Tom Taylorson has narrated 79 audiobooks on Listento.it by 52 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.6★ across 1,124 ratings. The most-rated is The Good Girl.
Polar Vortex
Summary
A routine commercial flight disappears over the North Pole. No wreckage. No transponder signals. Mitch Matthews is writer struggling to make ends meet when his wife's brother offers them a first-class seat on a flight from Hong Kong to New York. When his wife needs to stay behind, it becomes an opportunity for some quality daddy-daughter time with his five-year-old Lilly. At check-in, they run into a strange Norwegian arguing with a huge Russian. A mysterious redhead is guarding a package in the business lounge. But everything is fine...right up until the event. Within hours of Allied Airlines 695 disappearing, a massive international search is launched. Aircraft and ships are dispatched from Russia, America, Canada, and Norway. How can a modern airliner simply vanish in one of the most heavily monitored places on Earth? Global tensions rise. The media and grieving families whip into a frenzy. The armed forces of America and Russia tip the world toward the brink of an apocalyptic war. Weeks later, found on the ice in a chance discovery, the journal of Mitch Matthews reveals the incredible truth behind the disappearance of Allied 695, and what really happened in the Polar Vortex.
©2019 Matthew Mather (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing
Detective
Summary
All four radio series of Robert Barr’s gripping London-based police drama. Originally broadcast as Detective: Stories of Crime and Detection in London, this BBC radio drama ran for four series between 1980 and 1985. Written by the award-winning creator of Z Cars and Softly Softly, Robert Barr, it comprised 39 thrilling stories set in London’s criminal underworld, all of which are collected here for the first time. DS Dave Brook is a long-serving, ducking-and-diving police officer who takes armed robberies and violent crime in his stride. But then he is teamed up with young 'grammar school boy' DC Blair Maxton from sleepy Epsom. How will Max cope with the mean streets of his new patch? Among the thrilling cases in these four series, the detectives tackle an armed gang, confront a notorious crime family, search for a missing wife, investigate a gruesome ax murder and the death of a reclusive young woman, and assist ‘The Sweeney’ flying squad. It’s all in a day’s work for Brook and his team.... Ray Brooks stars as DS Brook, with Christopher Blake as DC Maxton, David Daker as Chief Inspector Roach, Peter Cleall as DC Harrison, Jacqueline Tong as Judy and Stephen Garlick as DC Tully. Written by Robert Barr Produced and directed by Martin Fisher First broadcast 3 January-27 March 1980, BBC Radio 4 (Series 1), 16 March-18 May 1982, BBC Radio 4, (Series 2), 27 June-15 August 1984, BBC Radio 2 (Series 3), 24 June-12 August 1985, BBC Radio 2 (Series 4)
©2019 BBC Worldwide Ltd (P)2019 BBC Worldwide Ltd
Ember
Summary
The next installment in the Eagle Elite romance series from New York Times best-selling author Rachel Van Dyken. He is a killer, a rapist, a monster and knows only pain and survival. That is until the capo's sister walks into his life and changes everything. She's a light who makes his darkness darker; her smile makes his heart turn to ice, and he can't escape the fear her seductive looks instill - knowing it's only a matter of time before he fails again and takes her for himself. This is the story of his redemption. But it's not pretty, because he died and came to life again - breathing but not surviving. He is Phoenix De Lange, son of a murdered mob boss, estranged brother, horrible friend, monster in the making, newest leader of one of the most powerful families in the Cosa Nostra. And he will have his vengeance - or die trying. Death is all he knows - until she offers him a piece of life Phoenix can't resist taking.
