Welcome to Brian’s Book Blog’s weekly New and Notable Audiobooks for the Week of December 15th.
We share the 10 (this week there are 13!) books from this week that caught our eye featuring Post-Apocalyptic, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thrillers, and more. Enjoy!
Comment below on any I missed or what you’re excited about!
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Affliction by Tom Abrahams
Narrated by Kevin Pierce
Piton Press LLC
A relentless disease. No cure. And no way to stop it.
The Alt Apocalypse is the newest ground-breaking series from Tom Abrahams.
It explores survival under the most extreme circumstances, but with a twist (and no cliffhangers). This series, which can be heard in any order, features the same core characters in each complete story. But every book dunks them into a new, alternate apocalypse: a nuclear holocaust, an earthquake, a flood, a wildfire, a hurricane, a plague, and even zombies.
Different heroes will emerge in each novel. Different characters will survive and perish. Your favorite character dies in one book? He or she will be back in the next. In the end you’ll unwind the loose thread that connects every character and every stand-alone story.
In Affliction, Abrahams tells the story of a mysterious team of researchers, four college friends, an ex-con, a lonely fry cook, and a secretive group of prepared civilians as they each battle to survive in southern California after an outbreak of a new, deadly disease with no known cure.
Can they find a way to stop it? Can they survive in an afflicted world?
Carbon by AJ Eversley
Narrated by Chelsea Stephens, Steve Campbell
“I’ve lost everything – my humanity, the man I loved – but I won’t let them win. I will not give up and I will fight back…because I made a vow and I intend to keep it.”
Sawyer spent most of her life hunting the very thing she has now become. No longer the Watcher she once was, Sawyer struggles to make sense of her new identity. Though she has new powers and abilities, she is also tied to the control that comes with those powers.
Desperate for help and answers, Sawyer travels to the United Isles with Max in search of an ally. Not only must she learn to harness her new abilities, she must find a way to mend a broken heart. Help comes in unexpected ways, and though she is ready to fight back, it’s not going to be easy.
Strangers will become allies. Lovers will become enemies. And a destiny formed before birth unfolds.
The epic journey continues, and the war for the human race draws ever closer. Join the resistance in the next chapter of the Watcher series.
Pandemic by Robin Cook
Narrated by George Guidall
Penguin Audio
The explosive new medical thriller from New York Times best-selling author Robin Cook.
After a young, seemingly healthy woman collapses suddenly on the NYC subway and dies by the time she reaches the hospital, her case is initially chalked up to a virulent strain of influenza. That is, until she ends up on Dr. Jack Stapleton’s autopsy table, where Jack discovers something eerily fishy: First, that the young woman has had a heart transplant, and second, that her DNA matches that of the transplanted heart.
Strangely, two more incidences of young people with this same sudden and rapid illness follow, and Jack fears that this could be the start of an unprecedented pandemic. But the facts aren’t adding up. Something is off about these cases, something creepy, and only Jack can figure it out before it’s too late.
Thus begins a race against time, during which Jack unveils the dark underbelly of the organ-transplant market. His name is Bui Zhao, a businessman and hospital board member who has been cheating the system by using organs and cells from chimeric pigs, via the gene-editing biotechnology CRISPER/CAS9, which allows pig genes to be inserted into living human cells.
In a climactic mortal showdown, Jack must face Zhao, the megalomaniac willing to risk the fate of the world to purse his commercial interests, if he wants to save the future of medicine.
Still of Night by Jonathan Maberry, Rachael Lavin
Narrated by Ray Porter
Journalstone Publishing
The dead rose. We fell.
But not everyone thinks the war for survival is over. Heroes rise in times of crisis, and Still of Night tells their stories….
Dahlia- A bullied high school girl with a love for edged weapons goes from victim to powerful leader as the zombie apocalypse sweeps through her world.
Rachael Elle continues her journey from comic-con cosplayer to actual hero as she encounter a community with a dark and terrible secret.
Captain Joe Ledger and his best shooters, Top and Bunny, head to an overrun San Diego to try and save a possible cure for the virus that is bringing the dead back to unnatural life.
And in the wilderness, Joe, Dahlia, and Rachael Elle will come face-to-face with savage gangs, an army of the living dead, and the mysterious and deadly Old Man Church.
The final battle unfolds in a little town called Happy Valley, where the residents have found their own unique and terrible way to survive the end of the world. But a war is coming, and no one will escape the last great war between the living and the dead.
Still of Night is the fourth book in NY Times best seller Jonathan Maberry’s best-selling Dead of Night series. George A. Romero called Dead of Night and its sequel, Fall of Night, “The official prequel to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD as far as I’m concerned.”
Wildlife: Reckoning by Jeff Menapace
Narrated by Jeff Hays, Annie Ellicott
Mind Mess Press
Life in the swamp just got wilder….
“The Swamp Massacre.” That’s what the media dubbed it. A family on a boat tour through the Florida Everglades. Abducted by the infamous Roy family. Forced to endure hell.
