Welcome to Brian’s Book Blog’s weekly New and Notable Audiobooks Post for the Week of December 7th.
Comment below on any I missed or what you’re excited about!
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Genesis by Robin Cook
Narrated by George Guidall
Penguin Audio
New York Times best-selling author Robin Cook takes on the ripped-from-the-headlines topic of harnessing DNA from ancestry websites to catch a killer in this timely and explosive new medical thriller.
When the body of 28-year-old social worker Kera Jacobsen shows up on Chief New York City Medical Examiner Laurie Montgomery’s autopsy table, at first it appears she was the victim of a tragic yet routine drug overdose. But for Laurie and her new pathology resident, the brilliant but enigmatic Dr. Aria Nichols, little things aren’t adding up. Kera’s family and friends swear she never touched drugs. Administrators from the hospital where Kera worked are insisting the case be shrouded in silence. And although Kera was 10 weeks pregnant, nobody seems to know who the father was – or whether he holds the key to Kera’s final moments alive.
As a medical emergency temporarily sidelines Laurie, impulsive Aria turns to a controversial new technique: using genealogical DNA databases to track down those who don’t want to be found. Working with experts at a start-up ancestry website, she plans to trace the fetus’ DNA back to likely male relatives in the hopes of identifying the mystery father.
But when Kera’s closest friend and fellow social worker is murdered, the need for answers becomes even more urgent. Because someone out there clearly doesn’t want Kera’s secrets to come to light…and if Aria gets any closer to the truth, she and Laurie might find themselves a killer’s next targets.
Anyone by Charles Soule
Narrated by Emily Woo Zeller
HarperAudio
Charles Soule brings his signature knowledge – and wariness – of technology to his sophomore novel set in a realistic future about a brilliant female scientist who creates a technology that allows for the transfer of human consciousness between bodies, and the transformations this process wreaks upon the world.
Inside a barn in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a scientist searching for an Alzheimer’s cure throws a switch – and finds herself mysteriously transported into her husband’s body. What begins as a botched experiment will change her life – and the world – forever…
Over two decades later, all across the planet, “flash” technology allows individuals the ability to transfer their consciousness into other bodies for specified periods, paid, registered and legal. Society has been utterly transformed by the process, from travel to warfare to entertainment; “Be anyone with Anyone” the tagline of the company offering this ultimate out-of-body experience. But beyond the reach of the law and government regulators is a sordid black market called the darkshare, where desperate “vessels” anonymously rent out their bodies, no questions asked for any purpose – sex, drugs, crime… or worse.
Anyone masterfully interweaves the present-day story of the discovery and development of the flash with the gritty tale of one woman’s crusade to put an end to the darkness it has brought to the world 25 years after its creation. Like Blade Runner crossed with Get Out, Charles Soule’s thought-provoking work of speculative fiction takes us to a world where identity, morality, and technology collide.
Dead Astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer
Narrated by Emily Woo Zeller
Blackstone Publishing
A messianic blue fox who slips through warrens of time and space on a mysterious mission. A homeless woman haunted by a demon who finds the key to all things in a strange journal. A giant leviathan of a fish, centuries old, who hides a secret, remembering a past that may not be its own.
Three ragtag rebels waging an endless war for the fate of the world against an all-powerful corporation. A raving madman who wanders the desert lost in the past, haunted by his own creation: an invisible monster whose name he has forgotten and whose purpose remains hidden.
Jeff VanderMeer’s Dead Astronauts presents a city with no name of its own where, in the shadow of the all-powerful Company, lives – human and otherwise – converge in terrifying and miraculous ways. At stake: the fate of the future, the fate of Earth – all the Earths.
In the Dark by Loreth Anne White
Narrated by Susan Hanfield
Brilliance Publishing
A secluded mountain lodge. The perfect getaway. So remote no one will ever find you.
