Audiobooks that keep you on the edge of your seat

Note: This information refers to what is currently owned by St. Charles Public Library. If you would like a title but the format you need is not listed, please speak with Reader Services about locating a copy from another library.

Key
A = CD audiobook
Ac = Cassette audiobook
Ea = e-audiobook
P = Playaway

Fiction

The Darling
Russell Banks; Read by Mary Beth Hurt
AUDIO BOOK FIC BAN (A)
Hannah Taylor, a political radical wanted by the FBI, flees to Liberia. There she befriends the notorious warlord Charles Taylor, a choice that will eventually embroil her sons in Liberia’s bloody rebellion and force her to make heart-rending decisions about the fate of her family.

Flashback*
Nevada Barr; Read by Barbara Rosenblat
AUDIO BOOK FIC BAR (Ea)
This suspense novel weaves together the story of Anna Pigeon, a Ranger on temporary assignment in the Dry Tortugas, and a 150-year-old mystery involving the Lincoln conspiracy. Tension rises as each chapter moves back and forth in time.

Bet Me
Jennifer Crusie; Read by Deanna Hurst
AUDIO BOOK FIC CRU (Ac)
Minerva, overweight and over-cautious, gets dumped by her boyfriend shortly before he is to escort her to her sister’s wedding. She overhears her ex betting that even Cal, the “used car salesman of seducers” couldn’t get Minerva into bed. Her attempt to prove both men wrong misfires in this witty and racy comedy of errors.

Vertical Run
Joseph Garber; Read by Sean Pratt
AUDIO BOOK FIC GAR (Ac)
David Elliot would very much like to know why everyone, from his family to the government, suddenly wants him dead. Trapped in his office building, he falls back on skills honed in Vietnam to elude his killers and discover the truth in this action-suspense thriller.

Cast of Shadows
Kevin Guilfoile; Read by Scott Brick
AUDIO BOOK FIC GUI  (A)
When a fertility doctor’s teenage daughter is raped and murdered, he does the unthinkable: he uses DNA from the crime scene to clone the killer, hoping that one day he will be able to identify the murderer by his resemblance to the clone. An interesting mix of speculative fiction and creepy, character-driven psychological suspense.

Retribution
Jilliane Hoffman; Read by Kathe Mazur
AUDIO BOOK FIC HOF (Ac)
Years after a harrowing assault, an elite prosecutor confronts a lethal predator in this thrilling tale of the choice between justice and retribution. You won’t see the ending coming!

The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini; Read by the author
AUDIO BOOK FIC HOS (A,  Ea)
Detailed character studies set against the backdrop of exotic Afghani customs highlight this fascinating and deeply personal tale about how childhood choices affect our adult lives.

O Jerusalem!
Laurie R. King; Read by Jenny Sterlin
AUDIO BOOK FIC KIN (Ac  Ea)
Sherlock Holmes and his apprentice Mary Russell travel to Palestine incognito to investigate a murder and end up preventing the destruction of Jerusalem in this well-read mystery.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
Stephen King; Read by Anne Heche
AUDIO BOOK FIC KIN  (A)
Gripping, intense story that wonderfully captures the fears, hopes and pains of nine-year-old Trisha who gets lost when she wanders off the beaten path of the Appalachian Trail to escape her bickering family.

The Impressionist
Hari Kunzru; Read by the author
AUDIO BOOK FIC KUN  (Ac)
This fast-moving yarn charts the life of a young man who, after being disowned by his wealthy family for his mixed heritage, constantly reinvents himself with assumed identities as he travels from India to England to Africa.

Cuba Libre
Elmore Leonard; Read by George Guidall
AUDIO BOOK FIC LEO  (A)
Cowboy (and former bank robber) Ben Tyler is trying to escape from Cuba during the Spanish-American war in this action-packed adventure filled with colorful characters.

The Preservationist
David Maine; Read by Tyler Bunch, Wendy Hoopes, Clayton Barclay Jones, John Randolph Jones, Jenna Lamia, David Pittu, Maggi-Meg Reed, and Barbara Rosenblat
AUDIO BOOK FIC MAI  (Ac)
An inventive perspective on the lives of Noah and his family as they undertake God’s seemingly impossible command to build the ark. The characters take turns sharing their point of view in this heartfelt story of family, faith and survival.

The Time Traveler’s Wife
Audrey Niffenegger; Read by Maggi-Meg Reed and Christopher Burns
AUDIO BOOK FIC NIF (A  P)
In this highly original novel, Henry, a dashing librarian at the Newberry Library in Chicago, finds himself unaccountably whisked back and forth in time. On one of his trips he meets Clare with whom he begins a lifelong passion. Unfortunately, while Clare’s life progresses normally, Henry’s age darts back and forth as he moves through time. A poignant literary love story filled with humor and tenderness. (Note: audio version is abridged.)

The Doomsday Book
Connie Willis; Read by Jenny Sterlin
AUDIO BOOK FIC WIL (Ac  Ea)
In a future when historians use time travel to study other eras, a scholar finds herself wrongly sent to the Middle Ages during the plague. Meanwhile, a previously unknown virus has broken out in present day England. Could the two events be connected? An intriguing fantasy.

Nonfiction

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness and the Fair that Changed America
Erik Larson; Read by Scott Brick
AUDIO BOOK 364.1523 LAR (A  Ea)
This engrossing mix of history and true crime alternates between preparations for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and the ghastly activities of the charismatic sociopath who was the first serial killer in the U.S.

Me Talk Pretty One Day
David Sedaris; Read by the author
AUDIO BOOK 818.54 SED (A  Ea)
Sedaris muses on his unusual childhood in North Carolina with rueful laughter and ironic insights.

In a Sunburned Country
Bill Bryson; Read by the author
AUDIO BOOK 919.4 BRY (A  Ea)
Bryson recounts his adventures as a tourist in Australia’s unique and bizarre environment in this fascinating and laugh-out-loud funny travelogue.

American Sphinx  
Joseph J. Ellis; Read by Susan O’Malley
AUDIO BOOK 973.46 ELL (A  Ea)
A rich biography of the life and politics of Thomas Jefferson that provides a better idea of what a talented, as well as complex and flawed, person he was.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
John Berendt; Narrated by Jeff Woodman
AUDIO BOOK 975.8724 BER  (A)
Witty observations on the lives and intrigues of a cast of eccentric characters in Savannah, Georgia, including the wealthy antiques dealer who is tried four times for the shooting death of his sometime lover. Part travelogue, part true-crime this is nonfiction that “reads” like fiction.

8/05
9/12 format update mcs

St. Charles Public Library

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