The central conceit of Kate Atkinson's Life After Life is heroine Ursula Beresford Todd's ability to renew her birth. At first, Ursula's power is dedicated to skirting the mishaps and perils of her own Edwardian youth in the bucolic "Fox Corner" outside London; with maturity, she begins to intervene in the fates of family and friends. The novel gains its greatest power as Ursula's narrative strands elongate into overlapping sojourns in wartime Germany and London, including a particularly affecting portrayal of her rescue work in London during the Blitz. The more Ursula experiences life, the more selfless she becomes about her individual existence, leading to an audacious denouement.

The cast of Life After Life is diverse and also gabby; fortunately, Fenella Woolgar is well up to the challenge of performing the dialogue of an Irish scullery maid, an Oxonian snob, a loutish American, a flapperish children's book author and a Nazi sycophant, among many others. When reading Ursula's internal narration, Woolgar's voice quality is reminiscent of Lady Mary's from Downton Abbey (appropriately so, as the beginning of Life After Life takes place in a similar era).

For a listener as opposed to a reader, the un-contextualized flash-forward scene at the beginning of the novel is extra confusing--just keep calm and carry on. As for the heroine's excessively reiterative infancies, once you hear the demise keywords "Darkness fell," listen for her rebirth date of "February 10, 1910" accompanied by the word "snow," and you'll soon catch the drift of another one of Ursula's many interesting lives. --Holloway McCandless, blogger at Litagogo: A Guide to Free Literary Podcasts

Irish Army veteran and New Jersey club owner Dan McEvoy is back in Eoin Colfer's Screwed, the tangled and witty follow-up to Plugged, here narrated by John Keating. When local mob boss Mike Madden summons Dan to settle a score, McEvoy knows that there has to be a catch. Going to Manhattan to deliver bearer bonds to a man from a rival gang in SoHo sounds deceptively easy, so it is no great shock when he discovers that his own untimely demise is part of the plan. As he works to avoid being whacked, Dan is kidnapped by two corrupt cops who cuff and taser him, demanding to know where an indescribable "package" is. McEvoy slips out of custody and makes it to Manhattan, only to learn that his aunt has gone missing. No doubt about it: Dan McEvoy is screwed.

Colfer presents a quirky, adventurous caper with a multi-layered plot, constant action and comical situations that, delivered through the brilliant reading of John Keating, will have the listener captivated and laughing out loud. Full of meta-theatrical observations--including allusions to Elmore Leonard--woven into a stream-of-consciousness style of narration, Colfer's prose keeps the reader engaged from beginning to end, while Keating's narration perfectly complements the Jersey atmosphere and adds another facet to Colfer's characterization. The humor, which sometimes borders on the absurd, softens the gritty style and occasionally raunchy dialogue. Fans of Leonard, and of Carl Hiaasen, are sure to enjoy the ongoing adventures of the quirky Dan McEvoy. --Sarah Borders, librarian at Houston Public Library

The world of Benjamin Percy's Red Moon is eminently recognizable as our own and yet entirely another, resulting in a story that succeeds as a work of science fiction, a thriller and a political allegory all at once. Percy (Wilding) reimagines the world as steeped in werewolf, or "lycan," mythology. The United States is still conducting a war on terror--except it is a war on lycans, a population that has been colonized, subjected to mandatory medication that prevents their transformation and required to register with the government. While this may seem too much to pack into one novel, Percy pulls it off--and his own gravelly narration of the audiobook makes his story all the more chilling as it unfolds.

