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Be Afraid  By  cover art

Be Afraid

By: Mary Burton
Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck
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Publisher's summary

The Fear Is Terrifying

When police rescue five-year-old Jenna Thompson from the dark closet where she's been held captive for days, they tell her she's a lucky girl. Compared to the rest of her family, it's true. But even with their killer dead of an overdose, Jenna is still trying to find peace 25 years later.

But the Truth

On leave from her forensic artist job, Jenna returns to Nashville, the city where she lost so much. Instead of closure she finds a new horror. Detective Rick Morgan needs Jenna's expertise in identifying the skeletal remains of a young child. The case jogs hazy, half-buried memories - and a nagging dread that Jenna's ordeal hasn't ended.

Is Even Worse

Now other women are dying. And as the links between these brutal killings and Jenna's past becomes clear, she knows this time a madman will leave no survivors....

©2015 Mary Burton (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Be Afraid

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The narrator is the worst!

The story is classic Mary Burton and I liked the story but the narrator made me want to stab myself in the ears with a dull pencil. Jennifer Van Dyke has one “man voice” and it sounds like a bad Christopher Walken impersonation. Audible…PLEASE don’t let her read anymore books. 🤮

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved the story

But the narrator took away some of the pleasure with a persistent “I’ve got secrets” style. Almost as if she was trying to add a 50’s mystery vibe.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book!!!

Can't listen to this in front
of the childern. Get your headphones out because you will not be able to stop until the end.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

exciting...edge of seat. I love this series...I l

I love this writer an series...this book kept me right on the edge of my seat

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story...Awful Narration

Would you consider the audio edition of Be Afraid to be better than the print version?

no, but only because the narrator was so bad

Who was your favorite character and why?

Rick. He just seemed real and came across as a nice guy

What didn’t you like about Jennifer Van Dyck’s performance?

She sounded like Captain Kirk from Star Trek! Awful. Her voice went up at the end of every sentence. Very distracting. I wanted to hear the story, but wished I had bought the print version instead.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

when madness takes over reason...

Nashville Detective, Rick Morgan, is back to work after a traffic stop left him and his K9 severely injured. His first case is an unidentified female body in the burned out remains of a house. The next is equally as gruesome...the remains of a young child have been discovered in a drained community pond. When his sister recommends a Baltimore PD forensic artist to recreate a sketch of the child, Rick is skeptical, but soon realizes that Jenna Thompson may be an asset. Now if only he wasn't attracted to her. Jenna Thompson has a terrifying past that she had blanked from her mind, but as the 25th anniversary to those events looms closer, she gets flashes of memory. The memories have probably been triggered by the discovery of a young girl locked in a closet on her last case but whatever the reason, it's starting to come back. And Jenna's arrival may have unleashed a killer. Another good story in the Nashville Morgans series.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Terrible Narrator

It was so painful to listen to! Narrator had a corny ending to most sentences like each were suspenseful and read separately.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Unpredictable. Good.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The narrator. Her voice is very 'special',
- and does not suit books like this. She dramtizes too much.
Her voice is Nice enough to listen to, but another genre.
.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

More contact/and easier interaction beetween the collegues and the sibings.
They are all by themselves, even when together.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Jennifer Van Dyck?

Anyone!!!!!!
But American,, of course.

Did Be Afraid inspire you to do anything?

Draw and Paint more again.

Any additional comments?

Good book. and it could have been made into a series - if
you had gotten to know the People bettter. so you wanted to see
how they where doing.
Unfortunately - it's too easy to let these People go. :-(

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book

Very intense love it kept me on the edge of my seat well read more of her books

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

good

The story was great! The narrator's voice was pleasant but it wasn't a good match for the book. Several characters fell flat b/c of it.

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