Poison Orchids

By: Sarah A. Denzil, Anni Taylor

Narrated by: Aimee Horne

Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

A dark, compelling new thriller from best-selling authors Sarah A. Denzil and Anni Taylor

Young backpackers Gemma and Hayley arrive at a remote fruit farm in Australia’s Northern Territory, out of money and desperate for work.

The weeks go on, a blur of fruit picking, parties, campfires and wading beneath waterfalls in the nearby hot springs. Until the night the girls find themselves on a dark highway, bruised and bloodied.

Senior Detective Bronwen McKay and psychologist Megan Arlotti question the terrified girls. But Hayley and Gemma are telling two very different stories of what happened to them over the past three months.

Which story is the truth, and what are the girls covering up? A suspenseful thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end.

©2019 Sarah A.Denzil and Anni Taylor (P)2019 Audible Australia Pty Ltd

Wow did not see it coming!

Great listen. The narrator did not disappoint. The voices were able to capture so many personalities and emotions . It was a little long in some parts but the ending was worth the wait.

5⭐s Deserves 10!

Must read! Beautifully written. Believable characters. Bold, intriguing and compelling storyline. I loved it all!

Kept me guessing

definitely keeps you wondering what’s the truth. I enjoyed the performances and accents as well, it’s read beautifully.

Good, but drags on at the end

I enjoyed this book, particularly at the beginning. However, the last 3-4 hours drag on and become unnecessarily complicated. I think it could have wrapped up much more quickly and cleanly, but instead got bogged down unnecessary explanations and details. I kept checking to see how much time was left. That said, I enjoyed the first 2/3 and I don’t regret spending a credit on it.

Where was the climax?

I felt like this book unfortunately built up to a lackluster climax. I wanted to see Tate “get his” but there wasn’t really that moment of satisfying revenge. Maybe I’m just brutal I don’t know. I thought this story had great potential but was just missing those climactic moments. Also I didn’t understand the ending. Is Haylee off her rocker and starting a cult of her own? Is it a healthy women’s group for recovery? Is it a nunnery that she’s describing? Not enough detail.

Dark interesting story

Dark and interesting story a bit too long and dragging at some points but worth it.

Definitely not as bad as I expected

A lot of the reviews here have valid points, but others I just do not get at all.

This is a very unsettling, creepy, culty, very pseudo-sciencey psychological thriller. I enjoyed it. The narrator was good, actually, except struggled with an American accent. The two main girls *were* hard to differentiate in the first maybe third of this book, but it gets better. I listened on 1.1-1.2 speed and I found it paced nicely that way, not too slow. I agree with some reviews that call this book too long, but more than that I think the organization of this book does it a disservice. The blurb of the book happens before the first chapter is over. Literally, I finished the first two chapters and now had no idea what was going to happen for the next ~12 hours. What did I sign myself up for? it turned out okay, but every time I felt like only surely NOW it's all going to get resolved... there's still 6 hours left! That said, I really think only an hour shaved off would have made the pacing infinitely better, as the longer and slower pace made the creepy moments much creepier.

The good: narrator was lovely to listen to. I love Australian accents so hearing that plus Irish/British/Portuguese all passably or successfully attempted was a treat. I genuinely would seek out more by this narrator.
this story is very cinematic and could easily become a tv show or horror movie.
Also, the book is very twisty and I did not see the end coming. I do think some characters could have shown a little more accountability or their decisions could have had more explanation, but I do like the sense of unreliable narrators and incomplete information as it makes it more realistic.

It was definitely a creepy book but if you are interested in cults or Australia then I bet this will be right up your alley!

In my opinion...

A riveting story til the epilogue. It made no sense. What was the author thinking?

Reminds me of he mason "family"

Compelling all the through. Perhaps because it's fiction.the
writers were able to add a layer of


understanding that certainly was not there for Manson's accolades. No spoils here, but I found the ending curious and maybe a bit unsettling. The readers were excellent. You really could te😁😁ll all of the different accents
Definetly worth the read.

Great, but

The only thing I didn't like about this was the pacing of the story. The narrative starts out very strong, but then immediately goes back in time and stays there, which I found kinda boring. The end is more interesting, although I would have liked if the second part was told more in flashbacks throughout the book then in one large jumble. The narrator was amazing, man she can do any accent, I definitely want to listen to more books that involve her.