Glimpse

A Novel

By: Jonathan Maberry

Narrated by: Emma Galvin

Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Best-selling author Jonathan Maberry's Glimpse is a chilling audiobook thriller that explores what happens when reality and nightmares converge, and how far one will go to protect the innocent when their own brain is a threat.

Rain Thomas is a mess. Seven years an addict and three difficult years clean. Racked by guilt for the baby she gave up for adoption when she was 16. Still grieving for the boy’s father who died in Iraq. Alone, discarded by her family, with only the damaged members of her narcotics anonymous meetings as friends. Them, and the voices in her head. One morning, on the way to a much-needed job interview, she borrows reading glasses to review her resume. There is a small crack in one lens and through that damaged slice of glass she sees a young boy go running down the aisle of the subway train. Is he screaming with laughter or just screaming? When she tries to find the boy, he’s gone and no one has seen him.

The day spins out of control. Rain loses whole chunks of time. The voices she hears are telling her horrible things. And Doctor Nine, a spectral boogey man conjured in drug induced hallucinogens is now hunting her in the real world. Doctor Nine is also chasing that boy. A boy who looks so much like Rain’s dead boyfriend. Unsure whether she is insane or if the world itself is broken, Rain begins a mother’s quest for her lost child through a world where reality and nightmare are in a head-on collision. How far will one person go to save someone they love?

©2018 Jonathan Maberry (P)2018 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"A waking dream, at once powerful and subtly sinister." (Clive Barker, New York Times best-selling author)

"Maberry consistently delivery delightful dread, and GLIMPSE is his scariest yet." (Number-one New York Times best-selling author Scott Sigler)

"Jonathan Maberry is always my go-to author for awesome!" (Number-one New York Times best-selling author Sherrilyn Kenyon)

loved it!

couldn't wait to have to hit the road for work so i could find out what happened next!!

Pretty Interesting

This is one twisted story of a nightmare. The storyline was interesting to me. What I understand was that the main character was given the opportunity to change her life around or given a do-over of her life from the past 10 years. (I wasn't sure how to take it)

This. If Not Joe, Then This.

I don't know if everyone would call this horror, but it's my definition of this book. It reminds me of old Stephen King and of Joe Hill and maybe a little bit of Dean Koontz. Creepy but entertaining to a point where you can't stop listening. It was a true pleasure to read and the ending was awesome. I had to listen to it a couple of times to put it into perspective.

I'm almost never a fan of female narrators, but Ms. Galvin was the weakest point of the book. It didn't sound to me like she was invested in any way in the story (think Ray Porter). Most of the voices sounded the same to me. It's too bad.

Good story line

Enjoyed the story but I found that the pace lagged at times due to the overly descriptive style of the Author, it got tiresome after awhile and added nothing.

Fantastic

I was pleasantly surprised, an absolute original thrill ride! I listened non-stop. Narration was spot on.

Just read for 3rd time!!!!!

Compelling characters, incredible insight on interpersonal relationships. Story line that is immediately intriguing. Unique in so many ways. Narrator incredible.

Really different (in a good way)!

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great story and a good narrator. It had a slightly Stephen King vibe to it that I loved. Recommend.

Great story

A great story from a great storyteller. Jonathan Mayberry has been one of my favorite authors for very long time now and this novel does not fall short of any of his other works.

An OK scarer, but a LOT going on...

I'm a fan of Maberry, and maybe it's just that I'm too used to his other series work (Joe Ledger, Rot & Ruin, etc), but this book didn't work for me.

Don't get me wrong - in the grand scheme of things I enjoyed it - and I appreciate him trying new things... but there was a LOT going on in this book and it ended up feeling more like a jumbled mess than anything else.

The title reflects (pun intended) what is presumably a key plot "hook" - the main character ends up with a pair of glasses that allow her to see, though a cracked sliver, a very different version of the world than the one she lives in. Except... considering it's the title gimmick... its only used a few times in the book, and in a non-meaningful way.

Instead this book has a zillion other things going on at the same time. A Scooby-Doo gang crew of drug addicts. A "ghost" detective (who I hope we see again... the most compelling thing about the book). Vampires. Alternate dimensions (or histories... I didn't quite get which). Tibetan monks.
Heavy motherhood themes. Heavy addiction themes. Demonic cars. Demonic nurses. Characters with borderline offensive South-Parky names (Gay Bob and Straight Bob).

It was a lot to keep up with and understand. Again, appreciate the effort, and generally enjoyed the ride, but can't say I loved it. I'll be fine never hearing from 99% of these characters again... BUT... if Maberry were to springboard the character of Monk into another novel, that alone would be worth the effort of reading this one...

Narration by Emma Galvin was solid. It took me awhile to get into her tone/rythm and characterization, but once I did, I feel like she did a solid job of bringing each of the (many) characters to life, and her general narration was really good.

Damn that’s a good book!!!

Came across this book because of my love for the joe ledger series and figured I would check out some of Mayberry’s other work. I am sure glad I did, I’ll be going back and listening to some of his earlier novels and hope I get the same reaction when it’s over...DAMN THAT WAS A GOOD BOOK!!!