The Toll

By: Cherie Priest

Narrated by: T. Ryder Smith

Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

State Road 177 runs along the Suwannee River, between Fargo, Georgia, and the Okefenokee Swamp. Drive that route from east to west, and you'll cross six bridges. Take it from west to east, and you might find seven. But you'd better hope not. Titus and Melanie Bell leave their hotel in Fargo for a second honeymoon canoeing the Okefenokee Swamp. But shortly before they reach their destination, they draw up to a halt at the edge of a rickety bridge with old stone pilings, with room for only one car....

When, much later, a tow-truck arrives, the driver finds Titus lying in the middle of the road, but Davina is nowhere to be found.

©2019 Cherie Priest (P)2019 Recorded Books

An Enjoyable Listen

Generally speaking, I enjoyed the story. It was well-paced and had an interesting concept. I absolutely loved all three of the old lady characters, although I wish we had seen more of Nettie. I also liked the character of Cameron a lot.

I enjoyed the humor infused throughout the story, but I didn't feel like there was enough of a sense of dread. It honestly didn't seem like anyone really cared about this missing woman, which seemed odd, especially for a town where this has been happening ever 13 years.

I also felt like I needed a little background about the town. I mean, there were things going on in this town that just don't happen in most places.

The narrator was okay, but not my favorite. he had a tendency to make the characters, especially Cam, Melanie, Jess, and Titus, sound really whiny. He also had this strange lilt or cadence in his voice that made him sound a little monotonous at times.

So, bottom line, a good book, but not a great one.

this wasn't what I was expecting

The narrator was really good and kept me interested in the story. The story itself was not as scary as I thought it would be, but it was still good. I would recommend this for anyone who wants to be entertained

Wonderful

I loved it. It reminded me of Steven King, to a point. My only nitpick is the audio seemed to drag in places making accents feel over done. I adjusted the play back speed to 1.15 and that seemed to clear it up for me. Could have been a bad dowlload or even just my phone.

Perfect summer horror read

Southern Gothic horror is the best choice for horror to enjoy during the summer. The heat & humidity plus the shadows the trees throw when the summer sun starts to set just lend to the perfect atmosphere on the mountaintop I live on to put on a Southern Gothic book & this was the perfect choice for today’s book. Atmospheric and suspenseful, this is a great choice of book to read!

Don't Pay It

Ridiculous story that starts off well, then takes a dive after ghosts appear to be commonplace and acceptable. Decent performance but cringe-worthy writing. Especially bad the umpteenth time I heard a line repeated in one of the closing chapters that I can't repeat or it would spoil what there is of the plot. Silly.

Southern Spooky

This story goes down smooth and fiery like good whiskey. It's creepy, atmospheric and full of "granny magic"; a fairy tale retold as modern folk lore and oh so darkly delightful.

Boring

I loved Cherie Priest's other novel "The Family Plot", but this one was painfully, painfully boring. I never fast forward through audiobooks, but this one was so repetitive and there was so little plot, I felt like I had to. The ending was so unfulfilling. I was super disappointed. Try her other books and skip this one.

Another excellent Gothic horror story from Cherie Priest

If you like gothic horror you need to listen to this one. It makes you wonder all the way to the end what’s finally going to happen. Highly recommend

Sucks you right in

Wonderful use of setting as a character! Loved it and couldn't stop listening. Great narration as well.

good stuff here but overall meh

The narrator gave his all and I enjoyed him. The author writes well, no cliches or tired, gimmicky, repeated lines, but the book was slow which left me too restless to keep my interest. I finished the book but felt unsatisfied in the end.

super Suspense story with a twist

I love Cherie Priest works anyway one of the things I love about her work is that you never really know in which direction her books go and this one turned and twisted in brilliant ways