When the Reckoning Comes Audiobook By LaTanya McQueen cover art

When the Reckoning Comes

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.

When the Reckoning Comes

By: LaTanya McQueen
Narrated by: Kara Young
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.59

Buy for $21.59

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

About this listen

A haunting novel about a black woman who returns to her hometown for a plantation wedding and the horror that ensues as she reconnects with the blood-soaked history of the land and the best friends she left behind.

More than a decade ago, Mira fled her small, segregated hometown in the south to forget. With every mile she traveled, she distanced herself from her past: from her best friend Celine, mocked by their town as the only white girl with black friends; from her old neighborhood; from the eerie Woodsman plantation rumored to be haunted by the spirits of slaves; from the terrifying memory of a ghost she saw that terrible day when a dare-gone-wrong almost got Jesse—the boy she secretly loved—arrested for murder.

But now Mira is back in Kipsen to attend Celine's wedding at the plantation, which has been transformed into a lush vacation resort. Mira hopes to reconnect with her friends, and especially, Jesse, to finally tell him the truth about her feelings and the events of that devastating long-ago day.

But for all its fancy renovations, the Woodsman remains a monument to its oppressive racist history. The bar serves antebellum drinks, entertainments include horrifying reenactments, and the service staff is nearly all black. Yet the darkest elements of the plantation's past have been carefully erased—rumors that slaves were tortured mercilessly and that ghosts roam the lands, seeking vengeance on the descendants of those who tormented them, which includes most of the wedding guests.

As the weekend unfolds, Mira, Jesse, and Celine are forced to acknowledge their history together, and to save themselves from what is to come.

©2021 LaTanya McQueen (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers
African American Horror Southern Southern States United States World Literature Scary Paranormal Mystery Haunted Wedding Ghost
adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_T1_webcro805_stickypopup

Editor's Pick

Listen if you liked Get Out
As soon as Kara Young’s smooth-as-honey voice poured into my ears, I didn’t want to hit pause on When the Reckoning Comes. This haunting debut from LaTanya McQueen is a horror story, but it’s deeper than ghosts and ghouls. As Mira returns to her North Carolina hometown to attend her childhood best friend’s wedding, she’s forced to confront the oppressive history of the land she left behind 10 years ago. Mira believes she has reinvented herself, putting that fateful night when she sneaked onto the local Woodsman plantation firmly in the past. But she’s wrong. The plantation may have been restyled as an idyllic wedding venue, but the secrets buried there won’t remain hidden much longer. As a first-time narrator, Young’s performance is pitch perfect, reflecting the trepidation of Mira’s return to her roots and the lingering trauma of slavery on this troubled community. What a wonderful pairing of debut author and narrator—I can’t wait to hear more from them both. —Margaret H., Audible Editor

Captivating Storytelling • Engaging Plot • Excellent Narration • Blending Genres • Atmospheric Writing • Soothing Voice
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
The narrator had such a great delivery. Her voice was soothing and I think she did a great job bringing life to each character. The story itself was entertaining and heart wrenching. To know that it went even farther than the slavery and oppression, it’s believable that their ghosts would want vengeance. Excellent.

Captivating and excellent story telling

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

I knew slavery was horrible.... but settling pieces of slaves...., wearing our skin as face masks or shoes! Really loving the texture of the whipped skin! Some even grinding down the bones and eating the powder. Whoa! And Still no reperations! Jesus!

Never knew how Heinous they were!

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

This story depicts the black experience based on a variety of perspectives on how to make things better for them in the eyes of their white counterparts….nothing helps!

Great story. Will read again

Yes! Read !

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

It’s not very often that a story hooks me from the very beginning but this one did just that. The back story was intriguing and kept me wanting to know more and the narrator was amazing! I could listen to her all day.

Highly Enjoyed

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

Writing from my perspective as a middle class white woman from up North…. I love books that shine perspective on a life experience that is vastly different from my own. This book gave me a gut sense of the echoes of slavery in our current times in a way that nothing else has. Some of the scenes were painful to listen to but not so gruesome as to make me fast forward, and it felt necessary to hear them out. Beautiful narration, excellent writing, ghost story/love story blending in with the serious subject matter. Definitely in my top 5 audiobooks, & one I will listen to again.

Hard subject but beautiful book

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

When the Reckoning Comes held such promise—its premise rich with tension and history—but as the story unfolded, it never quite delivered the impact I was waiting for. The atmosphere felt right, but the plot moved too cautiously, never building to the climactic reckoning I had hoped for. Instead, it left me feeling underwhelmed, as if all the potential for something powerful fizzled out before it could truly ignite. In the end, it wasn’t a bad read, but it left me searching for something more, something that never fully materialized.

Lackluster

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

This was on my tbr for a while and I’m glad I got to it. The plot , imagery & characters were so well developed. The narration was amazing. Reviews getting offended that they are being painted in a wrong way because they are white - missed the point. And comments wondering where the horror was - the horror was the slavery. The brutality and violence of slavery that is hardly talked about. That’s the horror.

I did get confused with the time traveling and Mira shifting ( lack of a better word). Overall worth it.

Solid

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

The story overall was interesting enough to keep my attention. Maybe it's me but I was expecting something different maybe more.... Jesse had the right idea to leave things as they were. Especially when he got Mira off that plantation. If you're given vision, dreams, or even a gut feeling to leave, then LEAVE. I felt sorry for Celine but she was as gullible as Mira. I don't know who was worse out of the two. This book did a good job with the whole horror/gore genre.

🤔

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

Good job, Tanya - looking forward to the next one! Thought the voice actor overdid Celine a bit, but other than that, great presentation throughout.

Fun read

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

Love both the story and how it unfolded along the way by the author, and the narrator's voice telling the story. Great pair

Great story and narration

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

See more reviews