-
Second Life
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Susan Lyons
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $28.79
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
From the New York Times best-selling author of Before I Go to Sleep, a sensational new psychological thriller about a woman with a secret identity that threatens to destroy her.
How well can you really know another person? How far would you go to find the truth about someone you love?
When Julia learns that her sister has been violently murdered, she must uncover why. But Julia's quest quickly evolves into an alluring exploration of her own darkest sensual desires. Becoming involved with a dangerous stranger online, she's losing herself...losing control...perhaps losing everything. Her search for answers will jeopardize her marriage, her family, and her life.
A tense and unrelenting novel that explores the secret lives people lead - and the dark places in which they can find themselves - Second Life is a masterwork of suspense from the acclaimed S. J. Watson.
More from the same
What listeners say about Second Life
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- NO
- 06-10-15
Predictable and maddening
I'm so disappointed in this book. I enjoyed Before I Go to Sleep, but this book is sort of the same except that the main character, instead of making stupid decisions because she's brain-damaged, makes stupid decisions because she's stupid. She doesn't do a single thing right no matter how many chances she gets, and she seems not understand very basic things about cell phones and social media even though she's only in her 30's. It really surprised me. I read an interview with Val McDermid in which she said that SJ Watson was a fresh new voice, but nothing about this book was fresh or new.
If you're new to crime fiction, you might enjoy this book because you won't have heard it all before. But if you've been reading books like this for a while now, don't bother. You'll feel like an idiot if you stick around waiting for the plot to twist.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
19 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Karen
- 08-08-15
Terrible :(
Found the main character infuriating. Her bad decision after bad decision were so frustrating to listen to. Would not recommend.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- deborah jernigan
- 08-06-15
Don't do it
I'm going to keep this short the book was awful, the performance was even worse! I got a refund on the book that's how bad it was!!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Danny Gutknecht
- 08-18-15
I agree with all the other negative reviews
Would you try another book from S. J. Watson and/or Susan Lyons?
Not if the main character is as dimwitted as this one! She was so irritating- it made the story completely unbelievable.
Would you ever listen to anything by S. J. Watson again?
Probably not.
What aspect of Susan Lyons’s performance would you have changed?
I enjoyed Susan Lyons narration of Me Before You. I don't think anything could have helped this story.
What character would you cut from Second Life?
The main one!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 08-02-15
Lurid, unconvincing & overwritten.
Julia, the central character is a tiresome self dramatising hysteric. I wound up disliking her more than the villian of the book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sarah
- 08-31-15
Contrived and artless
Would you try another book from S. J. Watson and/or Susan Lyons?
Definitely not. This was the most unsatisfying novel I have finished in a long time. The author didn't take any time to really develop the characters. The main character is completely helpless, unlikable and unrelatable. The end seemed like a lazy cop-out.
Would you ever listen to anything by S. J. Watson again?
I definitely would not.
Would you listen to another book narrated by Susan Lyons?
Perhaps. I disliked the novel so much that it's hard for me to say whether the narration was good.
If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Second Life?
I thought the main character was so ridiculous and the story so flat, that I don't think any editing could save it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Suzanne
- 07-09-15
Second Life
A totally predictable story. Not unique.
Only a few parts made me question the plot
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nicole Pena
- 04-26-17
Interesting and thrilling
Believable, well written, well read. Strong character development along with a compelling storyline makes for a great book!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jessica
- 06-25-15
Frustrating
The main character was frustrating! Intriguing story, and pretty good characters, all except for the main character.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- DReh
- 06-23-15
Inside an Addictive Brain
Any additional comments?
At first I was going to give this 3 stars as a so-so story -- a protagonist who is self absorbed, often stupid, incapable with technology, and incapable of making good choices. Very maddening. However, herein lies the brilliance of the story. The author takes us into the mind of an addictive personality and lets the story unfold there. We are trapped like the protagonist in a mind that does not engage the world completely but is always wrestling with compulsions and uncontrolled desires. Very well done and a very good performance.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
Related to this topic
-
Killing Kate
- By: Alex Lake
- Narrated by: Genevieve Swallow
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kate returns from a post-break-up holiday with her girlfriends to news of a serial killer in her hometown - and his victims all look like her. It could, of course, be a simple coincidence. Or maybe not. She becomes convinced she is being watched, followed even. Is she next? And could her mild-mannered ex-boyfriend really be a deranged murderer? Or is the truth something far more sinister?
