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You can’t deny the gravitational pull
Taylor Jenkins Reid’s talent is awe-inducing: both her ability to tell deeply human stories, and the research and detail that she pours into them. In Atmosphere, we are in Houston in the 1980s, embarking on NASA’s space exploration program with its first wave of women scientists and pilots. Joan, an astronomer, is eager to become one of the first women in space, but she’s also enjoying the ride of discovering her own capabilities and growing her relationships with her fellow candidates. We jump between Joan’s early time in the program and December 29, 1984, when she is on the ground in Houston serving as capcom on a space mission—and something goes horribly wrong. The alternating timelines drive the suspense, as does the blossoming relationship between Joan and fellow candidate Vanessa, who is on the shuttle in 1984. Performed by Julia Whelan and Kristen DiMercurio, this book won’t let you go once you’ve entered its orbit.
A delightful whodunit
Looking for a fun audio mystery? Check out Murder at the Patel Motel, starring and co-written by the talented Maulik Pancholy from 30 Rock. The story follows Milan Patel, a New York City event planner who visits his family's dingy motel in Montana. What starts as a normal visit quickly turns into an unexpected adventure when Milan finds himself in the middle of a murder mystery. With a fantastic ensemble cast whose familiar voices you'll enjoy spotting throughout, this Agatha Christie-style tale blends humor with heart. Mixed in with the mystery is a touching story of a gay son who vowed never to return home reconnecting with his roots while navigating family dynamics and small-town secrets to solve the case.
Paradise lost ... and found
Janelle Brown writes the books that keep me up at night, meaning I’m fighting off sleep so that I can keep listening. Her twisty narratives, including her 2020 breakout hit Pretty Things and 2022’s I’ll Be You, are rife with themes of identity, family trauma, and moral dilemmas. In What Kind of Paradise, Jane is not like her tech-obsessed peers. Living in an isolated Montana cabin with her enigmatic father, the shadows of her family’s mysterious history loom large until a shocking event catapults Jane into newfound independence and she sets out to discover the truth of who she really is. Helen Laser narrates, and Peter Ganim’s short but impactful performance as Jane’s dad gives voice to the man behind the monster. This nostalgic coming-of-age exploration of father-daughter relationships, young love, and the ’90s dot-com bubble further solidifies Brown as an auto-download author for me.
My favorite series is back!
When I heard that the Oracle series was coming back with a third installment this year, I absolutely couldn’t wait. The perfect combination of fascinating characters, ample twists and turns, and Joshua Jackson’s engaging narration always makes for a wild, compelling ride. Oracle 3: Murder at the Grandview is everything I loved about the first two Oracle stories, and so much more. I was on the edge of my seat from start to finish. Jackson sets the pace with his urgent and gripping tone, drawing you into the story and bringing FBI psychic Nate Russo to life. I crave psychological thrillers to escape my daily routine, and this one truly hit the mark. Now I’m impatiently waiting for everyone I know to listen so that we can finally discuss. I have chills!
A puzzle worth solving...
Lisa Jewell’s Don’t Let Him In ensnared me from the beginning. From the character interactions that made me want to pull out my hair in frustration to the genuine aha moments when things began to click, I was hooked. Following recent widow Nina, mourning daughter Ash, and neglected wife and mom Martha, Don’t Let Him In explores the complexities of these women's relationships with a man who turns out to be very wrong. Not only do they learn they shouldn't have let him in, it might be too late to avoid what may come crashing down on them. I had visceral reactions to the lies told, stories believed, actions ignored. And to put a cherry on top of these well-developed characters, Don't Let Him In is a multi-cast listen performed by top-notch talents like Richard Armitage, Joanne Froggatt, Tamaryn Payne, Gemma Whelan, Louise Brealey, and Patience Tomlinson.
