Review: What Lies Below by Barbara Taylor Sissel (audio)

Title: What Lies Below

Author: Barbara Taylor Sissel

Narrator: Donna Postel

Published: May 2018, Brilliance Audio

Length: 11 hours, 12 minutes

Source: Publisher

Summary: 

Everyone has nightmares. One woman is living hers…Gilly
O’Connell’s nightmares aren’t just bad dreams; they’re glimpses of
terrifying realities to come. Gilly has spent her entire life trying to
suppress the foreboding visions. So when a dismissed premonition leads
to her husband’s murder, she buries the guilt and pain of the unsolved
crime in the only way she knows how—she runs from it.

Three years
later, after overcoming a battle with addiction and starting over in a
small Texas town, Gilly dares to believe the worst is over. That is,
until another crime rips her heart open: the abduction of a
three-year-old girl. Gilly knows more about it than anyone…

She’s dreaming again.

Gilly is convinced that if she tells the police she dreamed of the kidnapping before
it happened, there’s no way they’ll believe her. But when she finally
gets the courage to come forward with what she saw, people don’t see her
as crazy—they see her as a suspect.

Now, in order to help a
desperate single father save his child, Gilly must first clear her own
name. But as the nightmares of the past catch up to her, Gilly’s only
chance for salvation might be the dreams she’s spent so long trying to
ignore.

 

My thoughts: This is only the second book I’ve read by Barbara Taylor Sissel but she is slowly becoming an author I can count on to deliver a story that pulls you in right from the start with compelling characters that you aren’t quite sure you can trust. I love this and will definitely be reading more of her work soon!

I love when I become so engrossed in a book that I totally lose track of time – and yes, that even happens when listening to audio books! This book has such engaging characters and story lines that grab you and don’t let up. It moves at break-neck speed so that you really don’t want to put the book down, with twists coming here and there – some little and some quite jaw-dropping. And even though I did figure out who was behind Zoe’s kidnapping about halfway through the book, I had no clue as to the why, which to me is the most important part. I don’t think I ever would have gotten there, so in no way did my guessing ruin this book.

This is such a multi-layered story. Yes, it’s about a kidnapping and about the aftereffects of a murder, but it’s so much more than that. It’s about asking ourselves what we might be capable of when are worlds are turned upside down. Do we really want to exact the revenge back on the guilty party or is it better for all involved to offer forgiveness?

This book is emotional, it’s suspenseful, it’s engrossing. And at the end of it all, it’s a story full of hope.

Audio thoughts: This was a great book to listen to on audio – I found myself glued to my phone, not wanting to stop listening as this story was intense at times! Donna Postel is a new narrator to me, but I thought she did a great job narrating this story. She gave all the characters unique voices, even giving young Zoe an appropiate young child-like voice. Her pacing and intonations were spot on and she infused just the right amount of emotion and tension in her voice as needed.