These Things Hidden

By: Heather Gudenkauf

Narrated by: Ali Ahn, Angela Lin, Angela Goethals

Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Author Heather Gudenkauf won instant acclaim for her USA Today and New York Times best-selling debut, The Weight of Silence.

Once the golden child of tiny Linden Falls, Iowa, Allison Glenn watches her reputation crumble as she is sent to prison for five years—convicted of a terrible crime. But what really happened that fateful night? Allison’s younger sister is the only other person who knows the truth. Now out of prison, Allison is more desperate than ever to set the record straight, but the revelation of the truth could have far-reaching consequences.

©2011 Heather Gudenkauf (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC

Jumbled, only comes together at end

This continually lost my interest, and it was only sheer endurance that made me listen until the end. It begins with several different readers telling several seemingly unrelated stories...very confusing. It came off as very disjointed and uninteresting, until the end when it quickly pulled it all together. It felt as though I were being intentionally mislead until the rabbit was pulled out of the hat--and the various versions just didn't have enough depth. I would not listen to something from this author again--too much work.

Subpar narration, story is enjoyable enough

How could the performance have been better?

Yes. Especially the reader of the Claire/Charm parts. It sounded like she had a stuffed nose and the "S"s hurt my ears. Narration was overall subpar, I feel like the emotions were wrong at times, inconsistent, and the voices do not match some of the characters.

Any additional comments?

I thought this audible was overall an enjoyable listen. Despite the mixed reviews, I thought it was worth the price on sale. It won't keep you at the edge of your seat but it will keep your interest enough to want to keep listening. One of the worst performances as far narration goes, though.

Engrossing and suspenseful

Heather Gudenkauf's books are always filled with such wonderful character development. And this title doesn't disappoint. The performances of the readers helped to really draw you in and make it hard to put down.

Excellent!

This is the third book by this author that I have read and I absolutely love her work. This book is fantastic, highly recommend.

voices didnt match characters

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I enjoyed this book although it was not a so called suspense. Kristen Hannah fans would love it. But the audible readers didn't seem to match the characters. i was very disappointed and i listen to lots of audiobooks and am a huge fan.

Just really good!

3 words: gripping, surprising, painful

Favorite character: I spent a lot of the book with anger toward Allison. I think Charm and Gus were my favorite set of characters.

The first few chapters in this book had my eyes glazing over at times. I thought it was quite boring, but knew it was probably setting the stage. Which it was. Then it went from boring to gut wrenching, almost disturbing at a certain point and then I was hooked.

I thought the narrators did a great job. Although Josh's voice can be painfully annoying at times and that's why I gave 4 stars and not 5. But I think all baby talk is annoying so it could be more to do with that than the narrator.

Maybe a SPOILER*** About halfway through the book you get an important clue to the surprise ending. But by the time the story unravels it's not all that surprising.

Scene I could have done without: SPOILER- *** Robbery scene - I felt it was unnecessary and sort of random.

I also felt the character Devin was unnecessary and there was too much time spent on her in the beginning of the book, lending to the boredom. But, on the contrary, I thought the Rhianne character was great and made an entrance to the story with perfect timing, solidifying my admiration of Charm.

Premise ruined the experience

The book starts out reasonably well. The narrators do a pretty good job although the woman who voiced Claire and Charm overdid it - too much "drama" in her voice. People don't talk like that.

Here's what gets this book 3 stars - SPOILER ALERT - we are asked to believe that whoever passed for Social Services in this small town placed a foundling infant who had been left in a fire station at the age of 1 month with a couple who become readily identifiable to every single person involved in the existence of that child. Apparently, in this small town, privacy laws don't exist.

But that wasn't quite good enough to ensure lives enmesh. When the child's mother returns from prison where she has served 5 years for drowning the child's twin sister, she *just happens* to get a job in the adoptive mother's bookstore - not the diner across the street or the nearby drug store but in the actual bookstore - where she, of course, instantly recognizes her son because he looks exactly like his father.

The premise ruined the experience for me. It was a cheap plot devise.

This book is amazing!

Well done in all aspects. This story twists and turns and keeps you turning pages.

Better than I thought it would be

What made the experience of listening to These Things Hidden the most enjoyable?

I really enjoyed this book and was pleasantly surprised. I had picked this book at random, so to speak, in kind of a hurry. The story is excellent and the performance was very good. I thought the voices a bit contrived when the person was playing the role of the opposite gender, but I guess I could not do better.so what do I have to complain about, right?

The twist near the end was good and totally unexpected, nicely written.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

I liked that there was a certain amount of emotion that gave the story richness.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It gave me thought for several days after finishing it.

Good story

I liked the plot lines and how the author wove them into the ending. Confusing at times.