Narrated by Jonathan Davis
In Mean Streak, Sandra Brown’s 2014 release, Emory Charbonneau is a pediatrician and a marathon runner. Her type A personality means she pushes herself in everything she does. On this particular weekend, Emory is leaving Atlanta to train on mountain trails in North Carolina, but she has other reasons for wanting to escape town for a few days. She and her husband, Jeff, have been arguing about everything, but mainly her “obsession with running” as Jeff calls it. Their latest fight about her upcoming weekend of training adds fuel to Emory’s desire to get away.
Everything with the mountain run starts off smoothly, but when Emory wakes up with a crushing headache in the unfamiliar surroundings of a rustic mountain cabin, the adventures and mysteries begin. Ice and fog have surrounded the mountain and she is being held hostage in the cabin by a mysterious and obviously dangerous man. He acts in turn as the competent caregiver and the threatening captor. He doesn’t answer questions, he doesn’t compromise, and he refuses to give his name. As Emory regains her strength, she is determined to get away but the relentless fog keeps her in the cabin, not knowing if this is the man that rescued her or the one that attacked her.
A dangerous encounter with a family living in these remote mountains gives Emory more reason to wonder whether the silent man is as uncaring as he seems. The man seems determined to help a sick woman living in the house with her weak mother and two menacing brothers. Now Emory is faced with a difficult choice… actually several difficult choices in rapid succession, all of which could leave her well-ordered life in ruins. In addition, Emory is wrestling with her attraction to the man. Is the attraction real, or merely Stockholm syndrome?
While Emory is navigating the maze of uncertainty up on the mountain, the police are trying to solve the puzzle of her disappearance. The story switches back and forth between Emory, and the people left behind trying to figure out where she is, and if she’s in trouble or has disappeared on her own. As the police try to unravel the tangle of half-truths and lies, the listener is given the treat of witnessing Sandra Brown at her best. She is a master of the complex, interwoven, nothing-is-as-it-seems plotting, and Mean Streak is Brown near the top of her game. Even a long-time reader of mysteries and suspense will find something to surprise and delight them in this story.
Jonathan Davis has a good, gruff male voice that fits the story and most of the characters. He is successful portraying the female characters, and has the good sense not to try a falsetto. Overall his delivery is excellent, his timing is good, and his vocal inflections fit the scenes. I like the speed at which Davis narrates. His reading helps the story move along at a good clip without feeling rushed.
While I have to admit that the pinnacle of Sandra Brown audiobooks might always be Envy as read by Victor Slezak , I thoroughly enjoyed Mean Streak and hope to hear more romantic suspense titles narrated by Jonathan Davis.
Carrie
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