Booklog 65/2025: Nick Jones: And Then She Vanished – Joseph Bridgeman #1 – Audiobook

[jacey]

Narrated by Ray Porter

Having started (accidentally) with the second book in the series, and enjoyed it tremendously, I immediately went back to the first in which Joe discovers he can time travel and uses his new ability to save his sister, Amy, who disappeared when she was a child, partly due to his 14-year-old self’s moment of inattention. Joe struggles to master his talents, calling on two old friends and one new one to help him figure it out – in the process falling in love. The plot races along and comes to an excellent conclusion. The question of whether Joe is supposed to be British or American (which I brought up in my review of Book #2) is answered definitively in Book #1 – he’s British, and he’s based in Cheltenham – which is a quintessentially British place. It makes the choice of American Ray Porter to narrate these books somewhat puzzling, especially since the author is British, too. Blackstone, the publisher of the wider series, is American, however, which maybe also explains some of the minor Americanisms which might have been inserted to make it more America-friendly. To be honest, Ray Porter is a great narrator who reads this very well, but I do feel as though a British-accented narrator would have made more sense. (Maybe Matt Addis, or Stephen Pacey.) It won’t stop me listening to the others, however. I'm lready lining up Book #3.