©2015 Rachel Van Dyken (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Monsters
Summary
The gripping account of a once-in-a-lifetime football team and their lone championship season. For Rich Cohen and millions of other fans, the 1985 Chicago Bears were more than a football team: they were the greatest football team ever - a gang of colorful nuts, dancing and pounding their way to victory. They won a Super Bowl and saved a city. It was not just that the Monsters of the Midway won but how they did it. On offense, there was high-stepping running back Walter Payton and Punky QB Jim McMahon, who had a knack for pissing off Coach Mike Ditka as he made his way to the end zone. On defense, there was the 46: a revolutionary,quarterback-concussing scheme cooked up by Buddy Ryan and ruthlessly implemented by Hall of Famers such as Dan "Danimal" Hampton and "Samurai" Mike Singletary. On the sidelines, in the locker rooms, and in bars, there was the never-ending soap opera: the coach and the quarterback bickering on television, Ditka and Ryan nearly coming to blows in the Orange Bowl, the players recording the "Super Bowl Shuffle" video the morning after the season's only loss. Cohen tracked down the coaches and players from this iconic team and asked them everything he has always wanted to know: What's it like to win? What's it like to lose? Do you really hate the guys on the other side? Were you ever scared? What do you think as you lie broken on the field? How do you go on after you have lived your dream but life has not ended? The result is Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football, a portrait not merely of a team but of a city and a game: its history, its future, its fallen men, its immortal heroes. But mostly it's about being a fan - about loving too much. This is a book about America at its most nonsensical, delirious, and joyful.
©2013 Rich Cohen (P)2014 Blackstone Audio
Starborn and Godsons
Summary
The long-awaited conclusion of the Heorot series from genre legends Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steven Barnes Avalon was thriving. The cold sleep colonists from Earth had settled on a verdant, livable world. The fast and cunning predators humans named “grendels” were under control, and the mainland outposts well established. Avalon’s new mainland hydroelectric power station was nearly complete, and when on-line would compensate for the nuclear power systems lost in the Grendel Wars. Humans would have power, and with power came the ability to make all the necessities for life. They would survive. They would not survive as a spacefaring people. What they were losing faster than they knew was the ability to get to space. But unbeknownst to the planet-bound humans, something was moving out there in the stars, decelerating at a rate impossible for a natural object. And its destination was Avalon. The most probable origin was Earth’s solar system. This is a novel of first contact - between the human Starborn and the self-named Godsons who followed on, between the first generation of Avalon-born humans and their descendants, and between humans and the almost ineffably alien species native to their new world....
©2020 Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steven Barnes. Introduction © 2020 by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing
Empire
Summary
I have lost everything - my purpose, my love, my soul. Death knocks on my door. I want to answer, but every time I reach for the handle, the promise I made her brings me back. So I breathe. I live. I hate. And I allow the anger to boil beneath the surface of a perfectly indifferent façade. I am broken, and I don't want to be fixed. One last trip to New York, one last chance to redeem a lost part of the Mafia family. The Empire is crumbling, and it's my job to fix it. It's my job to mend the pieces that were scattered over 30 years ago. But the only way to fix it is to do something I swore I'd never do again: an arranged marriage. This time I won't fall. Or so help me God, I'll kill her myself. My name is Sergio Abandonato. You think you know my pain, my suffering, my anger, my hate. You have no idea. I am the Mafia. I am the darkness. Blood in. No out.
©2016 Rachel Van Dyken (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
RatSnakes
Summary
Get ready to infiltrate the dangerous, secret world of criminals and cover identities by way of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), where the world’s greatest undercover agents are known as RatSnakes. RatSnakes are rarely, if ever, visible to the public that they move among and risk their lives to protect. In fact, thanks to their cover personas, they are often assumed to be members of the clandestine criminal world that they investigate. Real-life undercover work is a far cry from the sexy, candy-colored world seen in Hollywood movies. Only those who are strong and clever enough will get inside and survive. Vincent A. Cefalu would know. He spent 30 years as an ATF undercover operative, in assignments ranging from the Symbionese Liberation Army to Asian organized crime. He has infiltrated notorious outlaw motorcycle gangs as well as splinter groups of the Ku Klux Klan. In RatSnakes, he provides a transparent look at the organization and the operatives with whom he risked his life. Part field guide, part heart-pounding thrill ride, RatSnakes takes listeners on a tour of what it’s like to confront death on a daily basis. En route, Cefalu gives us a look at the on-the-job techniques of kicking in doors, orchestrating “street theater” to ensnare criminals, and making high-stakes gun buys. His irreverent, explicit stories from the inside are a mix of danger and unexpected hilarity that will have listeners laughing one minute and then biting their nails when things break bad. Immersive and brutal, RatSnakes offers an in-depth and eye-opening look into the lives of an elite group of men and women who volunteer to do things most couldn’t and wouldn’t stomach. Civilians with common sense and good judgment run from danger, while RatSnakes sprint toward it - smiling.
©2019 Vincent A. Cefalu (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Oath
Summary
An ancient sin. A long forgotten oath. A town with a deadly secret. Something evil is at work in Hyde River, an isolated mining town in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Under the cover of darkness, a predator strikes without warning - taking life in the most chilling and savage fashion. The community of Hyde River watches in terror as residents suddenly vanish. Yet, the more locals are pressed for information, the more they close ranks, sworn to secrecy by their forefathers’ hidden sins. Only when Hyde River’s secrets are exposed is the true extent of the danger fully revealed. What the town discovers is something far more deadly than anything they’d imagined. Something that doesn’t just stalk its victims, but has the power to turn hearts black with decay as it slowly fills their souls with darkness.
©1995 Frank E. Peretti (P)2020 Thomas Nelson
Larry H. Miller: Behind the Drive
Summary
Hear firsthand from multitudes of people whose lives were influenced, inspired, and even transformed by the compassion, generosity, and leadership of Larry H. Miller. Larry H. Miller played by his own rules. Owner of an NBA franchise and founder of one of the country's largest automotive retail groups, Larry was a college dropout who went on to buy or build nearly 100 businesses. While his life as a successful businessman played out in public, his health challenges, as well as his quiet acts of service, were known to very few. Behind the Drive contains 99 uplifting and untold stories from every aspect and era of Larry's life. Contributors range from NBA legends to religious officials, business moguls to political leaders, employees to childhood friends, and colleagues to competitors. These stories of an ordinary-yet-extraordinary man will inspire listeners to find and live their own greatness by following Larry's example of working hard at something he loved, applying his God-given talents in service to others, and allowing his life to be guided by something greater than himself. This book is a guide for anyone who wishes to find success in today's busy world. The stories in Behind the Drive have the power to lift and inspire the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs, as well as help everyone discover Larry's formula for success: do work you love, get better at it every day, and serve others.
©2016 Bryan Miller (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Stars in Our Pockets
Summary
What shapes our sense of place, our sense of time, and our memory? How is technology changing the way we make sense of the world and of ourselves? Our screens offer us connection, especially now in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are certain depths of connection our screens can’t offer - to ourselves, to the natural world, and to each other. In this personal exploration of digital life’s impact on how we see the world, Howard Axelrod marshals science, philosophy, art criticism, pop culture, and his own experience of returning from two years of living in solitude in Northern Vermont. The Stars in Our Pockets is a timely reminder of the world around us and the worlds within us - and how, as alienated as we may sometimes feel, they were made for each other.
©2020 Howard Axelrod (P)2020 Beacon Press
Elude
Summary
Twenty-four hours before we were to be married, I offered to shoot her. 10 hours before our wedding, I made a mockery of her dying wish. Five hours before we were going to say our vows, I promised I'd never love her. One hour before I said I do, I vowed I'd never shed a tear over her death. But the minute we were pronounced man and wife, I knew. I knew I'd only use my gun to protect her. I'd give my life for hers. I'd cry. And I would, most definitely, lose myself to a dying girl - a girl who by all accounts never should have been mine in the first place. I always believed the Mafia would be my end game - poisoning my heart while it claimed my soul. I never could have imagined it would be my redemption, or the beginning of something beautiful. The beginning of her. The end of us.
