Swerve

By: Vicki Pettersson

Narrated by: Kate Rudd

Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

In the electrifying tradition of Dean Koontz and Gillian Flynn comes the first riveting psychological thriller from the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author!

It's high summer in the Mojave Desert, and Kristine Rush and her fiancé, Daniel, are en route from Las Vegas to Lake Arrowhead, California, for the July Fourth holiday weekend. But when Daniel is abducted from a desolate rest stop, Kristine is forced to choose: return home unharmed but never to see her fiancé again or plunge forward into the searing desert to find him...where a killer lies in wait. One road. One woman. One killer.

Sprinting against the clock, and uncertain if danger lies ahead or behind, Kristine must blaze an epic path through the gaudy flash of roadside casinos, abandoned highway stops, and a landscape rife with horrors never before imagined. Desperate to save her doomed husband-to-be, Kristine must summon long forgotten resources if she's to go head to head against this unpredictable killer. And she'd better hurry. Because she only has 24 hours...to make one hell of a trip.

Cover photo by Jonathan Browning / Millennium Images, UK

©2015 Vicki Pettersson (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Wow! Intense X10!

This book hits the ground running and doesn't slow down till the end. The time flew by while listening to it. I don't want to say much about the plot because I don't want to spoil it for you, but I was reminded a little of Dean Koontz's "Intensity" because of the way the story constantly keeps you on the edge of your seat. You will be surprised, shocked, and breathless at this roller coaster ride of a story. I had people tell me how much they loved "Gone Girl," how it was a page turner, etc. "Swerve" blows "Gone Girl" out of the water. Do yourself a favor and don't miss this one.

This narrator!!! Ugh!!

This book was just ok.... I found myself zoning out (not in a good way), and coming back to the book wondering why it wasn't over yet. I seemed to just drag on & on!!! That said, maybe reading this may have been better - or listening to a different narrator! Kate Rudd narrated a few other books I listened too and I should have known better! Her enunciation and overly dramatic whine is like nails on a chalk board!!! Her fake cry/talking is the WORST!!! If the sorry sounds intriguing.... Just read it.

Saw: Goes on the Road

This book reminds me on an amalgamation of a few movies/books I've read. It firstly reminded me of the movie Saw.

It really irks me when I read reviews and people are outraged when reading passages about harm coming to animals, but don't blink when it comes to harming people or even children. I definitely take those reviews with a grain of salt. That being said, I think this book is very gruesome and is best categorized as horror rather than a suspense/thriller. This is fiction! I see why the author uses animal harm, because psychos first victims are typically the innocent creatures. But be advised that this is a very small part in the book.

Christine, a physician assistant and her dashing trauma surgeon fiancé Daniel are driving from Las Vegas to an event at his Mothers home. Daniel pulls over to an abandoned rest stop for her to change and the horror ensues from there. Think 'sadistic scavenger hunt'. Problem is Christine isn't the most likable character and makes ignorant mistakes from the very beginning. Also, I'm not a fan of shock horror. I prefer a mystery. This isn't 'the next gone girl' like every thriller written after seems to claim. I wasn't impressed with the narrator. From the beginning of the book, she speaks every sentence in a very theatrical manner. So much so, I had to look her up only to find she is an award winning narrator, ha, so what do I know. But for me her over the top performance at times and especially when speaking male parts was annoying. So I bumped it up to 1.5x for the duration, at times bumping it up to 2.

Be forewarned this book is not for faint of heart. Fans of Clive Barker, Saw, Eli Roth and the like would probably enjoy this fast paced horror novel, but I don't think it will sit well with the mainstream as it is definitely not the next gone girl, girl on a train, etc. etc.

Breathtaking

I was holding my breath, on the edge of my seat the whole listen. Don't pass this one up!!

Atrocious Narration

Perhaps the story is better read than heard, as it were. The narrator was hideously atrocious! Coupled with that - which is not the narrator's fault - Audible needs a speed setting between 1.0 and 1.25 because the speed setting at 1.0 painfully dragged which made the narration that much worse, while the speed setting 1.25 was way too fast and only exaggerated the narrator's already curiously poor pronunciation, pacing, and diction.

Sick

What disappointed you about Swerve?

I only purchased this book because Kate Rudd is one of my favorite narrators This book was sick. I hated it. No good substance I was really disturbed by the animal abuse. I will never purchase another book by this author