They Never Came Home

By: Lois Duncan

Narrated by: Jeanna Phillips

Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

When high school buddies Larry Drayfus and Dan Cotwell take a backpacking trip into the Mogollon Mountains, nobody is concerned when they don’t come home exactly on time. Dan is a natural outdoorsman, and he knows the mountains well. Larry is smart and resourceful. But soon the boys’ families must accept the unthinkable, as little sign of them can be found in the hills.

For Larry’s sister - and Dan’s girlfriend - Joan, grief soon turns to mystery when some of her brother’s old acquaintances start calling with strange and threatening messages. In They Never Came Home, the truth of Larry and Dan’s disappearance is far more shocking than any of their loved ones can anticipate.

©1969 Lois Duncan Arquette (P)2013 Audible Inc.

Interesting...

This book was originally published in 1968. As a pre-teen in the 80’s, I remember reading Lois Duncan’s books and liking the “old fashioned” vibe, LOL. Imagine my surprise when I listened to this 2013 audiobook version, to hearing references to cell phones and the internet! Huh??? The entire listening experience became oxymoronic to me, as the language, names of characters, as well as their clothing and habits, have a distinct 1968 vibe, but there are sudden modern tech references thrown in that made me feel like I was time traveling! Not unpleasant, I still enjoyed the book. It was just a little odd.

Saliva

The book is good, the story is good. The person reading however, you can hear their spit the whole time it is so unsettling listening to someone’s saliva when they talk it’s almost unbearable especially with headphones in.

Distracting Anachronistic Additions

Why not leave the original 1969 text in tact? Adding contemporary details like cell phone and internet to a text with traditional gender norms and mid-century language conventions was a poor choice, disorienting a reader

Just no

You cannot take a book from the 50s or 60s and throw some online classes and cell phones in there and make it work that easily. Kids aren’t as gullible these days and sexism isn’t so blazingly obvious. The plot could work but the story would need a whole rewrite.

God awful narrator

Story is okay… but the narrator’s voice is BEYOND AWFUL. Cringe worthy. Omg. I don’t understand why someone would choose this person.

thought I was losing my mind

the language was so dated but then they would say internet and cell phones. but it was obviously a long time ago. weird but a good story. I liked it.

Suspenseful and attention grabbing!

This book was just a random”I’m at work bored” pick WOWZA!!! So glad I chose this one… kept me on my toes till the very end!!

Awful narration

The narration is awful. the tone the narrator uses for each character does not match how they should sound at all. The anragonists voices sound girly and feminine, delicate even- much like the little sister in the story. It definitely takes away from the story.

Sexist themes

This story is read and performed very well, which is the only reason I listened to all of it. There entire plot surrounding Joan is sexist. The story line is also quite unbelievable.

terrible

awfully written. read well. story sucked. most of her books are great. this one wasn't.

don't bother

this could of been a fantastic plot but instead kept switching time frames so was very confusing. at the end the story just kinda stopped so it felt incomplete.

don't bother reading even for free waste of time

who are writing these boring books. even though this was free this insult intelligence

quite confusing

I really enjoyed the narrator and her voice, she is very good with a lovely voice to listen to. In all honesty, she was the reason I continued listening.
This could have been such a good plot.
Unfortunately it played out in a confusing way, chopping between things so the listener is left unsure as to the time frame, what the characters are doing and when. It was just rather confusing and muddled. I think chapter breaks or even stating the dates as such, would have made it a little easier to understand.
A few times I had to go back to try and hold on to what was actually happening, but stuck with it until the very end, which I have to admit was a little disappointing as it could have really continued into a much more satisfying ending. Instead it kind of just cuts off, leaving the listener wondering what the rest of the outcome might be.