I haven’t heard any talk about this audiodrama, so I must say it’s lovely and hype it up. This book is a fusion by the authors Dan Wells and Brandon Sanderson, and you can feel the influence of both authors. It has the bleak horror vibes of Dan Wells’ ‘I am not a serial killer’ series as well as the intricate but logical magic system of Sanderson.
I don’t want to say much for fear of spoiling it, so I’ll summarize it.
In short, this novel exists only in audio format. Why? Because this novel is a six-episode long true-crime podcast. The protagonist Catherine discovered a cold case mystery- that of a dead musician- and became determined to unravel her murder. This book was a full cast drama, with Catherine and her side kick Sophie going on to interview different people, gathering clues. Every person they interviewed had a different of voice actor to play their role. It skips traditional narrative like ‘he said,’ or ‘she said’ or ‘she wore a lemon colored rain coat.’ Instead this is a performance, like a radio play. The various performances were full of verve and life; I read tons of audiobooks, and I have to say they are always my favorites.
This book was short, clocking in at a compelling 6 hours long. I think this will be in the running for being one of the top ten books I’ll read this year.
And finally, some small spoilers for this and Doctor Who.
If I were to add a critique, the narrative made a reference to Doctor Who. Apparently Catherine is a Who fan. That’s good! However, the main antagonist in this book had the same superpower as The Silence from Doctor Who. It felt weird that Catherine deliberately invoked Doctor Who as a trope, but neglected to mention a major villain like The Silent.
John Mendez- Book Reviews and More 