The promise of a luxury vacation at a secluded wilderness spa has brought together eight lucky guests. But nothing is what they were led to believe. As a fierce storm barrels down and all contact with the outside is cut off, the guests fear that it’s not a getaway. It’s a trap.
Each one has a secret. Each one has something to hide. And now, as darkness closes in, they all have something to fear – including one another.
Alerted to the vanished party of strangers, homicide cop Mason Deniaud and search and rescue expert Callie Sutton must brave the brutal elements of the mountains to find them. But even Mason and Callie have no idea how precious time is. Because the clock is ticking, and one by one, the guests of Forest Shadow Lodge are being hunted. For them, surviving becomes part of a diabolical game.
Fight the Good Fight by Daniel Gibbs
Narrated by Jeffrey Kafer
Aethon Audio
Corporal David Cohen thought he’d left war behind.
He was wrong.
The Terran Coalition faces repeated and brutal attacks from the repressive League of Sol. To defend his home planet, David trades his dream of becoming a rabbi for a battlefront in the far reaches of space. When particle beams fly, his courage under fire brings quick promotion. But in the lulls between battles when he must confront his soul, David finds a different enemy: the ghosts of those killed under his command.
Yet in war, it’s kill or be killed – and the enemy shows no mercy.
David must square the tenets of his faith against his responsibility to crew and country. If he fails in his command, billions face enslavement by a ruthless regime. Now it’s an all-out fight for the galaxy’s freedom.
Because a man’s greatest foe lies within.
If you love Babylon 5, Safehold, and Destroyermen, you must listen to Echoes of War, a military sci-fi series that will take you to the heart of duty, sacrifice, and the unseen scars of those who serve.
Bao: A Novel by Paul Nyhart
Narrated by Paul Nyhart
After being strong-armed into selling his tech company, Myron, a world-renowned computer programmer, slips into a depression he fears he won’t get out of. Overcome by the rapid beats in his chest, the anxiety locking up his arms and legs, and the voices telling him he’s physically ill, he realizes he’s nearing a breaking point…until a familiar foe – the company that sent him into his crisis – offers him a curious opportunity: the chance to build a human being.
The company needs him to finish what they could only begin. Myron needs something to make him ignore the thoughts telling him he could end. While Myron confronts a force he’s imagined to always be bigger than him, the thought that “all is not well” becomes quieted through his interactions with his new creation, Bao, who has some quirks of his own. Bao looks exactly like any other middle-aged white man but with one peculiarity: He only speaks Chinese.
As Myron battles an old foe trying to act friendly, Bao begins to understand what makes him unique. One must drive without knowing where the road ends. The other must jump without knowing how far is the fall.
What will one human do to get back the life he thought he’d lost? How far will one robot go to become human?
Faced with ending the life he created or suffering through one he wishes he could forget, Myron overcomes his fears to discover a strength he never knew was present. A discovery that teaches him the true meaning of precious.
Hello World by Peter Cawdron
Narrated by A Man with a Cat
Hello World represents a decade of science fiction by author Peter Cawdron. This collection of 16 short stories and novellas, including four previously unpublished stories, will take you out of this world.
Featuring:
Hello World
The Man Who Remembered Today
Mirror, Mirror
Butch & Sundance
Killer
Revolution
Lost Stars
Natural
Heil Hitler
The End
Don’t Tell
Abraham
More to Learn
Suffer the Children
Deja Vu
The Darkness Between the Stars
Reputation by Sara Shepard
Narrated by Lisa Flanagan, Allyson Ryan, Phoebe Strole, Brittany Pressley, Karissa Vacker
Penguin Audio
In this perfectly-paced new novel from Sara Shepard, the number one New York Times best-selling author of Pretty Little Liars, the women of a tight-knit college town learn through gossip, scandal, betrayal, and even murder who their neighbors and husbands really are.
