Haunted

A Tale of the Mediator

By: Meg Cabot

Narrated by: Alanna Ubach

Length: 2 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

My name is Susannah Simon, and I am a mediator, a liason between the living and the dead. If you think this gets in the way of my attempt at a normal 16-year-old life, you'd be right. You try going to the mall while constantly being accosted by the undead.

Not that this is a bad thing all the time. Like, for example, when I discovered my bedroom is haunted by Jesse, the ghost of a 19th-century hottie. While I haven't made much progress with him (only one kiss so far), I remain optimistic. Jesse's inexplicable resistance to my charms is not my only obstacle, though: there's this other guy. A live one, who has the same gift of gab with the undead I have. In the same way I'm after Jesse, this guy is after me. And he knows how to send Jesse to the Great Beyond. For good.

So I guess you could say I'm haunted. I just never thought it would be by someone who isn't dead.

©2003 Meggin Cabot (P)2003 Random House, Inc. Imagination Studio, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group

Critic reviews

"[Teens] will enjoy meeting the brave, nonchalant heroine and following her romantic dilemma." (Booklist)

mixed feelings

This is one of my favorite books! I don't really like the narrator. The other audio books in this series have a narrator that reads just like I remember reading the characters myself over ten years ago. This one, though, makes Suze sound whiny, Father Dom sound feeble, Brad sound even more annoying than he is in the book, and Jesse sound like a villain. It's confusing to say the least.

Love the story, but...

Love the series, but wish they had the unabridged version and with the original narrator. She was not as good.

Pieces Missing and Not My Favorite Narrator

Firstly, this book in the series drove me crazy for plot reasons, so much of my 3 stars is based in that.
I’m also not a big fan of this narration. The narrator has a very distinctive voice and it sounds too much like a grown woman speaking like a young girl to me. Too heavy on some of the emphasis and drama.
Also, this version seems to be abridged or heavily edited. Large portions of the text are missing. I couldn’t tell why this audiobook seemed so much shorter than the others in the series until I compared it to the physical book and realized how much was left out. I’m frustrated that this wasn’t mentioned in the description and that there wasn’t an unabridged version available.

Wish it was Unabridged but it's Still Amazing

Like the title said, I wish it were unabridged. This version really skims over some of the details that I think are super juicy and great, but I love the story and would still recommend.

Read the full version

The narrator was fine except it the same as the rest of the series which definitely throws you off. The story is great except it’s the shortened version and really leaves you missing out on certain yeah you get the gist of the story but that’s about it. I’d suggest reading the full version of this one. I did both listened to the audio version and read the book.

Glad for the next book...

So I can listen to the old narrator again. This was a poor decision to cast this one in the middle of the series.

Not as good as the rest of the series

I was really disappointed by this book. As others have said, it's not as good as the rest of the series. It claims to be unabridged, but it's much shorter than the other books and doesn't have the same detail. I own all the print copies of this series as well, and it's not the same.

I also didn't care for the narration. The characters seem much whinier or dramatic which doesn't seem to go along with their character development in the previous books.

voice change

I love these books, but what a disappointment when I started and the women who was reading the first few books was switched to someone else 😪

Love the Book, But Not the Narrator...

I really love the series! I also enjoyed the nararrator for the first 4 books, but I'm having a hard time with the new one... I just think her voice is all wrong for the series! She makes Paul sound like an old man, Jessie sould like a smooth talking guy with devious intent, and Suze sound like Ceecee would! Hopefully they will have someone else be narrator for the next book, or better yet, the old (and I think best) one.

Disappointing!

The story is great but this narrator changes the personality of all the characters abd not in a good way. The parents are not snide in the previous books ... and the character Jesse sounds creepy as well as many of the others.

The previous Narrator Johanna Parker did a superior job by far - it would be fantastic to have this audio book redone by her. I gave the book a 3 because I like the series. If I had to rate the narrator I'd give it a 1. I don't plan on buying any of the audios moving forward and will read the books instead.