Audiobook Review: The Vile Thing We Created by Robert P. Ottone
The Vile Thing We Created
Author: Robert P. Ottone
Narrators:
Patrick Donohue
Alicia Love
Published: April 18, 2023
Audiobook: 10 hours 13 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: September 21-24, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Lola and Ian had what they thought was the perfect relationship. Vacations. Fine dining. A healthy sex life. But when their childless lifestyle begins impacting their social lives, they decide to take the natural next step.
But what happens when that next step cracks the perfect foundation Lola and Ian have built? What happens when that next step is anything but natural?
Robert P. Ottone’s The Vile Thing We Created is a terrifying vision of parenthood in the tradition of Ira Levin and Thomas Tryon.
Jessica’s Review:
I have only ever seen the movie Rosemary’s Baby, but The Vile Thing We Created has some similarities to it. We have a bi-racial couple, Ian and Lola Sumner. This couple is not likable and very selfish. They have what they feel is a dream life: He is a teacher and she bakes from home. They have a lot of sex (which is detailed throughout the book), Lola smokes pot, and they feel they just have ‘The Life’. But then the couple start being excluded from events in their friend group: A belief that this is because they have no children and all of their friends do. So, Lola and Ian decide to just have a baby: A decision that they later regret.
There is a supernatural element in the novel, and it picks up the further you get in the story. It starts with Ian’s mother giving the couple baby gifts with a seven-point star on it. They are led to believe that it means “good luck”. Ian also grew up around that symbol.
We see Lola go through a very traumatic birth and then an array of emotions which includes not feeling love for her newborn. Her lack of feelings is not what she expected. We see a case of extreme postpartum depression.
The novel picks up at around 60% where the baby named Jonesy is now talking and he becomes quite the character. Patrick Donohue did a great job with his portrayal of Jonesy! In his narration. Jonesy is a unique child starting with his appearance: He has one blue eye and one brown eye.
The supernatural element picks up in this last 60%. Both narrators did a good job with their narrations. Yes, this is a horror novel, but more psychological horror than terror. This is a good novel to pick up and read in October! And lesson learned: If you don’t feel that need to have a child, then don’t cave to societal pressure and ‘just have one’: You never know what you just may give birth to!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Book Review: The Survivor Wants to Die at the End by Adam Silvera
The Survivor Wants to Die at the End
Series: They Both Die at the End #3
Author: Adam Silvera
Published: May 6, 2025
Hardback: 720 pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: July 15- September 13, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
In this third book of the USA Today and #1 New York Times mega-bestselling They Both Die at the End series, two strangers—each with their own complicated relationship to Death-Cast—help each other learn to live.
Paz Dario stays up every night, waiting for the Death-Cast call that would mean he doesn’t have to keep faking his way through this lonely life. After a devastating day, Paz decides he’s done waiting around for Death-Cast. If they say he’s not dying, he’ll just have to prove them wrong. But right before Paz can die, a boy saves his life.
Alano Rosa is heir to the Death-Cast empire that encourages everyone to live their best lives, but he doesn’t feel in control of his own existence thanks to his father. And with a violent organization called the Death Guard threatening Alano, his End Day might be closer than he thinks. It’s time to live.
Fate brings Paz and Alano together, but it’s now up to the boys to survive the tragic trials ahead so no one dies at the end.
This book contains themes that some readers may find difficult.
Jessica’s Review:
Trigger Warnings: suicide, suicidal thoughts, self-harm
The trigger warnings above are to not be taken lightly. These instances are spread widely throughout this entire 700+ page novel. Also mentioned in the novel is BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder). If you have had issues with these activities in the past then this novel could possibly trigger a reader. Silvera himself had some mental health issues while writing this novel, and a novel dealing with death is not the time to be dealing with those issues. I could see that Silvera is definitely writing from what he knows and has dealt with in his past.
Now away from the heavy trigger warnings: It’s another Death-Cast novel! This time Silvera has written his longest Death-Cast novel to date, and the story still isn’t finished! Alano and Paz’s story will continue next year with No One Know Who Dies at the End. There is just something about this unique world that calls to me and Silvera’s writing pulls me in! I re-read both previous books again before reading Survivor and I am glad I did as these books are so interconnected.
Moving away from the 24-hour time period that the other two Death-Cast books were written in, Survivor takes place over a week and on both US Coasts: New York and Hollywood. Our featured couple is Paz, who as a child killed his father protecting his mother on the first day of Death-Cast over 10 years ago, and Alano who is the Death-Cast heir. Both boys were in The First to Die.
At times the novel did run long for me, but I never lost interest in it. The constant references to the previous two books always bring out feelings from the previous books. (We get Penny and Lidia making a cameo from They Both Die! And Mateo’s father appears too! I had so many feelings with his brief appearance.)
Paz and Alano’s budding relationship is far from being a healthy one, but both of these young men have extremely heavy issues that they are dealing with. If they can somehow help each other by being together, then let them be together.
I had heard that there was a cliff hanger and when I got to the end: Yep…There it is! I would have never expected this. What a way to keep your readers in suspense until the next book is released next year Mr. Silvera! I also saw an interview on Instagram the Silvera is expanding the short story of when Mateo’s father comes out of his coma. Of course I will be getting that one too! It looks like we will have two Death-Cast releases in 2026 and I of course will be buying copies of them.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Advanced Audiobook Review: The Hitchhikers by Chevy Stevens
The Hitchhikers
Author: Chevy Stevens
Narrators:
Lindsey Dorcus
Moniqua Plante
To Be Published: October 7, 2025
Audiobook: 12 hours 6 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: September 7-13, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
The open road beckons.
A chance for them to reconnect.
Then they make a fatal mistake.
It’s the summer of 1976 and Alice and Tom set out on the remote Canadian highways in their new RV, hoping to heal their broken hearts after a devastating tragedy.
They’ve planned the trip perfectly, taken care of every detail. Then they meet two young hitchhikers down on their luck and offer them a ride. But Simon and Jenny aren’t what they seem. They’ve left a trail of blood, destruction, and madness behind them.
Now Alice and Tom are trapped, prisoners in a deadly game, with nowhere to turn. As the tension builds, the lines blur, and the question becomes, in whose heart does evil truly lie? What secrets are Jenny and Simon hiding? And who will live another day?
Jessica’s Review:
It’s been four years since Chevy Stevens’ last novel, so I was excited to receive an advanced audio copy from the publisher via NetGalley!
A novel like this can only take place in the past (circa 1976 in Canada) now that cellphones have everything on them, which includes social media, notifications on what is going on in the world, and even just to call 911! The past for The Hitchhikers is in 1976 and our couple Alice and Tom were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, with good intentions. Our “Bonnie and Clyde” are Jenny and Simon and they are leaving destruction wherever they go.
I wasn’t sure how this one was going to end, and Stevens kept me on this RV roller coaster ride the entire time! Who is going to be injured or killed by our villains next and will Tom and Alice survive? What is going to be the ‘big twist?’ The Hitchhikers is a dark and tense thriller that I enjoyed.
The ending went in a ‘happily ever after’ direction and that didn’t work for me. I like my thrillers dark, and the endings don’t have to be positive. I’m not used to this with Stevens, though I see why she did write the ending in the way that she did.
The narrators are Lindsey Dorcus and Moniqua Plante, and both ladies brought their narration on! They really enhanced the characters of Alice and Jenny.
If you are a Stevens fan, then go read or listen to The Hitchhikers when it comes out on October 7th.
Many thanks to the publisher for granting me an advanced copy to listen to and review!
Pre-Order Links:
**I just love the UK cover!**
Amazon US
Amazon UK
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