Daddy Love

Oates’s disturbing tale is chillingly conveyed in this audio edition thanks to Christine Williams’s compelling narration. The story begins in 2007 with the kidnapping of five-year-old Robbie Whitcomb from a Michigan mall parking lot. During the abduction, the kidnapper runs down Robbie’s mother, Dinah, leaving her near death and horribly wounded. The book then chronicles the next six years in the lives of Robbie—renamed Gideon by his kidnapper—and his parents, who struggle to come to terms with the loss of their only child and Dinah’s traumatic injuries. Williams provides a calm, almost clinical reading that captures listener attention immediately. And when the plot of the book turns violent, the events become all the more unsettling via Williams’s matter-of-fact delivery. Listeners willing to delve into dark material will find themselves in good hands. A Mysterious Press hardcover. (Jan.)