This is the first time I've read an audiobook and felt that it benefitted from having listened to it, and probably would have been one less star if I'd read the print book. There was something very aural about this tale, that switched between Alice and Lucy, two very different women, one British and one American. The two narrators of the audiobook really seemed to almost cinematically inhabit their characters, and I appreciated their acting as the tale was being woven.

Set in 1950s Tangier, I sometimes felt like I was sweating along with the characters. It became clear soon after starting the book that there was something amiss in this friendship; the allusions to events in the past and the vibrating menace lurking beneath some of their words to each other gave me chills in the described humidity. However, I don't think I would have enjoyed this book quite as much without hearing Barrie Kreinik and Erin Mallon voice these women. All that said, I really liked this tightly spun novel and look forward to more atmospheric Mangan novels in the future, as this was an impressive debut.