by Stephen King

 Mr Mercedes

Author: Stephen King

Genre: Crime, Thriller, Mystery

Narrator: Will Patton

4.5/5

Mr Mercedes is a crime thriller novel by the world renowned writer, Stephen King. This book is a first of a trilogy and was published in 2014. There are references to sensitive topics, so just be aware before your start reading.

The book grabs you from start to finish. I listened to the audiobook in the span of a week and a half. I was so glad that I picked this book to start because I had some long drives to do in that week. 

Mr Mercedes was the perfect companion as you follow retired detective William "Bill" Hodges, also sometimes referred to as Kermit. Falling out of his daily rhythm, Bill Hodges contemplated an end to his existence, until something else from his past life came back to haunt him. A letter, personally addressed to him with details no one else but Bill Hodges would ever know, signed by Mr Mercedes himself. His last case is back taunting him.

Bill Hodges has to dust off his languishes and use his instincts again to outsmart Mr Mercedes, bring justice back to the people he did wrong in the past. He ended up teaming up with the two most unlikely side kicks, however they ended up bringing specific useful skills that Kermit Hodges lacks.

This is definitely a quality thriller book. There are many details and nuances that Stephen King peppered in the story that make the story a lot more gripping. The way Stephen King built up Mr Mercedes throughout the story was perfect, unveiling his characteristics and his motive throughout the story. He is quite a sophisticated criminal, a highly intelligent, tech-savvy, and unassuming member of the society. However, Mr Mercedes is young and green, so it is interesting to see how he navigates his interactions.

Bill Hodges as a character is also a great mix of your classic retired cop; grumpy but smart, but still has some unique qualities to him that makes you root for him and his team. The story moves in a great pace, albeit a little bit slow at the start, which is common in these types of books as it establishes context and background for the story. I was sort of expecting just a straight battle between the protagonist and the antagonist, but then again this is Stephen King. All the characters play a weighted importance that makes the story more cohesive and enjoyable to follow. The audiobook was also performed very well by Will Patton. He did different voices for different characters, but none of them sounded comical that you can still concentrate on the story.

If you are interested in crime thriller books, this is definitely a worthwhile read or listen. I will try and continue to read or listen to the following books in the series and review the same!

Buy the book on Amazon or listen to the audiobook on Audible (not sponsored)

Audiobook Review: The Call

 The Call 

by Christian White & Summer DeRoche

Audible Originals

Length: 3 hours 42 minutes

Genre: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery

Narrated by: Sibylla Budd

Set in a country town of Dunmore, The Call follows our two protagonists, Jackie and Pete King. Jackie and Pete are the kind of couple that you wish you could be; happily married but still very much in love with each other, love their children, have a positive outlook to live. They own and operate a bar in a small town, very much adored by their tight knit community.

You will feel their struggle as they navigate a financial difficulties and their nervousness when they receive the call that will change their lives forever. You will be taken through a journey as the couple navigate decision making process: do they let the business down and have the bank foreclose their property? Or do they choose they other option: taking part in something that is clearly breaking the law?

Some people say that the world is all about balance. No good news without bad news. Jackie and Pete would probably agree with this statement. The writers paint a clear picture of the journey the couple had to go through. Arguments and lies they had to tell, the moral conflicts as they navigate you the decision that they made, and how they need to weigh the importance of saving their finances or to come clean about their decisions.

The Call also paints a picture about small town living. It is very refreshing to have a tight knit community, one that knows everyone and one that comes together for each other when a disaster struck a member of the community. It is quite a stark from the normal city living that we all are more familiar with today. 

Christian White and Summer DeRoche created a twist that is quite unexpected. Placed in a strategic section of the audiobook, it will concludes the tension that you have building up as you listen. Lastly, Sibylla Budd gave quite a brilliant performance narrating the book. Her voice carefully encapsulates every emotion our characters are going through. 

No spoilers in this review so you will have to give it a listen to find out! It is definitely worth your 3 hours and 42 minutes.