Red Moon weaves together the stories of Patrick, the only survivor of a lycan attack on a passenger jet, Claire, a lycan on the run after her parents are brutally murdered by government officials, and Chase, a politician who has sworn to defeat the lycan "threat," giving listeners a diverse set of perspectives from which to take in this complex alternate reality. Percy's narration is slow and steady, offsetting the fast-paced plotlines in such a way that listeners can practically feel the charge in the atmosphere Percy has created, bound to explode with the strike of a match. Explode it does, pulling these three key characters together before sending them out to fight in battles, aid in revolutions and change the world they know--for better or for worse. --Kerry McHugh, blogger at Entomology of a Bookworm

In the United States, several audiobook narrators have read Jo Nesbø's Harry Hole series. The Redeemer marks the first time John Lee gives voice to the damaged Oslo police detective. His narration, however, sounds as though he's known the series intimately from the start. While Lee's style may sound abrupt at first, the rhythm quickly blends into the story and becomes an afterthought as listeners find themselves caught up in the action of the investigation.

Detective Hole is after the killer of a Salvation Army worker. Despite the murder happening in a crowded street, no one can identify the shooter; even worse, he's not finished. Harry must find him and prevent him from killing again.

Hole's role is a multi-layered challenge, but Lee has a firm grip on the strata. Hole's paradoxical characteristics of compassion and apathy blend seamlessly in Lee's calm, laid-back approach to the detective. And while the action of the plot is fast and intense, Lee keeps the pace in line with Hole's character. Nesbø works a very dark sense of humor into this series, which is not lost on Lee. His depiction of Hole with an unloaded weapon in a standoff with the murderer is both suspenseful and humorous.

Nesbø fans accustomed to Robin Sachs's previous narrations may find the change a bit jolting, but John Lee has given voice to an exceptional interpretation of The Redeemer. --Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts

In The Stranger, the fourth installment of Camilla Läckberg's Fjällbacka series, Patrik Hedstrom has his hands full with two murders and a reality TV show in town, not to mention his upcoming nuptials and a newborn daughter. 

A gay shop owner who never touches alcohol wraps her car around a tree one night after a fight with her partner. This appears to be an accident--until the results of her autopsy came back. The second murder involves one of the contestants on the reality show. The producers secretly rejoice for the publicity while local law enforcement battles for some semblance of sanity in their efforts to solve the case.

Simon Vance confidently takes the role of narrator for The Stranger, volleying between such characters as the grounded, principled Patrik, his frazzled fiancée, Erica, and the reality show's passel of dysfunctional youths. Vance portrays each convincingly, even the baby whose contributions amount to giggling and crying. Vance's greatest strength in this recording, however, is his ability to set the situational tones. The mortifying absurdity of prioritizing television ratings over human life strikes the listener as strongly as the hate generated by homophobia. These dark tones contrast the happy chaos of a house filled with children, laughter and the anticipation of a wedding.

As Läckberg slowly constructs the suspense, Vance saves the more dramatic tones for the climax, opting for a sense of enticement in the build-up. This approach helps readers forget Vance is even there--they're simply caught up in Läckberg's dark Swedish mystery. --Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts

Pete Larkin returns to narrate Point and Shoot, the final segment of Duane Swierczynski's Charlie Hardie trilogy. The degree to which Swierczynski has built on each book is such that this trilogy is best read or listened to in order, beginning with Fun & Games then Hell & Gone. Doing so on audio will not only help listeners to understand the plot fully; they will also better appreciate the excellence in Larkin's portrayal.

This third outing opens with Charlie in a satellite in space. His job is to guard the satellite for a year in exchange for his family's safety. So when a man who looks exactly like Charlie and claims to be there to rescue him breaches the satellite, Charlie has to decide if he should chance teaming up with this doppelganger or "point and shoot."

