Five Steps Ahead

An Age Gap Forced Proximity Romantic Suspense (Dark Shadows, Book 1)

De: Samantha Baca

Narrado por: Marcus Barton

I had one job.

One responsibility.

Lust wasn't a distraction that I had time for, and love was even further off the table. My career was demanding and required my undivided attention which left little time for romance. But when my sister went missing
after meeting a guy from the same dating app as the beautiful way too young for me college student that I had been assigned to protect, everything changed.

Keeping Hannah safe was my top priority, along with finding my sister. But the closer Hannah and I got, the more clouded my vision became. She was as sweet as she was innocent and things needed to stay that way. The only problem was that in order to keep her safe she had to stay with me until the threat was handled.

Living in cramped quarters, I was up close and personal with all of the reasons why I couldnt get involved with Hannah. With chemistry so combustible it could set the world on fire, we knew we had to keep our distance. One wrong move could be fatal with her stalker constantly five steps ahead.

Content Warning:

This book contains language and storylines that may be bothersome for some listeners and is intended for a mature audience. Violence and sexual scenes may be shown in detail as well. The listener is encouraged to reach out to the author directly ([e-mail]) if they would like to further discuss the content warning(s) for this book.
Warnings for Five Steps Ahead:
Stalking
Violence
Murder

©2020 Samantha Baca (P)2024 Samantha Baca

Fun story but poor audio production / poor narrato

First time ‘reading’ this author,
Written in alternating, first-person POVs and manages to deliver both police-procedural and cozy mystery vibes because the investigator is a cop, but has a vested personal interest. I always find this to be a fun approach. It also features alternating timelines, so the reader gets a good / more complete picture of what’s going on than the characters may have.

*A few instances of poor grammar noted—recommend using a strong editor to catch such instances. Overall though, it wasn’t bad.


Dating apps / blind date.
Missing persons.
Lowkey suspense, on and off.
Psycho or socio path.
Serial unal!ver.
SA.


Overall:
This wasn’t a bad read, I would read more by this author—though they’ll need to be eyeball reads unless her audiobooks use a different narrator and/or production team.

3.5 stars.


🎧Audio:
Yikes.
So this is not a professional production—and whoever did produce it, sadly, might be preying on authors. All subjective details aside, there are undeniable issues with this production, a few being:
Static can be heard throughout.
At times, it sounds like the narrator is panting.
Narrator sounds tinny.
Narrator sounds like he’s underwater.
At times, his voice just sorta faces off mid-sentence.
Etc.

I’m not sure what causes issues like this to come through in the end production, but I do know that professional teams produce beautifully smooth productions. All of the various sound quality issues to distract from the ‘reading’ experience for me.

Onto the narrator, that part is certainly subjecting. For me, the ‘performance’ wasn’t great, and I use that term loosely, as there was no performing here. Some narrators do truly act and perform the books they read to us. This one apparently opted to just robotically dictate—if I wanted to hear books that way, I could just have Siri or Alexa read them. 😉

Zero stars. I’m shocked that quality control found this acceptable.

Intriguing Murder/Suspense/Romance

This is an audiobook that has violence, stalking, and murder which may serve as a trigger for some.

Hannah is a young college coed who has been receiving mysterious gifts, feels she is being watched, and discovers some of her personal items have been moved. Hannah’s best friend stays with her but is thrown out of the window. Max is a police detective assigned to solve the death of Hannah’s friend. In the meantime, he discovers that his sister is missing. The connection between his sister and Hannah’s mysterious watcher is a dating app!

The author, Samantha Baca, crafts a terrifying storyline that leaves the listener on the edge of their chair. The narrative is authentic and highly realistic! The dialogue between the characters is an authentic feeling as well. The anonymity of the dating app and online relationships is both terrifying and accurate. Her plot twists are well done, and her characters are fully developed. The difference in age between Hannah and Max is realistically presented through dialogue and reactions. The relationship between Hannah and Max was a bit quick to develop, but that is how trauma bonding works. so it is realistic.

The narrator, Marcus Barton, delivers an excellent performance. He effortlessly slips into each character and draws the listener deeper into the action while creating a strong connection with the characters. He speaks clearly with a well-paced delivery that is effective in highlighting suspense, emotions, and more.

This is a suspense-filled book that keeps the listener on the edge of their chair!

There were no issues with the quality or production of this audiobook.

great book

this really drew me in and I wanted to keep listening to see what happened next! my great story and characters. I enjoyed the narrator as well.

story quite tense, really grips you

I just finished this audiobook and I'm still trying to catch my breath. A story about one committed professional whose life is turned upside down when his sister disappears after meeting someone from a dating app-he now has the job of keeping safe another college student, Hannah, from the very same app-he must fight this crazy chemistry with her while still keeping his mission in mind. With threats from a stalker always near, and having to live together, the tension between them is palpable. The sweet romance brewing between them is forbidden, adding an emotional layer to the suspenseful plot.

Oh Hannah....

I thought I had the bad guy all figured out, but nope—totally wrong! That twist actually made it even more fun to read. Some parts of the story were a bit out there, but overall, it was solid and super entertaining. The narrator kept things lively and pulled me right into the suspense.

Hannah might not have been the brightest, but she had her moments, and honestly, she wasn’t half as frustrating as some other leading characters. Her determination and little flashes of charm made her easy to root for.

All in all, this was an engaging and suspenseful story that’s worth a listen.