Five years later, an aspiring filmmaker and her friends are keen on making a documentary about the incident and to venture into the isolated wilds of the Everglades in hopes of capturing footage that will stun the world silent. They’re going to get their wish. Unfortunately.
This terrifying follow-up to the critically acclaimed Wildlife, Wildlife: Reckoning plunges us deeper into the darkest corners of the swamp…and reminds us that man is the deadliest animal of all.
Soundbooth Theater is proud to work together with Jeff Menapace once again to revisit a classic horror/thriller, originally narrated by Jeff Hays – Wildlife! This time, Annie Ellicott joins in to play the documentary filmmaker and protagonist, Stacey, and the adorably psychotic and horrifying Darla Roy! The Soundbooth Theater team for this production:
Jeff Hays – Narration, Music, Sound Design
Annie Ellicott – Stacey, Darla Roy, and the rest of the female cast
Emily Labes – Editing and Proofing
Griffin Malnar – Editing, Mastering, and Sound Design
Standstill by Jack Probyn
Narrated by Paul Delaross
Cliff Edge Press
Terrorism just got personal.
In the oppressive London summer heat, two brothers orchestrate the deadliest terror attack the city has ever seen. Three airport-bound trains are brought to a standstill with thousands held hostage. And when the dust settles, the Metropolitan Police are left scrambling for solutions.
The terrorists promise to let hostages go, but first, Detective Jake Tanner must play his part in their twisted games. The rules are simple – follow them, and no one gets hurt. Break them, and the consequences will be fatal. But when he discovers the identity of one of the passengers, Jake realizes this isn’t just about saving hostages.
Battling a faceless figure who’s appointed himself God, Jake must save the passengers before the city descends into utter mayhem.
But how far will he go? Will he save everyone in time? And will he like the chilling truth he learns along the way?
Standstill is the first audiobook in the pulsating Jake Tanner terror series. If you like gut-wrenching, nauseatingly suspenseful edge-of-your-seat thrill rides that’ll leave you begging for sleep, you’ll love this.
Invasion: A Military Thriller by DC Alden
Narrated by Alan Medcroft
When a powerful new Caliphate unites the Islamic world, it casts its vengeful westwards to Europe, where economic and political chaos has left its nations divided and weakened.
As a million-strong army masses on Europe’s borders, encrypted messages flash across the continent, the signal for thousands of heavily armed sleeper teams to mobilize and move quietly into position….
When a massive truck bomb obliterates Whitehall and an airliner is shot from the sky over London, Prime Minister Harry Beecham is ordered to escape the city and head west to a secret government complex buried deep beneath the English countryside.
As the invasion gathers pace and England buckles before the military onslaught, Harry and his team quickly realize that sanctuary must lie elsewhere, far to the north, where remaining British forces have gathered along an ancient border to await the final battle for survival.
The David Rivers Series by Jason Kasper
Narrated by Adam Gold
A troubled war hero. A criminal mastermind. And the meeting of two fatal enemies….
Former Special Forces officer and best-selling author Jason Kasper delivers a gripping thriller series that follows an Army Ranger into the mercenary depths of an international crime syndicate. A veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, David Rivers is a flawed and complex hero whose journey of vengeance takes him to new battlegrounds in the US, Africa, and South America…and toward his ultimate confrontation with the most ruthless enemy he’s ever faced.
Audiobook one: Greatest Enemy
Army Ranger David Rivers enters the covert underworld of ex-special operators for hire, tasked to serve a faceless criminal mastermind known as the Handler. But as the stakes continue to rise, he learns his new employer is more ruthless than anyone he’s faced in combat – and he just might be David’s greatest enemy.
Audiobook two: Offer of Revenge
After the betrayal of his mercenary team, David Rivers seeks revenge against the Handler, but first, he must join the secretive and lethal organization that serves him. Sent into battle against a savage force of enemy fighters in Somalia, David realizes someone inside the organization seems to know his true purpose…and has been waiting for him all along.
Audiobook three: Dark Redemption
The path to revenge leads David Rivers into a labyrinth of twisted loyalties in the violent slums of Rio de Janeiro – and he learns that the betrayal of his former teammates was just the beginning. As a whirlwind of lethal confrontations in Rio brings David and the Handler to a final confrontation, he realizes the consequences of his tireless search for vengeance might just be worse than death.
This explosive debut thriller series by a former Green Beret has electrified fans of Vince Flynn, David Baldacci, Lee Child, and Brad Taylor. If you like razor-sharp dialogue, conflicted characters, and adrenaline-pumping action scenes, you’ll love the David Rivers series because it has all three in spades. Pick up your copy today.
Fat Camp by James Sabata
Narrated by Mark Sando
Since 1985, more than 500 overweight teenagers have come to Camp Wašíču looking to lose weight, gain self-confidence, and turn their lives around. Phillip McCracken arrives, weighing in at almost 400 pounds; but the baggage he carries from the past affects him much more deeply than the numbers of the scale.
