His Kidnapper's Shoes

By: Maggie James

Narrated by: Nico Evers-Swindell, Susan Duerden

Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Daniel is my son. He has always been mine. And he always will be.

On some level deep inside, Laura Bateman knows something is wrong. That her relationship with her son is not what it should be. That it is based on lies.

But bad things have happened to Laura. Things that change a person. Forever.

For twenty-six-year-old Daniel, the discovery that his mother is not who he thought comes close to destroying him. As his world turns upside down, he searches for sanity in the madness that has become his life. Daniel is left with nothing but questions. Why did Laura do something so terrible? Can he move past the demons of his childhood?

And the biggest question of all: can he ever forgive Laura?

©2016 Maggie James (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Bad narration and boring storyline

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Typical psychotic kidnapper and traumatized adult son. Crass language, and nothing uniquely drawing. I wasted three hours.

Not a thriller but good read.

If your looking for psychological thriller this is not one. It has mental illness but nothing thriller about it. It has triggers for those who have lost a baby-especially to crib death. This story is more about a mother grieving with many things happening in her teenage years. It’s fast paced and doesn’t drag on with unnecessary fillers.

Good story, poor narration

The female narrator, Susan Duerden, has this awful habit of rising up in inflection at the end of every sentence regardless of context. This was distracting and annoying.

Not Very Suspenseful, But Still A Good Listen

His Kidnappers Shoes was advertised as a psychological thriller, but I didn't find it suspenseful or thrilling at all. Even though this book wasn't what I was expecting, I still really enjoyed the Daniel and Laura's stories.

Daniel just found out, as an adult, that the woman who raised him kidnapped him from his biological family. I've always wondered how an adult would process this. If the family who kidnapped him gave him a good life, would he be angry? If the home he grew up in was bad, would it fuel his anger further? Daniel's reactions to this life-altering news seemed very genuine and realistic to me. There were some parts of the story that moved a little slower than I usually like, but it still held my attention and took me for a ride.

I chose to listen to the audiobook version of His Kidnappers Shoes and ended up with mixed feelings about the narration. I felt the male narrator, Nico Evers-Swindell, did a great job voicing Daniel's chapters, but the female narrator, Susan Duerden, left me with mixed feelings. There were some places the female narration seemed too breathy, if that makes any sense. I ended up getting used to the female narration, but it could be frustrating at times.

An Emotional Story of A Mother's Love

I couldn't stop listening to this book. As a Mother, it touched my heart and left me speechless. One minute I don't like her and then I'm feeling sad for her. Daniel, her son, well I just wanted to hug him. Don't want to give anything away so I will just say BUY IT! Definitely worth the money. So glad I didn't pass by this one. 😀😀😀

awful story. should have incest and rapewarnings.

horrible story filled with rape and insest. Not a good mystery. blocking this author. terrible.

Brilliant

The writing was beautiful, the narration by the two narrators awesome! Very emotional book for me cried a lot . But it was so worth it excellent book I recommend it for everyone. This is the first time I've read this author. And I will be visiting more of her books.

Slightly demented

This story was gripping but pretty sick! Yes, the world is a tough place and people go through bad things, but so we need so many details?

ok

slow start, but good. More action could've made the story more interesting. Vocals were so so.

Brilliant story but...

The female part is really hard to listen to due to her odd intonation. When she went into dialogue it disappeared though so not sure what was going on there. May be better if they had the her parts Re read.

Female reader

I did it really like the female reader I almost didn’t listen because of this

Terrible narration, fairly good story

Such a shame that the female narrator was so breathy and seemed to have strange intonation.
The story was quite good and the male narrator was better, but for me the irritation of the female chapters read in such an unusual style was just too off putting.

Emotional and brilliant story

This story needs to come with a Trigger warning as it contains Kidnapping a child (Obviously) but also cot death.

I have had this in my collection for a while but I am glad I listened to it now as it is a brilliant book, which does deal with some hard issues.

The book follows Laura Bateman and her 'son' Daniel in alternating chapters told from each of their view points, and jumps all over the place from Laura's childhood through to 22 years after she has kidnapped Daniel.

The way the book is written is brilliant as it manages to cover the whole period easily without making it obvious how much it is jumping.

Mainly the chapters told from Laura's viewpoint are all told in the past as we learn about her childhood and why, and how, she kidnapped Daniel. The chapters told from Daniel's viewpoint cover the present where we learn how he is dealing with his life etc.

I would highly recommend this book as it kept me hooked throughout and left me guessing a lot.

Really good read

Keeps you hooked from start to finish many twists and turns,Quite a sad story that makes you go through all emotions.Enjoyed every chapter!

His Kidnapper's SHoes

It has been quite a while since I have been totally enthralled in a book. I have enjoyed every word, sentence and chapter of this book. It addresses the complexity of people's life's, how those who draw the short straws, deal with great suffering and how this affects their mental capabilities, in continuing to live a day to day existence. Where one mistake has catastrophic consequences. But also this book addresses, how ones begins to look beyond the stereotype label attached to a person. It's so easy to condemn a fellow man. But deep understanding and compassion brings a healing presence to all.

Challenging topics in a moving story

The female narration was bizarre.It was a sing song like crescendo of intonation. Very irritating and gaspy, but worth suffering for the sake of the book. The male narration was a youthful voice , very nasal but endearing. the story was full of chance meetings and coincidence but the topics were sad and moving. The last chapter was heart breaking. Overall a good book. Glad I persevered over the narration.

Good story, shame about narrators

I was distracted throughout by the very breathy delivery of the female and the wooden delivery of the male narrators. Could have been so much better

struggled

I only made it to chapter 5, the narration is odd, staccato and hard to follow because of it!