Swierczynski created a delicate balance with his Charlie Hardie series. Tipped one direction or the other, the blend of science fiction, crime fiction and comedy would come across as utterly absurd. Instead, it's engaging and entertaining, even while the readers and listeners know it's completely impossible. Emphasizing something differently or missing a bit of humor could upset that balance. But Larkin walks this thin tightrope with style and panache, maybe even juggling flaming batons as he goes. Down to the smallest details, like Swierczynski's choice of movie quotes to open each chapter, Pete Larkin connects with the story so his listeners can, too. --Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts

The Boyfriend reintroduces readers to Jack Till, a retired LAPD homicide detective turned private investigator who first starred in Thomas Perry's 2007 novel Silence. Jack usually works routine cases, but the parents of a recently murdered girl, Catherine Hamilton, come to him in desperation. They've just discovered that Catherine was working as a high-class prostitute, and the cops are dismissive, chalking her death up to the hazards of her occupation. Till starts looking into the matter and discovers that Catherine seems to have had a boyfriend who vanished with all her money and jewelry. What's more, Catherine's actually the fifth escort with strawberry-blonde hair shot in the head over the last couple of months. Convinced he's unearthed a serial killer, Till delves into the case, which leads him on a nationwide hunt for the brilliant, good-looking, but disturbed "Boyfriend."

Robertson Dean's deep voice is a bit jarring in the first chapter, told from Catherine's perspective, but because the rest of the story alternates between the points of view of Till and the Boyfriend, his narration is pitch perfect, bringing the detective's determined hunting and the killer's increasingly desperate (and foolish) crime spree to life. The plot of The Boyfriend is not exactly original, but on audio it still plays out well and Dean makes the minutes fly by. The Boyfriend is a perfect summer audio book--meant to be listened to while jogging down a beach or lazing next to the pool. --Jessica Howard, blogger at Quirky Bookworm

The legendary Nellie Bly was a determined, ambitious young reporter for Joseph Pulitzer's World newspaper, who dug deep to report gripping news stories to an eager audience. By contrast, the beautiful Elizabeth Bisland wrote literary book reviews for the Cosmopolitan magazine. Though their backgrounds were very different, both of these remarkable women had the persistence to break into the world of journalism at a time when newsrooms were full of men. In New York City in the fall of 1889, Bly embarked on a journey by steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean, while Bisland boarded a train headed in the opposite direction. Their goal was the same: to travel around the world in fewer than 80 days, beating Jules Verne's fictional benchmark. At about 28,000 miles, the ensuing journey would test both women and change their lives forever.

Käthe Mazur brings the abundant detail and compelling characters of Matthew Goodman's Eighty Days to life for the listener. Goodman's snapshot of the late 1800s skillfully highlights not only the various ports of call the two women passed through but also sheds light on the social backdrop of the Victorian era. Mazur's expressive narration adds a textured layer to the story, enhancing listeners' experience and placing them on the edge of their seats, hanging on every word. Fans of travel writing or the works of Lauren Hillenbrand are sure to enjoy this sometimes nail-biting and always engaging adventure. --Sarah Borders, librarian at Houston Public Library

Narrator Steve West and these retellings of King Arthur's Knights are a match made in heaven.

For the first group of these comical and witty adventures, Sir Lancelot the Great, West adopts a hint of a French accent for Sir Lancelot, who leaves France to join King Arthur's court. The vain knight, obsessed with keeping his armor clean, unwittingly fends off a series of challengers as he attempts to shine his armor, only to discover he's won a tournament sponsored by King Arthur. Sir Lancelot slips out of seemingly inescapable circumstances--falling for a trap that finds him armorless in a tree, and being thrown into a dungeon until he chooses a Lady to wed. West inhabits an array of humorous voices for these mooning Ladies ("He's soooo handsome," one repeats).

West deftly handles a variety of personalities, making each sound distinct. He takes on a disarmingly adolescent voice for Sir Givret the Short (star of the second group of stories), who defends Queen Guinevere's honor against insult from a rude Sir Yoda and also gives King Arthur a way out of the double-edged prize for bringing down the White Stag. West tackles Gerald Morris's turns of phrase with ease. Sir Gawain the True, for instance, begins with a humorous treatise on the importance of courtesy in King Arthur's court. And West reveals the history of Excalibur and the Round Table in Sir Balin the Ill-Fated as if letting readers in on a secret. Enthralling. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness