DNF Audiobook Review – The Mystery of Alice by Lee Bacon, Narrated by Various (2/5 stars)

Reading Level: Middle Grade/YA
Genre: Mystery
Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
Publisher: Audible Studios
Release Date: May 2, 2019
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 2/5 stars

“Thirteen-year-old Emily Poe has been given the opportunity of a lifetime: A chance to attend the exclusive Audyn School in Manhattan. But to win the scholarship, she has to pass a test like nothing she’s ever experienced before: A nearly bare room, a set of strange clues, a locked door. And a mysterious organization – the Leopold Foundation – that’s watching her every move.

But the real test has just begun. Despite the strange circumstances – in a new house, at a new school – Emily instantly bonds with fellow scholarship winner Alice Wray.

And then Alice goes missing.

Chronicling every surprising twist and turn of her search through her own private video diary, Emily sets out to find the truth behind Alice’s disappearance. Soon she’s drawn deep into the inner circle of the Audyn School’s elite, the Nobility, who each have secrets of their own. As clues and lies mount, Emily must sort truth from fiction to solve the Mystery of Alice before it’s too late.”

This is another free Audible Original book I got through my Audible membership. This was a weird book that I didn’t enjoy. I finally stopped listening to it about 50% of the way through.

My main issue with this is the setting which seems more like a high school than a middle school. The characters sound and act like high schoolers as well, although they are 13 years old. The tone and setting really didn’t match the character age group at all. I have a twelve year old son and end up hanging out with a lot of 12/13 year olds and this book was just not realistic for that age group.

Additionally, I am finding I do not enjoy these life performance type of audiobooks. While the main character’s narrator was pretty good. I found Nathan to be really annoying; he didn’t sound like a thirteen year old boy at all and his voice was completely different than his described personality. Having the different characters be different people in this book was really jarring and kept distracting from the story.

I also didn’t really enjoy the video format the story was told in. Emily is constantly recording in her video diary but the way she does it is confusing and implausible. Why does her phone (I assume she is doing this on her phone) only record for so long? Do people not care that she’s constantly recording their conversations?

While I didn’t finish the book I can completely tell where the story is going and found the book incredibly predictable up to the 50% mark. You can tell how much I loved this story by how easy I can leave this mystery behind…. I just found this boring and annoying.

Overall I didn’t like this even a bit. Those who love contemporary YA mysteries with over-stereotyped pre-teens that act like teens and don’t mind weird inconsistencies might enjoy the mystery here. I just couldn’t keep listening to it because it was annoying me. Not Recommended.