Audiobook - Electric Souk

Steve Taylor-Bryant ignores the sands of time as he listens to the Spokenworld audiobook of Rose McGinty's novel Electric Souk...

Humanity blisters in this haunting, lyrical thriller about trust and treachery. Ireland's gone bust, and with it Aisling Finn's life. She flees austerity for adventure in the desert. But the Arabia she finds is not that of her dreams. Everyone is chasing a fast buck, a fast woman and another G&T. Expats and locals alike prickle with paranoia.

Debonair fixer, Brian Rothmann, charms Aisling with champagne brunches and nights at Bedouin camps. But is Brian a hero or a desperate expat prepared to go to any lengths to get what he wants? Is this Aisling? Or is he using her as bait? Her only hope is Hisham, a local activist. But where do his loyalties lie?

Aisling faces severe peril when the sleazy expat and blood-lusting desert worlds collide, as the Arab Spring erupts. She has to ask, whom can she trust? Can she trust her instincts? 

Before I get into the technicalities of the audiobook from Spokenworld Audio, I have to start by complimenting Rose McGinty on an absolutely stunning story. McGinty is not a novelist I was familiar with before listening to Electric Souk and, it turns out, no one was as this is a debut book. If the debut can come across with this level of craft, intensity and vivid imagery then a bright future lays ahead for a writer that has true gift for storytelling.

So, to the audio. At around 10 hours in length it would be easy to baulk at finding the time required to listen to a story you know nothing about, read by someone you aren't at all aware of. However, when I did finally find the time, it just flew by. The production levels are as tight and professional as you'd expect from Spokenworld Audio and it's to Neil Gardner's credit that the company never take their eye off the ball in this regard. Laura Pyper handles the complexities of the tale and the rich characters that McGinty has created with aplomb and it seems almost effortless, like Electric Souk had been written for Pyper to narrate. All the tension and extraordinary cultural differences on the pages lose nothing in their translation to the spoken word and it's refreshing to hear a story full of cinematic imagery on the page come to life as you'd imagine it would when you read along.

I only ever expect quality from Spokenworld nowadays and as you'll see in my past reviews I'm quite the fan, with Electric Souk though everything seems to have gone up a notch and the bar really is set quite high now. Over to you Spokenworld, I look forward to you clearing it.

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Buy Electric Souk by Rose McGinty on audiobook from Spokenworld HERE

Or get the paperback from Urbane Publishing