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Where's the Story?

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
1 out of 5 stars
Story
2 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 06-19-25

Like many others have said, this doesn't really go anywhere. It feels like a writing exercise where the author was asked to create a character using specific prompts. To that end, the protagonist is extremely interesting and well-crafted, albeit unlikeable. I would have liked to have seen her actually go through some sort of character arc.

The author has a pleasant voice, but is a terrible narrator. I thought her emotionless, deadpan reading was perhaps a choice to match the protagonist's extremely walled-off personality, but no: I tried a sample of some of her other work, and the author narrates her other books with the same flat monotone.

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2 people found this helpful

Broad City Vibes

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 06-08-25

If you like Broad City, you'll enjoy this. It's a story of friendship between two smart and fun, but messy and inappropriate women. I don't usually like raunchy humor (not because I have a problem with sexual humor, I just prefer innuendo and double entendre), but the scenes were funny enough for me to get past the... sounds.

Voice acting was excellent. I love Zoe Chao, but I think she often gets typecast because of how wholesome she looks. It was fun hearing her play a role that's not in her usual wheelhouse.

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3 people found this helpful

So Much Fun

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 06-07-25

I really enjoy these "radio play"-style Audible Originals. The acting is always phenomenal, and the writing tends to be ridiculously over the top. This is a decent mystery with a bit of emotional depth thrown in, but mostly it's just entertaining and fun. If you enjoy Only Murders in the Building, or the movie Clue, you'll like this comedic murder mystery.

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4 people found this helpful

Whose Immigrant Experience is this Supposed to be?

Overall
2 out of 5 stars
Performance
1 out of 5 stars
Story
2 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 06-03-25

As a Taiwanese American, I thought this book would resonate with me, even if the author is a waishengren. I thought the story and writing would be infused with the additional complexities of the waishengren experience on top of the Asian American immigrant experience, but these characters don't even feel like real people.

I don't know how much of that is due to the narrator, who clearly does not speak Mandarin. His pronunciation is so bad that I couldn't understand what some of the words were supposed to be, and it isn't until Dagou's name is explained that I finally have confirmation, as I had been suspecting, that the narrator had been pronouncing his name wrong the ENTIRE TIME.

The "Americanized" family members don't sound American, or young. They all speak as if they themselves are older Asian immigrants of non-specified nationality, and the accent choices in English are... odd.

The patricide plot is apparently adapted from Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamozov, which incidentally, is the first book I ever DNFed, after slogging through 500 pages of... extreme attention to detail. Attempting to retell such a distinctly Russian classic from the lens of the Chinese American experience is... again, odd.

I wanted to love this, but the pieces just didn't mesh. The author was perhaps too ambitious in her endeavor and unfortunately missed the mark, as she's no Dostoevsky.

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3 people found this helpful

Blah Blah Blah Blah

Overall
1 out of 5 stars
Performance
3 out of 5 stars
Story
1 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 06-02-25

It never ceases to amaze me how some people can take a topic like stalking and murder and make it intolerably boring. This is just hours upon hours of irrelevant details. And while I understand that the crime took place in 2012, the book was written as if in the same year, despite being published in 2020. We don't need you to explain what the internet and dating websites are, thanks. There's no reason to go into detail about what Baptists believe, only to tell us that Dave Kroupa and his brother didn't really subscribe to the church they grew up in. This book is completely bogged down by lengthy explanations and details that have nothing to do with case, which is hidden in little snippets underneath the piles of minutiae.

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3 people found this helpful

Why the Mystery?

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 05-24-25

I really enjoyed this book. It's well written, and the narration is as flawless as everyone says.

My only negative is the ending, which is both predictable and unnecessary. It isn't even satisfying. This book is an exploration of toxic female relationships and the toll they can take. There was nothing added by making this a suspense or mystery novel.