An unputdownable listen to devour seaside
Fans of bingeable reality TV and speculative fiction alike will find themselves gripped by the premise of Aisling Rawle's debut. Our beautiful heroine Lily wakes inside "the compound"—the remote desert set of a blockbuster reality show—where she must compete against 18 other contestants to earn both prizes and the right to stay. Amidst the romance and machinations, there's also this mysterious, niggling sense that just maybe beyond the borders of their titular home, there's an apocalyptic event on the horizon. Beyond that unnerving mystery, the combustion engine at the heart of this stylish story is Rawle's nuanced understanding of the motivations at play when beautiful people rank themselves against one another. She renders them far more human and tangible than the show producers ever would. It was enough to make this listener wonder if the author herself had ever enjoyed a stint of temporary fame; but it's more likely that—as a secondary school teacher by trade—Rawle knows better than most the feeling of sharks swarming.
A bold experiment
During the height of the COVID pandemic, Scott Z. Burns’s film Contagion saw a resurgence in popularity for obvious reasons: People were watching to make sense of their current reality. So when he was tasked with writing a sequel, his challenge was wondering how to replicate that relevance. In comes arguably the most relevant thing affecting artists and content creators today: generative AI. With a “team” of AI writers, actors, producers, and even a facsimile of Burns’s own foul-mouthed late talent agent, Burns documents his bizarre yet illuminating experiment. The bots sometimes get it right, often get it wrong, occasionally terrify, and always take things in unexpected directions, making for a fascinating case study into what happens when we involve this technology in our artistic endeavors.
What grows when you bury the bones
Some listens just leave you quiet, with nothing but the sound of your heartbeat filling the space. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil did exactly that. It’s beautiful and painful and so full of longing: for freedom, for love, for a life that feels like your own. Told across three timelines, the story is layered and intimate, with characters whose lives twist around each other in ways that are heartbreaking, brilliant, and just a little toxic (okay, okay, a lot toxic). Self-care looked like not hitting pause—because when I did, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Julia Whelan, Katie Leung, and Marisa Calin bring it all to life with performances that flow together as seamlessly as the stories of María, Charlotte, and Alice. I finished it and just kept thinking: WOW, this is truly something special.
History, but better
As a lifelong Maggie Stiefvater fan, I instantly jumped on her first adult fiction, The Listeners. It’s a WWII story, but not in the way you might expect. Based on real events, the story takes us to West Virginia, where Axis diplomats are being held at a luxury hotel after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Though it’s grounded in history and hyperreal, in a way, the storytelling is classic Stiefvater: ethereal, with turns of phrase that leave you breathless at their cleverness. There’s a magic system here, too, presented practically but left mysterious. With a cast of characters that represents the clash of classes within a high-end hotel, narrator Erin Bennett does a splendid job voicing the array of dialects that would appear in such a setting. Prepare to be dazzled by this magical, historical work of art.
Is lead the ultimate serial killer?
Caroline Fraser’s new book is quite a topic swerve from her Pulitzer Prize-winning Prairie Fires. This one is for the true crime heads, the rabbit-holers familiar with the strange 20th-century spike in serial killers from the Pacific Northwest. Such obsessives, myself included, might know about the lead-crime hypothesis, which links exposure from leaded gasoline and pollution to fluctuations in violent crime. But we’ve never heard it quite like this, in Fraser’s heady blend of reporting, lyricism, and memoir—she grew up on Seattle’s Mercer Island, where a perilous bridge and her volatile father competed with the local maniacs to wreak terror in her young life. Murderland, which Fraser likens to a detective’s “crazy wall,” combines the chilling exploits of Ted Bundy, Jerry Brudos, Richard Ramirez (who grew up in the plume of an El Paso smelter), Dennis Rader (same, but in Kansas’s “lead belt”), and others with the rage-inducing environmental and human destruction of the smelting industry. While it’s just one piece of a complex puzzle, Murderland left me fascinated, saddened, and hungry for more information.
More to love
As a midsize woman, it’s always a special treat to listen to a romance featuring a full-figured female lead. In the second installment of Danielle Allen's body-positive romance series, curvy and confident Nina Ford is juggling work, hobbies, and a roster of men that keep her every need met. That is, until one of them wants to move from booty call to boyfriend, and suddenly playing the field isn't so simple for Nina anymore. Wesleigh Siobhan delivers another show-stopping performance, infusing Allen’s laugh-out-loud banter and seriously sexy spice with her signature sultry tones. Overlapping with the same timeline as last year’s Curvy Girl Summer, it was fun to get Nina’s POV on her friendship with Aaliyah, and I can’t wait to hear their friend Jazmyn’s story in the already announced Book 3!
