The Gates of Evangeline

By: Hester Young

Narrated by: January LaVoy

Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

From a unique new talent comes a fast-paced debut, introducing a heroine whose dark visions bring to light secrets that will heal or destroy those around her...

When New York journalist and recently bereaved mother Charlotte “Charlie” Cates begins to experience vivid dreams about children in danger, she’s sure that she’s lost her mind. Yet these are not the nightmares of a grieving parent. They are warnings that will help Charlie and the children she sees, if only she can make sense of them. After a little boy in a boat appears in Charlie’s dreams, asking for her help, she finds herself entangled in a world-famous 30-year-old missing-child case that has never ceased to haunt Louisiana’s prestigious Deveau family.

Armed with an invitation to Evangeline, the family’s sprawling estate, Charlie heads south, where new friendships and an unlikely romance with the estate’s landscape architect - the warm and handsome Noah Palmer - begin to heal her grief-stricken heart. But as she uncovers long-buried secrets of love, money, betrayal, and murder, the facts begin to implicate those she most wants to trust - and her visions reveal an evil closer than she could have imagined.

A Southern Gothic mystery debut that combines literary suspense and romance with a mystical twist, The Gates of Evangeline is a story that fans of Gillian Flynn, Kate Atkinson, and Alice Sebold won't be able to put down.

©2015 Hester Young (P)2015 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2015

"[T]he hothouse atmosphere of Evangeline and the tortuous and tangled motives of its denizens make for an enjoyable puzzle box of a mystery. An eerie but inviting debut." (Kirkus Reviews)

“In Hester Young's haunted Louisiana, the ghostly labyrinth of the past opens its great doors to deliver up a lush gothic thriller. The Gates of Evangeline is a darkly marvelous debut, a classic whodunnit stitched with otherworldly chills.” (Jedediah Berry, author of the Hammett-prize winning The Manual of Detection)

A Little Obvious for Avid Mystery Readers

The author did a great job of bringing you to the setting. it is a fun read, and would be good if adapted to film.
My problem is, I hate coming to conclusions long before the character does, and that happened many times in this book. The hints were a bit too obvious and the ending too predictable.

Great Characters, Original Story

The answer to the main mystery was not a big surprise since there was a slow build with many hints leading to the main conclusion. But there were many side stories that made the listening experience worth the time. I consider this book to be a keeper.

Amazing Narration!!!

Listening to this book was like watching a movie. The narrator did an amazing job capturing and portraying the personality of each character. The story captured me from the very beginning and did not disappoint. It was wonderful!!

Kept my attention!

Really enjoyed this book, and Ms LaVoy is one of my favorite narrators ever! Great listen!

I enjoyed listening to this audiobook.

I enjoyed this book because you actually did not figure out who did what until the very end you had some kind of idea and thoughts about it but you didn't say oh he did it or she did it all the twist interns were very good thank you.

Emotional

Never in my life would I thought a fiction book would make me cry, but this one did. I cried listening to nonfiction, Minka Kelly’s book. It was predictable, but it still managed to make me weep. I liked the ending, even if it was sorta predictable.

Better than expected.

I admit that I thought it was an easy solve at first. I was wrong. I'm glad I stuck with it.

Great Fun

This was a great listen and fun adventure. I liked the narrator and the story was sweet and suspenseful.

Had to switch to reading.

This started out really good, with her visions and suspense. But went downhill quickly for me. I figured out "what happened" to Gabriel pretty early in the book. Also had to stop listening and bought the paperback because the narrator's delivery grated on my nerves, especially when she was Noah. It was a better read than it was an audio book. I finished it just to see what happened to everyone.

An ok story but not an entertaining read.

Found myself bored more than a few times. Not suspense, not thriller. More like a lifetime movie script.