©2016 Rachel Van Dyken (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Darknet
Summary
From the best-selling author of CyberStorm comes a wild ride through the Wall Street underworld. One minute Jake O'Connell is on top of the world, with a beautiful family and bright future as a stock broker in New York; the next it's all ripped away when he's embroiled in a fraud investigation, his childhood friend is murdered, and he finds himself on the run. Dodging the FBI and targeted by the Mob, Jake is thrown into a Wall Street underworld of crypto currencies and autonomous corporations, where he discovers a dark secret setting the world on a path to destruction. He must evade the shadowy forces hunting him and find a way to redemption - but the faster he runs, the deeper he becomes entangled. In the end his only path forward is to return to the ghosts of his past. Darknet is a journey into the back alleys of global finance and cyber espionage, the story of one man's quest to redeem himself and save his family.
©2014 Matthew Mather (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Starcaster
Summary
Magic. Steel. Blood. Victory. The Earth’s navy is left drifting among the stars as Nyctus ships swarm, their purpose unknown as they continue their advance, burning one system after another. Humanity's extinction seems inevitable. But on one of the forgotten worlds, a boy is left behind, and he holds a talent unlike anything the galaxy has ever known. Thorn Stellers is a mage, trained to lead and fight. With a renegade division of warriors at his side, and with weapons far different from those of old Earth, Thorn has a chance at standing up to humanity's enemies. For these mage-soldiers, armed with power that had once been thought the stuff of legend, the outcome is no longer certain. Each Starcaster has a talent - except for Thorn, who has many. With his childhood companion Kira Wixcombe, he’ll confront a threat from beyond the stars, meeting them in the darkness with a light born of magic...and a lust for revenge. Is his power enough? Or is Earth a forgotten memory, lost forever to history?
©2021 Variant Publications (P)2021 Podium Audio
Reality Bleed: Season 1
Summary
Seven months ago, Mars Felicity Station stopped communicating. The crew of the Perihelion will soon find out why. Something went wrong in the Mars Felicity Station. A gate to another reality was opened, and a mysterious alien plague threatens humanity. When communications with the station are cut, the Perihelion crew is sent to find out what happened. Outmatched and unprepared, they’re forced to make war on this new enemy and rescue what remains of the survivors. Fans of Doom and Aliens will love this international best-selling sci-fi survival series.
©2020 J.Z. Foster and Justin M. Woodward (P)2020 Podium Audio
The Marble Mask
Summary
Joe Gunther, a Brattleboro, Vermont cop, is the head of the new Vermont Bureau of Investigation (VBI), a joint task force charged with statewide responsibility for major crimes. In The Marble Mask, the VBI's first case takes the force north to Stowe, where a 50-year-old corpse has turned up in a crevasse on Mt. Mansfield. Some of the more interesting minor characters in author Archer Mayor's long-running series about the amiable elder sleuth make return appearances here as Joe's teammates - like one-armed Willy, a former wife-beater who's now playing footsie with Sammie Martens, one of Joe's favorite colleagues. When the frozen stiff turns out to have been a big-time Canadian crime boss named Jean Deschamps who disappeared after World War II, Joe and his gang cross the border to work with the Mounties, the Surete, and the local cops in Sherbrooke, where Deschamps' son Marcel is involved in a turf war with the Hell's Angels and a rival gang of thugs. Old secrets and intrigues come to light while an intricate plan to frame a dying man for a half-century-old crime forms an interesting puzzle that's not fully revealed until the very end.
