Imogen Church is God's Gift to audio books!

Have you ever watched a movie and thought, "This actor's performance really made this movie so much better. His/her performance made anything I didn't like about the plot unimportant..."?? That's every single audiobook I've ever listened to when it's narrated by Imogen Church. I would buy an audible recording of her reading the Twilight series, and there is nothing I've ever hated more than that.

I found the book decent, and the story quite dark and unique, but it's really Church's performance that made Milly come alive. She makes a crappy story good, and, in this case, a good story freaking amazing! So yeah... Get this book.

91 people found this helpful

WOW! Good Wolf &Bad

At first Good me: Bad Me started rather slow but give it a tiny bit of time. The narration seemed a better fit for fairy tales but soon my ears adjusted to the melody of the British narration and carried me along.
The story which was much like being swept up in a current.
The subject of having children abducted and abused is a base for this story but it is not so overwhelming in details that it turns your gut. It is the elephant in the room for sure, but the heartwrenching details are presented in such a way that I dare call them palatable ( if there is such a thing). It is a detail to the underbelly of these characters drive and the stories flow.
This is a very intriguing book that explores and lends insight to the victimization, genetics, and sickness of abusers as well as the real lives of those who reach out to offer support and make a difference.
This book may not be for everyone but it doesn't have a lot of gory detail, cursing or descriptive sexual content. As a listener, I didn't find myself entertained by the subject of abuse as much as the story as a whole.
Good me Bad me is a very good, suspenseful story that flows through what I'll call a tainted river no one wants to truly navigate but it skirts the edges enough to get you wet enough to feel.
I don't just hand out 5 stars and I considered going 4 because this book may not be for everyone but considering how well it was presented I believe this one earned them as a whole.

109 people found this helpful

A gripping tale

Where does Good Me Bad Me rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I listen to a lot of books and it's pretty difficult to rate one thriller among them all. Audible, why do you insist on this format?

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

It did. I couldn't stop listening.

What about Imogen Church’s performance did you like?

Church is so good. She really nails the mounting intensity of the plot, and voices everyone from the jovial psychologist to the spaced-out mother to the mean girls with nimble skill. She's an incredibly talented narrator whom I always enjoy.

11 people found this helpful

Slow Burn. Little Payoff.

I was excited for this one because of the reviews but overall it felt slow and nothing much happens. I finished it out of stubbornness to quit but didn’t care much for any characters. Don’t pick this up looking for a dark thriller because that’s not what this is.

48 people found this helpful

Finished it in 2 days!

The prose is absolutely phenomenal. The narration is flawless (I've listened to 2 other books by Imogen Church and by god I could listen to that woman read a hundred takeout menus). The characters have so much depth.

*minor spoiler* If there is anything negative I have to say about this book, it's that Phoebe (and some of the other schoolgirls) seemed more like a hyperbolized charicature of the "bully" archetype. This combined with her parents' lack of discipline made certain plot points just a touch less believable.
*end spoiler*

Other than that minor criticism, this was a fantastic book. Couldn't stop listening, like many other reviewers I agree that I was sad when it came to an end. Recommend 110%!

22 people found this helpful

Another amazing performance by Imogen!

I immensely enjoyed this book and was very surprised as I had never heard of this author before but I decided to give it a chance because Imogen was narrating. Very dark and disturbing at times I loved it! This is the first time I've ever heard of someone telling a story from the point of view of a child of a serial killer. Everyone wants to write about killers or their victims but this was new and original I think and very well executed. I will definitely be looking for other books by this autnor.

39 people found this helpful

I’m Not Even Sure What To Say...

I love dark, but this is pretty damn disturbing. I cannot say that I “enjoyed” the book, but I was mesmerized at the same time. If you think of dysfunctional families, that’s not even in the same REALM as the home this teenage girl grew up in. But, as someone who did have a challenging home environment, it does make you think about nature vs. nurture; the effects of emotional/psychological/ physical abuse; the risks that foster and adoptive parents take on; most importantly and sadly, the overall devastation that psychopaths inflict on children. I am writing this review as though this were a non-fiction book, but in a way it reads like nonfiction, and I can totally see these events unraveling just like this in an extreme situation. If you like deep, dark, complicated twisty stories, you probably will enjoy this one. But if you are emotionally vulnerable, you may want to reconsider.

4 people found this helpful

So Boring Not Good, just Bad

I'm in pain. I hate not finishing books. I am painfully bored. I'm 1/4 of the way through and I hate it. The sister is so awful I just feel enraged listening to the things she's doing; the foster mom is horrible and makes me want to scream. I can't stand the NARRATION - I get WHY she's monotone, but I don't LIKE it. And I hate all the internal dialogue. Maybe if it was a paperback reading it wouldn't bother me, but on audio...it's miserable. I find myself finding ways to avoid listening to it! That's messed up since I am listening to it for FUN! I finished it...and STILL hated it. There is not one thing suspenseful about this novel. It is so incredibly dull how the MC talks to herself all the time. I agree with another reader, I kept waiting for something to happen and when it sort of did, it was like it didn't...like it was an afterthought...oh? that was something? The author set it up for many interesting and potentially suspenseful things to happen, but then..she never returned to it or it just never turned into anything. So, if suspense means you're expecting something and then get nothing, well, I guess it is. I WISH I could get the credit back. Not good Not bad. Awful.

4 people found this helpful

Wow

As a mother, parts of this book really disturbed me. That being said, the story and character development was phenomenal. Beginning to end was fantastic!

4 people found this helpful

Warning graphic detail of child killing

I skimmed the reviews before buying this book but never noticed anything about the graphic detail of child killing. Maybe it’s because I’m a mom and a bit more sensitive than most but I had to skip through a sizable chunks of this book to avoid it.

The parts I did listen to weren’t really worth the listen. There’s better suspense books out there, I would pass on this one.

57 people found this helpful