-
-
Decent suspense thriller makes the mark
- By Candice on 02-21-17
By: Alex Lake
-
Copycat
- By: Alex Lake
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When an old friend gets in touch, Sarah Havenant discovers that there are two Facebook profiles in her name. One is hers. The other she has never seen. But everything in it is accurate. Photos of her friends, her husband, her kids. Photos from the day before. Photos of her new kitchen. Photos taken inside her house. And this is just the beginning. Because whoever has set up the second profile has been waiting for Sarah to find it. And now that she has, her life will no longer be her own....
-
-
Great intense story with lots of surprises!
- By Dana on 09-19-17
By: Alex Lake
-
Her Name Was Rose
- By: Claire Allan
- Narrated by: Melanie MacHugh
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rose Grahame had everything Alex D’Arcy dreams of. A handsome husband, a stunning home and a baby boy with twinkling blue eyes and a smile that would brighten the darkest of days. It’s a stark contrast to Alex’s life - her dead-end job, her borderline addiction to drink and pills, her failed engagement and her cluttered flat. But the women’s lives are about to collide - and nothing will ever be the same again.
-
-
Tense Page-Turner
- By MarisaReads on 07-05-18
By: Claire Allan
-
The Ice Cream Girls
- By: Dorothy Koomson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles, Charlotte Parry, Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 14 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author Dorothy Koomson's novels have been translated into 28 languages. In The Ice Cream Girls, 18-year-old Serena Gorringe and 16-year-old Poppy Carlisle were tried for the murder of their teacher - but only Poppy was convicted of the crime. Twenty years later, Poppy is released from prison - and she's determined to force Serena to admit her part in the killing.
-
-
Great Book - Hard Content
- By Sherry L. Wright on 06-01-14
By: Dorothy Koomson
-
Sister Sister
- A truly absorbing psychological thriller
- By: Sue Fortin
- Narrated by: Helen Keeley
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alice: beautiful, kind, manipulative, liar. Clare: intelligent, loyal, paranoid, jealous. Clare thinks Alice is a manipulative liar who is trying to steal her life. Alice thinks Clare is jealous of her long-lost return and place in their family. One of them is telling the truth. The other is a maniac. Two sisters. One truth.
-
-
Wow, that was intense!
- By Wayne on 04-21-17
By: Sue Fortin
-
White Lies
- By: Lucy Dawson
- Narrated by: Rachel Atkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A darkly gripping domestic drama about secrets and lies. When you have everything, you have everything to lose.... Alexandra Inglis is a respected family doctor, trusted by her patients to keep their most intimate secrets. And if sometimes the boundaries between duty and desire blur...well, she's only human. But when Alex oversteps a line with Jonathan, one of her patients, she knows she's gone too far.
-
-
Kept me guessing!!
- By ROBIN on 05-26-18
By: Lucy Dawson
-
Killing Kate
- By: Alex Lake
- Narrated by: Genevieve Swallow
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kate returns from a post-break-up holiday with her girlfriends to news of a serial killer in her hometown - and his victims all look like her. It could, of course, be a simple coincidence. Or maybe not. She becomes convinced she is being watched, followed even. Is she next? And could her mild-mannered ex-boyfriend really be a deranged murderer? Or is the truth something far more sinister?
-
-
Decent suspense thriller makes the mark
- By Candice on 02-21-17
By: Alex Lake
-
Copycat
- By: Alex Lake
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When an old friend gets in touch, Sarah Havenant discovers that there are two Facebook profiles in her name. One is hers. The other she has never seen. But everything in it is accurate. Photos of her friends, her husband, her kids. Photos from the day before. Photos of her new kitchen. Photos taken inside her house. And this is just the beginning. Because whoever has set up the second profile has been waiting for Sarah to find it. And now that she has, her life will no longer be her own....
-
-
Great intense story with lots of surprises!
- By Dana on 09-19-17
By: Alex Lake
-
Her Name Was Rose
- By: Claire Allan
- Narrated by: Melanie MacHugh
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rose Grahame had everything Alex D’Arcy dreams of. A handsome husband, a stunning home and a baby boy with twinkling blue eyes and a smile that would brighten the darkest of days. It’s a stark contrast to Alex’s life - her dead-end job, her borderline addiction to drink and pills, her failed engagement and her cluttered flat. But the women’s lives are about to collide - and nothing will ever be the same again.
