My Process & Buzz for "Who Haunts You"

The ARC reviews for "Who Haunts You" have been pouring in from NetGalley and I'm thrilled to see that folks have enjoyed reading this book as much as I did. If you haven't yet, you can pre-order your copy of Mark Wheaton's "Who Haunts You" HERE and the audiobook will be available on audible any day now!

When Mark reached out about an audiobook collab for his new YA Horror novel, I was SO excited. As a fan of Mark's writing I jumped at the chance and, even before reading the manuscript, I knew it was going to be a tremendous story. From Kirkus: "The story’s narrative strengths include Wheaton’s ability to weave together relentless tension with an impressively knotty mystery. Reminiscent of Lois Duncan’s classic suspense novel I Know What You Did Last Summer, the book will keep readers guessing who the killer is until the very end. And although many of the characters fit neatly into cardboard stereotypes (entitled rich kids, the loner, the nerd), it’s the authenticity of Bex’s neurodivergent point of view that differentiates this work from other comparable titles."

It was important to me to perform this story exactly as written and let the text speak for itself. Prior to recording, I spent a good amount of time annotating the manuscript marking each turn, highlighting character dialogue, and exploring what the different voices were going to sound like (especially Holly - IYKYK.)

One of the biggest clues in finding Bex's voice was the goldmine of punctuation Mark used. As a narrator you sometimes take liberties by inserting pauses and breaths in the middle of sentences whether as a character choice, or simply because it's a long phrase and you need to breathe. But it became clear to me that the punctuation in this book was important and "acting liberties" would diminish its effect. Bex's inner voice is characterized by commas, parenthesis, italicized words, dashes, long sentences, and short clipped sentences. The punctuation acts as a map that illustrates the flow of Gwen's thoughts and paints a clear picture of her character without the need to do anything "extra" to make the story come to life.

Thank you to those who took the time to listen and review the audiobook and thank you Mark for trusting me with such a personal project and for writing something so unique and creative. My DMs are open for anyone who wants to discuss theories and the (open-to-intepretation) ending. It's a book that deserves to be re-read and discussed and I can't wait to talk about it with you!

****"Who Haunts You" will be available to read and review on NetGalley until October 31st.

From NetGalley:

The audiobook is one of the best I have listened to this year. The narrator does an absolutely amazing job of keeping you interested in the story. The first time the words "You found me." were spoken my anxiety levels went through the roof and my heart was racing. The narration is 5 stars. - Monique K.

If you love horror then you HAVE to listen to this book.

What I enjoyed a lot was the different voice for the spooky parts, there was a moment or two where I truly did get a fright. - Anke V.

But this audio legit gave me the creeps!  Narrator Annalee Scott does a very good job of making chills run down your spine.  Listen with headphones on.   - Kassie P.

I highly recommend this as an audio book. I listened to it in 1 day at work (don’t tell my boss!). I felt like I was watching a well loved scary movie from my past. I could picture all the characters perfectly. Scott exceeded at playing the role of Bex . Her voice was clear and easy to listen to. I never got bored - always needing to find the next clue. - Cecily M.

The narrator is excellent. She adds emotion without being overwhelming and off-putting. There's inflection and the pacing varies based on the story's events. I mean, she even sings at one point. Kudos for that! - Maranda B.

The narrator helps bring the story to life and make it even better with her different voices for characters. She puts so much emotion into every voice and helps the suspense factor become very real. - Anonymous

Annalee Scott was a fantastic narrator - I loved the difference in her voice when it went between Rebecca and Holly. She had great energy that made the audiobook a joy to listen to. 
- Jessica H.

The audiobook was really, really fabulously good! Annalee Scott has such a pleasant voice that I could listen to her forever. She read incredibly well and breathed a lot of life into all the characters. I especially liked her performance on Rebecca’s hearing, with too much stimulation. Her ticked-off reading AND singing were truly incredible. She was also able to capture the creepiness well and really pulled out everything she could by whispering and hissing.
Her pacing was spot on. - Sarah K.