I don't think the "twist" takes away from the story, but it doesn't add anything either. It just makes it seem like the author fell into the trap of thinking every book needs a big reveal. Considering that this book is really about the protagonist's ambivalence to her relationship with her "frenemy," the reveal could have come much sooner, and those implications could have been explored. Or it could have be handled completely differently, in a way that would have given the antagonist more complexity. I personally would have preferred a scene where mean girl Hetty is given the choice between growing, or being "cancelled." Yes, this is told from Abby's point of view, but as the entire book is about a codependent, symbiotic relationship, it would have been nice to have more insight into Hetty's character beyond just her capriciousness.

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3 people found this helpful

Carrie Soto is Exhausting

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 05-18-25

Carrie Soto is exhausting. And I don't mean the amount of tennis details in the book. I know some reviewers have said they found all the tennis exhausting after a while, but as someone who's never played a game of tennis and understands nothing about the sport, I actually didn't have a problem with how much of the book is devoted to describing the game.

What I mean is that Carrie Soto, the character, is exhausting. So much of the book is listening to her go in circles because she refuses to listen to anyone OR do any self-reflection. The result is a 37-year-old woman who acts like a spoiled 17-year-old going through their emo phase. She is actively mean to others for no reason, makes everything far more complicated than it needs to be, and throws actual temper tantrums. Exhausting.

I know this is supposed to be a personal growth story, but that could have been accomplished without making the main character this level of unlikeable. Nor did the book have to be anywhere near this long. The same end could have been achieved with 1/3 less whining, spitefulness, and tennis detail, and would have been much more enjoyable.

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3 people found this helpful

DENNISSSSSS DennisDennisDennisDennis

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 05-16-25

I think that I, like many of the other reviewers here, may be done giving Mr. Ronald Malfi chances. This is the fourth of his works I've finished, and I'm feeling pretty unsatisfied.

I think the reason many of us keep trying Malfi's work is because he writes quite well. And if I'm honest, Black Mouth has all the elements of a good book, but it lacks the magic that has made Stephen King a popular writer. Black Mouth just sorts of plods along, lacking any sense of urgency or emotion.

I think the other reason I've kept trying Malfi's books is because I really enjoyed the first one I listened to, Ghostwritten. The difference, however, is that Ghostwritten is a collection of short stories. There are some truly creepy scenes, and I think the shortened format forced Malfi to tighten up his story telling. All his other works I've tried, however, have been novels and haven't had the same imaginative quality as his short stories.

While I wouldn't say this was a bad book, it could have been made hours shorter by trimming a lot of the fat. Starting with the amount of time the protagonist spends shouting/saying/calling his brother's name. Be prepared to reach semantic satiation with the word "Dennis."

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3 people found this helpful

Deliciously Unhinged

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 04-26-25

I honestly donʻt know if this would have worked without the talents of the narrator. On paper this probably reads as super corny, and Vikas Adam leans into it, HARD. Adam opts for a hilariously psychotic, Rumpelstiltskin-esque reading of the antagonist, and the result is a cautionary tale that is as entertaining as it is chaotic.

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3 people found this helpful

I Loved This

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 04-18-25

As far as "horror" novels go, this could be considered a take on Stephen King's classic "adults old enough to have their own children are reunited with their childhood friend group to confront a supernatural entity from their childhood in order to overcome it with the power of their friendship" trope.

That being said, I wouldn't really categorize this as horror or fantasy. Yes, this centers around the supernatural, but I'd say this is more accurately an allegory, and will be best enjoyed as such. While there are a few throwaway comments about the program's ties to Mormonism, or a Mormon Church offshoot-type cult, you don't have to know anything about Mormonism (I don't) to appreciate the novel's commentary on the use of popular media to indoctrinate children into becoming "good" members of their society, for the benefit of those in power.

The book adds an additional layer that is both sinister and sad: unlike many stories of childhood friend groups who band together to defeat evil, where the children aren't able to enlist the help of adults as the adults don't believe in the magic/supernatural entity, the children in this book are subjected to the entity because it's what their parents want. The book examines a number of reasons why this could happen, but they all essentially boil down to the parents doing what they think is best, however much misguided their reasons are. If you're into deep literary analysis, some pretty complex discussions could be had surrounding the interplay of media/indoctrination/generational trauma/religion/religious trauma, etc.

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3 people found this helpful

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