-
-
Tense Page-Turner
- By MarisaReads on 07-05-18
By: Claire Allan
-
The Ice Cream Girls
- By: Dorothy Koomson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles, Charlotte Parry, Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 14 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author Dorothy Koomson's novels have been translated into 28 languages. In The Ice Cream Girls, 18-year-old Serena Gorringe and 16-year-old Poppy Carlisle were tried for the murder of their teacher - but only Poppy was convicted of the crime. Twenty years later, Poppy is released from prison - and she's determined to force Serena to admit her part in the killing.
-
-
Great Book - Hard Content
- By Sherry L. Wright on 06-01-14
By: Dorothy Koomson
-
Sister Sister
- A truly absorbing psychological thriller
- By: Sue Fortin
- Narrated by: Helen Keeley
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alice: beautiful, kind, manipulative, liar. Clare: intelligent, loyal, paranoid, jealous. Clare thinks Alice is a manipulative liar who is trying to steal her life. Alice thinks Clare is jealous of her long-lost return and place in their family. One of them is telling the truth. The other is a maniac. Two sisters. One truth.
-
-
Wow, that was intense!
- By Wayne on 04-21-17
By: Sue Fortin
-
White Lies
- By: Lucy Dawson
- Narrated by: Rachel Atkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A darkly gripping domestic drama about secrets and lies. When you have everything, you have everything to lose.... Alexandra Inglis is a respected family doctor, trusted by her patients to keep their most intimate secrets. And if sometimes the boundaries between duty and desire blur...well, she's only human. But when Alex oversteps a line with Jonathan, one of her patients, she knows she's gone too far.
-
-
Kept me guessing!!
- By ROBIN on 05-26-18
By: Lucy Dawson
-
What My Best Friend Did
- By: Lucy Dawson
- Narrated by: Georgia Maguire
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alice's life has become a bit boring lately. Her friends are busy getting married and having babies, but she's not ready for those changes in her own life - not even sure she still loves her boyfriend. Then she meets Gretchen. A brand-new, fun and unencumbered friend. Gretchen knows how to have a good time, and she also has a totally gorgeous brother. Before she knows it, Alice has been swept up into her new best friend's world. But Gretchen has a dark secret. Will Alice learn the truth before she throws her old life away?
-
-
hmm
- By Claire Lieber on 03-11-19
By: Lucy Dawson
-
Things We Never Said
- By: Nick Alexander
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Catherine learns that she is dying, she remembers the words her husband once jokingly uttered and decides to leave him the ultimate posthumous gift: a time capsule containing photographs of their life together along with tape recordings in which she recounts every secret she ever kept, every unspoken thought whether loving or treacherous - the things they never said.
-
-
Boring couple, Boring Book
- By Shell on 12-23-18
By: Nick Alexander
-
The Brightest Star in the Sky
- A Novel
- By: Marian Keyes
- Narrated by: Caitriona Keyes
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Brightest Star in the Sky follows seven neighbors whose lives become entangled when a sassy and prescient spirit pays a visit to their Dublin townhouse with the intent of changing at least one of their lives. But what will this metamorphosis be and who will the sprite choose?
-
-
Terrible sound quality, worse narration
- By Jan on 02-23-10
By: Marian Keyes
-
My Sister’s Lies
- By: S.D. Robertson
- Narrated by: Emma Pallant
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a decade, Hannah’s life has been pretty close to perfect - she has a great job, she’s married to Mark, and her child-free existence means she’s free as a bird. The only sadness in her life is a fall-out with her sister Diane, who hasn’t spoken to her in over 10 years. But now Diane is on her doorstep - and this time, she’s got her teenage daughter, Mia, in tow. When Diane asks if Mia can stay with Hannah and Mark for a few days, Hannah is glad of the chance to get to know her niece. But as the days turn into weeks and Diane doesn’t return, Hannah begins to worry....
