Sacrificial Animals Audiobook By Kailee Pedersen cover art

Sacrificial Animals

A Novel

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Sacrificial Animals

By: Kailee Pedersen
Narrated by: Yung-I Chang
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $14.99

Buy for $14.99

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

Long-listed, Barnes and Noble Best New Books of the Year, 2024

Inspired by Kailee Pedersen's own journey being adopted from Nanning, China in 1996 and growing up on a farm in Nebraska, this rich and atmospheric supernatural horror debut explores an ancient Chinese mythology.

The last thing Nick Morrow expected to receive was an invitation from his father to return home. When he left rural Nebraska behind, he believed he was leaving everything there, including his abusive father, Carlyle, and the farm that loomed so large in memory, forever.

But neither Nick nor his brother Joshua, disowned for marrying Emilia, a woman of Asian descent, can ignore such summons from their father, who hopes for a deathbed reconciliation. Predictably, Joshua and Carlyle quickly warm to each other while Nick and Emilia are left to their own devices. Nick puts the time to good use and his flirtation with Emilia quickly blooms into romance. Though not long after the affair turns intimate, Nick begins to suspect that Emilia’s interest in him may have sinister, and possibly even ancient, motivations.

Punctuated by scenes from Nick’s adolescent years, when memories of a queer awakening and a shadowy presence stalking the farm altered the trajectory of his life forever, Sacrificial Animals explores the violent legacy of inherited trauma and the total collapse of a family in its wake.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

©2024 Kailee Pedersen (P)2024 Macmillan Audio
Horror Supernatural Thriller & Suspense Paranormal
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

"This novel presents a contemplatively paced supernatural horror tale, centering family, trauma, and revenge, with unease infused into every detail...the tightly coiled tension will eventually explode; when it does, [readers] will be left gasping in awe. Pedersen’s debut skillfully balances character and atmosphere." —Library Journal, starred review

"This incantatory debut builds menace from its opening phrase. The author is merciless. She writes with a rare acuity...few readers are likely to quit before the final chapter...An assured and bloody fable heralds the arrival of a gifted new voice." —Kirkus Reviews

"The mythic Chinese figure of the nine-tailed fox spirit goes Midwestern Gothic in Pedersen’s unsettling debut. Literary horror that isn’t afraid to show its teeth. Pedersen is sure to win fans." —Publishers Weekly

Dear Listener,

How did my own journey of being adopted from China inspire my debut novel?
"After my adoption, I grew up in Nebraska and spent a lot of time on my family's rural farm. Being both Chinese and Midwestern, I was inspired to fuse the deeply Midwestern setting of Sacrificial Animals with Chinese mythology, and to include a Chinese American character, Emilia, whose presence thoroughly disrupts the insular Morrow family. It was important for me to capture the wild, eerie atmosphere of the rural Midwest in this novel, as well as the alienation, isolation, and complex family dynamics I experienced as an adoptee growing up in that environment."– Kailee Pederson, writer of Sacrificial Animals

What listeners say about Sacrificial Animals

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Slow burn

Have to say I really enjoyed it, the voice performer nailed it. Small things like tone and mannerisms were amazing. The story was certainly enjoyable, just hold on for the climb

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Beautifully Written

I'm emotionally destroyed, in a great way. The switch from the past to present is done well. You emphasize with Nick as a child but feel kind of disappointed with the man he grew up to be. The story has a very slow build but the writing holds you in. The last few chapters everything ties together spectacularly.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!