Graveyard Shift

A Novella

By: M. L. Rio

Narrated by: Jess Nahikian, M. L. Rio, Max Meyers, Si Chen, Susan Dalian, Tim Campbell

This program features multicast narration.

“A quick and entirely captivating listen, full of surprises and satisfying character portraits.”—Library Journal

The author of sales sensation If We Were Villains returns with a story about a ragtag group of night shift workers who meet in the local cemetery to unearth the secrets lurking in an open grave.

Every night, in the college’s ancient cemetery, five people cross paths as they work the late shift: a bartender, a rideshare driver, a hotel receptionist, the steward of the derelict church that looms over them, and the editor-in-chief of the college paper, always in search of a story.

One dark October evening in the defunct churchyard, they find a hole that wasn’t there before. A fresh, open grave where no grave should be. But who dug it, and for whom?

Before they go their separate ways, the gravedigger returns. As they trail him through the night, they realize he may be the key to a string of strange happenings around town that have made headlines for the last few weeks—and that they may be closer to the mystery than they thought.

Atmospheric and eerie, with the ensemble cast her fans love and a delightfully familiar academic backdrop, Graveyard Shift is a modern Gothic tale in If We Were Villains author M. L. Rio’s inimitable style.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.

Critic reviews

"This place has everything—rats, fungus, thrills, chills, mysteries, hostile incidents—and M.L. Rio deftly weaves it all together into a short, sweet (okay maybe not that sweet) story. A rad, crisp, creepy read."
—Chuck Wendig, bestselling author of Black River Orchard and The Book of Accidents

“Like all M. L. Rio's work, Graveyard Shift is shot through with cool, heavily dosed with ennui, and dense with people-pleasures. Within this tangled skein of complicated characters (ranging from sweetly unhinged to truly problematic), Rio presents a world of nihilistic macabre only to strip it back, painting the gruesome with a softer brush and her singular gift for portraiture.”
—Olivie Blake, bestselling author of Atlas Six

“Graveyard Shift is wonderful - dark, strange and hair-raisingly tense - it spills over with atmosphere, full of flawed, fascinating characters. I raced through it.”
—Catriona Ward, bestselling author of The Last House on Needless Street

“[A] satisfying follow-up to If We Were Villains. . . Rio stuffs a plethora of surprises into her concise narrative without skimping on character development. This packs a punch.”
—Publishers Weekly

All POVs were boring

The narrations were excellent. The story is in my personal opinion boring. I love horror and this was not it.

The story.

I need more. There’s enough to hook the reader in but there needs to be so much more time and information gathered.

Scooby-Doo gang with a nicotine addiction

“Hannah home again, among the monsters. “ ch 5

A cast of characters that we learn about as the mystery that's discovered in the graveyard is uncovered.

I thought this was an intriguing story, while there was a scene or two that made me uncomfortable.

The reason this isn't a five star for me is because I just wanted to know how the story plot ends up & more about these characters, which I understand wasn't the point of the novella.

Though I like the themes and ideas that this story explored along with how M L Rio wrote this little horror/thriller tale.

Great cast

The cast that read this was really good. The story was okayish and the vibes were what kept me coming back to read this.

I cant even get through chapter 1

I was so excited for this story and I (stupidly) did not go through and listen to each voice actor's work because I assumed it couldnt be that bad if I didn't like just one. But no. The first reader made me stop 10minutes in because she pauses at inapporpriate times and LITERALLY speaks with QUESTION MARKS for mid or end of sentence where it is clearly not a question. Can I get my credit back? is that a possibility on Audible (I have no idea if it is).