-
-
waste of time
- By BaronR on 07-27-19
By: S.D. Robertson
-
Forward Slash
- By: Mark Edwards, Louise Voss
- Narrated by: Jessica Ball, Ben Elliot
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He's posted on your wall. He's following you on Twitter. He knows where you are right now.... When Amy receives an email from her older sister, Becky, announcing that she's off travelling and 'don't try to find me', she is worried. Becky would never do such a thing on a whim. Amy - who is recovering from an abusive relationship that has left her terrified of love - soon finds that Becky had started using online dating sites. Aided by Becky's neighbour, Gary, Amy sets about tracking down the men her sister had dated.
-
-
I Wanted to Love It, but was Disappointed
- By MarisaReads on 12-31-16
By: Mark Edwards, and others
-
The Heart's Invisible Furies
- A Novel
- By: John Boyne
- Narrated by: Stephen Hogan
- Length: 21 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cyril Avery is not a real Avery - or at least that's what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn't a real Avery, then who is he? Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead.
-
-
Outstanding. A Must listen.
- By Keith G on 09-04-17
By: John Boyne
-
Those Who Lie
- By: Diane Jeffrey
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Emily Klein doesn’t know she has killed her husband until the day of his funeral. At first, signs point to a tragic accident. Yet, as Emily pieces together the events before his death - events which led to her own memory loss - she begins to suspect that her husband’s death may have been the result of more than a terrible twist of fate.... But the accident is only the beginning. Because while Emily’s physical scars will heal, the trauma of the accident has awakened old ghosts. She hears strange sounds, catches things that can’t possibly be there in the corner of her eye.
-
-
A page turner indeed
- By Mystical Lady on 12-07-18
By: Diane Jeffrey
-
Falling Off Air
- By: Catherine Sampson
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Robin Ballantyne's life is finally coming together. After learning she was pregnant with twins and being abandoned by her irresponsible boyfriend, Adam, she's settling into life as a single mother. But one night, after putting the children to bed, she hears an argument and suddenly, a body falls past her window. Running outside, she finds the body of Paula Carmichael, a renowned activist.
-
-
Rich, developed and unusual
- By Hannah Coale on 02-02-05
-
Watermelon
- By: Marian Keyes
- Narrated by: Gerri Halligan
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At 29, Claire is full of the joys of life - that is, until her husband leaves her on the day she gives birth to her baby. With a broken heart, a beautiful newly born and an expanding mirror image, she decides to visit her eccentric family in Dublin. There she starts to feel better. So much better, in fact, that James is in for a surprise when he decides to slither back into her life....
-
-
A fun read, every time
- By Audrey Smith on 01-06-23
By: Marian Keyes
-
The Third Wife
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Jewell
- Narrated by: Joe Jameson
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the early hours of a summer morning, a young woman steps into the path of an oncoming bus. A tragic accident? Or suicide? At the center of this puzzle is Adrian Wolfe, a successful architect and grief-stricken widower, who, a year after his third wife's death, begins to investigate the cause. As Adrian looks back on their brief but seemingly happy marriage, disturbing secrets begin to surface. The divorces from his two previous wives had been amicable, or so it seemed; his children, all five of them, were resilient as ever, or so he thought.
-
-
Not a mystery
- By Susan on 07-06-18
By: Lisa Jewell
-
He Will Find You
- By: Diane Jeffrey
- Narrated by: Claire Trusson
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kaitlyn Best is stuck in a rut. So when she discovers she's pregnant after a one-night stand with Alex, her school crush, she throws caution to the wind and accepts his offer to make a new life together in the depths of the Lake District, far from her home...and her demons. But Alex is not what he seems. And when Kaitlyn's world begins to crumble before her eyes, she realises she barely knows the man she has agreed to spend the rest of her life with.
-
-
OMG! Such a capturing story
- By Mike & Dakoda on 08-22-18
By: Diane Jeffrey
-
At Home with the Templetons
- By: Monica McInerney
- Narrated by: Ulli Birve
- Length: 19 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the Templeton family from England takes up residence in a stately home in country Australia, they set the locals talking – and with good reason. From the outside, the seven Templetons seem so bohemian, peculiar even. No one is more intrigued by the family than their neighbours, single mother Nina Donovan and her young son Tom. Before long, the two families' lives become entwined in unexpected ways.
-
-
A dreadful mistake
- By Julie on 11-14-10
By: Monica McInerney