Audiobook Review: Home is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose

 

Home is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose

Publication Date: April 30th 2024 by Blackstone Publishing

Pages: 256

Audio Book Length: 8 hrs 26 mins

Narrators: January LaVoy, Cassandra Campbell, Brittany Pressley, Andrew Eiden

Source: Publisher

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Libro.fm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Three estranged siblings, Beth, Nicole, and Michael, reunite after their mother, Laura, passes away. Their meetup is fraught with secrets and resentments, but they band together when they view an old VHS tape with a shocking scene. Their father, who disappeared seven years earlier, is covered in blood with a dead body as their mother films!  They’re blown over, as this is not the loving and attentive parents they knew!

 

Home is Where the Bodies Are was a riveting mystery! I was addicted from the first chapter! What happened years ago is told through their mother’s journals and more video tapes, but also from the three siblings’ recollection of past events. I had an idea of where some of it was going, but was surprised by the revelations, too! I listened intently as it wound up to a thrilling conclusion!

 

The story is told through Beth, Nicole, and Michael’s perspectives, and through Laura’s journals. Each POV had a separate narrator, Beth: January LaVoy, Nicole: Brittany Pressley, Michael: Andrew Eiden, and Laura: Cassandra Campbell, who is a new-to-me narrator. I was thrilled to have a full cast of performers, ones I’ve enjoyed listening to many times in the past. It enhanced my “reading” experience, bringing the characters and story to life! I listened to my usual 1.5x normal speed and faster as the situation became more intense!

4 Stars

Book Description:

From New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Marriage and You Shouldn’t Have Come Here comes a chilling family thriller about the (sometimes literal) skeletons in the closet.

After their mother passes, three estranged siblings reunite to sort out her estate. Beth, the oldest, never left home. She stayed with her mom, caring for her until the very end. Nicole, the middle child, has been kept at arm’s length due to her ongoing battle with a serious drug addiction. Michael, the youngest, lives out of state and hasn’t been back to their small Wisconsin town since their father ran out on them seven years before.

While going through their parent’s belongings, the siblings stumble upon a collection of home videos and decide to revisit those happier memories. However, the nostalgia is cut short when one of the VHS tapes reveals a night back in 1999 that none of them have any recollection of. On screen, their father appears covered in blood. What follows is a dead body and a pact between their parents to get rid of it, before the video abruptly ends.

Beth, Nicole, and Michael must now decide whether to leave the past in the past or uncover the dark secret their mother took to her grave.