Aldrich University is rocked to its core when a hacker dumps 40,000 people’s e-mails – the entire faculty, staff, students, alums – onto an easily searchable database. Rumors and affairs immediately leak, but things turn explosive when Kit Manning’s handsome husband, Dr. Greg Strasser, is found murdered. Kit’s sister, Willa, returns for the funeral, setting foot in a hometown she fled 15 years ago, after a night she wishes she could forget. As an investigative reporter, Willa knows something isn’t right about the night Greg was killed, and she’s determined to find the truth. What she doesn’t expect is that everyone has something to hide. And with a killer on the loose, Willa and Kit must figure out who killed Greg before someone else is murdered.
Told from multiple points of view, Reputation is full of twists, turns, and shocking reveals. It’s a story of intrigue, sabotage, and the secrets we keep – and how far we go to keep them hidden. Number one best seller Sara Shepard is at the top of her game in this brand-new adult novel.
Featuring Lisa Flanagan as Kit, Allyson Ryan as Willa, Phoebe Strole as Raina, Brittany Pressley as Laura, and Karissa Vacker as Lynn.
Bones & Drones by K.A. Goodsell
Narrated by Carrie Coello
Hanging out in a cemetery isn’t every girl’s idea of a good time, but for Paislee Grimes, the dead can be the best company.
Raised in the sleepy Connecticut town of Pine Grove by an undertaker and a coroner, Paislee has seen more than her fair share of death, and she’s right at home amid the morbid and macabre.
She’s happy enough to spend her last months before college cobbling together a history of the place she loves most and studying the lives of the people buried in her backyard, but when the body of a classmate turns up face down in the lake, it’s Paislee’s time to shine.
Armed with a fierce drive and a gift for forensic anthropology, Paislee dives headfirst into the biggest shock Pine Grove has ever seen.
Suddenly, everyone is a suspect – friends, love interests, and even the mayor. And in a community as tight-knit as hers, no one wants to believe the killer could be one of their own.
But where there’s a murder, there’s a murderer, and with more questions than answers, it’s beginning to look like Paislee is the only one who can connect the dots.
I Hate You More by Alexandra Moody
Narrated by Stephanie Rose, Brandon Utah
Tantor
Ever heard of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer?
That’s exactly what Ally Lockwood has to do when the hottest guy at Fairview High, who is also her sworn nemesis, moves in with her family for senior year.
Most girls would do anything to live across the hall from Chase Williams, but Ally isn’t fooled by his good looks or brooding charm. She’s been on the wrong side of him for years, and knows all too well how sly and manipulative he truly is.
She’s desperate to get rid of him. Luckily, her friends have a genius plan to ensure Ally’s over-protective father kicks Chase out of the house for good.
All she has to do is convince him to date her and make sure they get caught…
Training Ground by Kate Christie
Narrated by Britney Gil
Sometimes a chance meeting can change everything.
At 15, Jamie Maxwell’s main goals in life are to make the United States youth national soccer pool, move past the Incident-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named, and maybe – someday – kiss a girl. When she meets Emma Blakeley at a tournament in Southern California, something about the older girl draws her in. And it isn’t that she expects to ever get the chance to kiss Emma. Really.
When Jamie invites her to sneak out on the last night of Surf Cup, Emma doesn’t go because she likes Jamie’s smile. She goes because, as the daughter of a surgeon and a nurse, she has a genetic predisposition to try to heal people. And Jamie, she can tell, is wounded.
Neither girl suspects that this first last night together will form the basis of a bond that will last across years and miles, from SoCal soccer fields and New York hotels to Portuguese beaches and the streets of Vancouver. But that’s how most friendships begin, isn’t it? With a smile and a nod and the courage to ask, “Do you maybe, possibly, want to come with me”?
- No Rules of Engagement by Tracey Richardson (Narrated by Joana Garcia) - September 28, 2023
- Love at First Set by Jennifer Dugan (Narrated Narrated by Lori Prince) - September 26, 2023
- New and Notable Audiobook Releases for the Week of September 23rd on Brian’s Book Blog - September 23, 2023