When a homicidal maniac hell-bent on revenge attacks, Phillip will be forced to either find the courage to save the people around him or fall victim to his own self-doubt…and possibly a machete.
This coming-of-age story – cleverly disguised as a slasher – delivers horror, humor, and a little stab of nostalgia for anyone who grew up even slightly afraid of the dark.
The Scattered and the Dead Series: The First Four Books by Tim McBain, L.T. Vargus
Narrated by Christopher Boucher
Smarmy Press
More than 37 hours of post-apocalyptic survival.
With 99.7 percent of the Earth’s population dead and gone, the few who remain struggle to survive in an empty world. The scattered. The leftovers. These are their stories.
This collection contains the first four volumes of the Scattered and the Dead series, audiobooks 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0.
Meet Mitch, a father infected with the zombie virus. His wife is gone. He has 24 hours until he turns. Can he make sure his kids are taken care of before time runs out?
Meet Travis, a 23-year-old wimp who ran away as his parents were murdered by raiders. Surrounded by towers of scavenged booze and pills, he only wants to numb the pain…until he happens upon the men who killed his family. Now, he has a choice.
Meet Erin. She’s 16. Six months ago, she was worried about prom. Now, she worries about zombies and raiders and feeding an eight-year-old orphan.
Meet Baghead. Meet Ray and Lorraine. Meet Decker and Teddy and Fiona.
Meet the utterly lost who look for meaning in humanity’s fading glow. Meet the scattered and the dead. Grab the audiobook bundle today.
The Prisoner by Sara Allyn
Narrated by Andrew Tell
Sara Allyn Liva
Maria is an American graduate student lured to the planet of Olrona by the naverkoo, a mysterious entity with a nearly limitless power to create and transform life. In what she believes to be a dream, she walks onto an interplanetary transport ship and is taken to the secluded mountain city of Pegasea on the planet of Olrona.
The highly evolved people of Pegasea struggle to maintain their population despite a dire shortage of Pegasean women. In order to avoid social strife as they face inevitable extinction, they live under a strict set of social rules known as the Pegasean Rules of Order and Etiquette (or “PROEs”), which quickly become the bane of Maria’s existence as she tries to adapt to life in this alien city.
Shortly after arriving in Pegasea, a Pegasean man named “Orook”, the city’s First Engineer, is enlisted to host Maria as she acclimates to life on this new planet. Orook is cold, rigid, and has little use for, or interest in, human women. While the Pegaseans suffer from a multitude of emotional voids, the deepest of these is the one left by the vocunine, a lupine species which abandoned them over a 1,000 years ago. When a formidable species of predator invades the valley, the First Sociologist, Pullmoo, orchestrates a plan to reconnect the mountain vocunine with the people of Pegasea. As her plan unfolds, Maria receives an unexpected summons, requesting that she accompany the First Guardsman into the Eye of Olrona. Orook is skeptical of their motives and concerned for Maria’s safety, but leaves the decision to Maria.
Ultimately, Maria agrees to go into the mountain, where she at last comes fact-to-face with the naverkoo. The naverkoo makes an unexpected request of Maria and offers Maria an unexpected gift in exchange.
Dawn of the Storm by Kim Cresswell
Narrated by Sarah L. Colton
A jihadist pledges his allegiance to al Qaeda with an unthinkable act…and the terrorist cell is just getting started.
Raina Storm, the CIA’s most lethal operative, is off the grid, leading a secluded and comfortable life with her six-year-old daughter in Barstow, California. But peace is short-lived when a former FBI agent and an ex-intelligence officer track Raina down and blackmail her into helping them stop a new threat.
In a race against the clock, the team must hunt down the terrorists before a dirty bomb is smuggled out of Colombia and into the United States.
A new action-packed crossover series featuring Raina Storm and characters from Kim Cresswell’s award-winning Whitney Steel romantic thriller series.
Think Yourself Lucky by Ramsey Campbell
Narrated by Adam McCoy
Flame Tree Audio
David Botham just wants a quiet ordinary life – his job at the travel agency, his relationship with his girlfriend Stephanie. The online blog that uses a title he once thought up has nothing to do with him. He has no idea who is writing it or where they get their information about a series of violent deaths in Liverpool. If they’re murders, how can the killer go unseen even by security cameras? Perhaps David won’t know until they come too close to him – until he can’t ignore the figure from his past that is catching up with him….
- Snapped (Agent Jade Monroe #1) by C. M. Sutter (Narrated by Meghan Kelly) - March 21, 2023
- Dungeon World Drifters (System Apocalypse – Relentless #2) by Craig Hamilton & Tao Wong (Narrated by Shamaan Casey) - March 19, 2023
- New and Notable Audiobook Releases for the Week of March 18th on Brian’s Book Blog - March 18, 2023