Do dreams really come true?
Imagine having the life you’ve always wanted—until a series of unsettling dreams begins to come true, unraveling your perfect life one terrifying piece at a time. That’s the chilling premise of Liv Constantine’s Don’t Open Your Eyes. The story taps into our deepest fears about trust, control, and the fragility of the lives we’ve built for ourselves. It’s a setup that instantly reminds me of the movie Final Destination (which I am looking forward to seeing in theaters), where the terrifying knowledge of what's coming becomes its own kind of curse. If you crave domestic suspense like I do, Don’t Open Your Eyes is one you’ll lose sleep over—in the best way.
Run in the shoes of an EMT
Joanna Sokol documents the heart-pounding, gut-wrenching, sweat-inducing moments facing paramedics in the field through a series of memories that will test your nervous system and leave you wondering—how did she do it? How do any health care workers do it? Beginning each day before the sun rises and scarfing down cold food (if they’re lucky) in between filing paperwork and saving lives, EMT workers are a cut above the rest. Sokol’s raw retelling of action-packed emergencies is a testament to the sacrifices first responders and health care workers make each day, and the profound change they can make in others’ lives in just a moment. With multiple narrators taking us along in the back of each ambulance ride, the performances in this anthology are truly as memorable as the stories they tell.
A snail tale
What if one of the most diverse animal groups on the planet were to lose yet another of its species? Set in Ukraine in 2022, this is the angle from which Maria Reva’s debut novel explores the environmental degradation inflicted by the region’s ongoing war. Endling unfolds through the lens of a snail conservationist named Yeva who funds her research by dating Western men in the market for docile brides. While working a guided matchmaking tour, Yeva crosses paths with a pair of sisters searching for their mother, who disappeared after years of outspoken activism against the marriage industry. Not only do Saskia Maarleveld and Max Meyers enrich this listen with stellar performances, but Reva herself narrates a few chapters—alternating between Ukrainian, Russian, and anglicized pronunciations for place names with a precision that further fleshes out this intricate modern landscape.
The girls in tight dresses are back!
If you were a fan of the Showtime 2004 hit show The L Word or the 2019 reboot The L Word: Generation Q, you don’t want to miss the behind-the-scenes anecdotes dished in Kate Moennig’s (Shane) and Leisha Hailey’s (Alice) new listen, So Gay for You. I couldn’t help but become giddy at the personal stories revealed by the two actresses who played my favorite characters. Showcasing Kate and Leisha’s longstanding friendship and memorable moments on set, So Gay for You is a trip down an unforgettable lane of their lives that has bonded them for a lifetime. Narrated by Kate and Leisha themselves, it’s hard not to enjoy the energy between them. This listen was enjoyable from start to finish.
He’s a mobster. She’s his obsession
I didn’t think I’d fall this hard for Nic and Lo, but Caught Up pulled me in fast and didn’t let go. The story follows Lauren, a cam girl who’s built her life on her own terms, and Nico, the mobster who never really let her go even after betraying her years ago. What starts as an unwelcome reunion slowly unravels into something darker, deeper, and unexpectedly tender. The performances by Kasi Hollowell, Jason June, and Teddy Hamilton were SO steamy, making it impossible to stop listening. I wasn’t ready for how much I’d care about these characters.
A courageous account of living normally in a sea of uncertainty
Until a stumble on an icy New York City sidewalk, things were clicking along for 38-year-old Jonathan Gluck. He was deeply in love. He held a dream job as a top magazine editor. And he had just welcomed a beautiful baby girl. But that fall led to a year of nagging pain, followed by a devastating diagnosis that began when a doctor told him, “There’s a lesion on your hip.” Narrating his unflinching memoir himself, Gluck’s voice trembles ever so slightly as he recounts learning he had multiple myeloma. But the next part is not how he got better. In fact, he didn’t. Gluck is one of the millions with an incurable illness—a cancer that is managed but never cured. Twenty years after the diagnosis, the ramifications on family, friends, finances, career, and his psyche are enormous. Gluck finds ballast in fly fishing, but the true sport is how he angles his life forward. He’s an inspiration for all of us, no matter our circumstances.