©2013 Archer Mayor (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Sniper's Wife
Summary
The harrowing call comes from the NYPD: Willy's ex-wife Mary has been found dead in her Lower East Side apartment, and Willy is asked to identify the body. Torn from his beloved Vermont, Willy returns to the city of his hard-drinking youth with misgivings that deepen when he sees Mary's sad corpse on a gurney. Because of a fresh puncture mark in her arm, the police think she overdosed. But Willy has doubts. Driven by loss and guilt, Willy searches deeper and deeper into his past, to a long-ago Vietnam where he was a merciless loner known as the Sniper. Soon he will answer for his old sins....and live up to his chilling nickname.
©2018 Archer Mayor (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Visitation
Summary
The sleepy, Eastern Washington wheat town of Antioch has become a gateway for the supernatural - from sightings of angels and a weeping crucifix to a self-proclaimed prophet with an astounding message. The national media and the curious all flock to the little town - a great boon for local business, but not for Travis Jordan. The burned-out former pastor has been trying to hide his past in Antioch. Now the whole world is headed to his backyard to find the Messiah, and in the process, every spiritual assumption he has ever held will be challenged. The startling secret behind this visitation ultimately pushes one man into a supernatural confrontation that has eternal consequences.
©1999 Frank E. Peretti (P)2020 Thomas Nelson
Touching the Jaguar
Summary
“This eloquent book inspires us to create a new reality of what it means to be humans on this magnificent planet.” (Deepak Chopra) This all happened while Perkins was a Peace Corps volunteer. Then he became an "economic hit man" (EHM), convincing developing countries to build huge projects that put them perpetually in debt to the World Bank and other US-controlled institutions. Although he'd learned in business school that this was the best model for economic development, he came to understand it as a new form of colonialism. When he later returned to the Amazon, he saw the destructive impact of his work. But a much more profound experience emerged: Perkins was inspired by a previously uncontacted Amazon tribe that “touched its jaguar” by uniting with age-old enemies to defend its territory against invading oil and mining companies. For the first time, Perkins details how shamanism converted him from an EHM to a crusader for transforming a failing Death Economy (exploiting resources that are declining at accelerating rates) into a Life Economy (cleaning up pollution, recycling, and developing green technologies). He discusses the power our perceptions have for molding reality. And he provides a strategy for each of us to change our lives and defend our territory — the Earth — against current destructive policies and systems.
©2020 John Perkins (P)2020 John Perkins
Blood Cold
Summary
The legacy of a failed regime rises from the deep. Indomitable marine biologist Chris Black is looking forward to six quiet months of scientific research off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa. But when on a routine dive Chris discovers the wreck of a fishing vessel that disappeared during a storm decades earlier, he inadvertently clashes with the ghost of South Africa’s Apartheid. Thousands of gold Krugerrand provide powerful motivation for treachery everywhere, and Chris is forced to take a careful look at those he trusts most. Racing against time, he must find out who is providing critical information to the criminals...before too much innocent blood is shed. “Opening this book is like diving with sharks. Big sharks. At night. In a hurricane. What next?” (Stephen Palumbi, scientist and author of The Death and Life of Monterey Bay)
©2020 James Lindholm (P)2020 James Lindholm
Into a Canyon Deep
Summary
Not all secrets are buried deep…enough. Returning from a research dive off the coast of picturesque Carmel-by-the-Sea, marine biologist Chris Black is attacked viciously. No stranger to physical altercations, Chris is able to defend himself and hold one of his assailants captive. He learns that the goon has been sent to intimidate him: Stop diving or else.... Not one to respond well to threats, Chris and his childhood friends Mac Johnson, a former Navy SEAL, and Jase Hamilton, investigator with the Monterey County Sheriff, dive a little deeper. What is it that Chris and his graduate students might have seen on the ocean floor? Is it related to the body that washed up on shore? And how does whatever might be buried under the sea connect to the rich and famous who fund Chris Black’s research projects? From deep underwater canyons to the streets of bucolic Carmel-by-the Sea and nearby Monterey, far more than relationships turn toxic. But this time, Chris Black strikes back.
©2020 James Lindholm (P)2020 James Lindholm