A forested road at night, slick from the pounding rain and eerily illuminated by flashes of lightning. Just before midnight, a car swerves to avoid something—or someone—mysteriously standing in the road, only to slam into a fallen tree instead. In the pitch black, four more cars follow in a pileup no one can seem to avoid.
Stumbling out of the wreckage, soaked from the rain and nursing various injuries, five strangers find themselves in a backwoods dive bar, waiting for daybreak and hoping for cell service. But as tensions rise and the storm rages on outside, the occupants of the dive bar start to notice that not everything is as it seems. Time is moving differently, and they quickly learn that going outside—whether to assist another accident victim or to hike for help—is a very bad idea.
There’s something in the woods, something that isn’t natural. Could the figure in the road have been a warning? Or something more sinister? None of this is normal, and they’ll need to work together to figure out what’s happening if they have any hope of surviving the night.
I’ve read several of Kelley Armstrong’s books, and I’m always impressed by the variety of genres she writes in, but I’d never read a horror book from her before, so I was intrigued by this one. And I’ll tell you right away: this is one you NEED to listen to on audio! Helen Laser’s narration is a real standout and kept me on edge and completely immersed. This is a unique horror that brings together pocket universes, cosmic horror, supernatural elements, multiple MCs, and happens over one night. It’s suspenseful and unpredictable, but you’ll need to suspend your disbelief because things get very bizarre. I can see some having a difficult time wrapping their heads around everything, but for once I was able to follow everything—for the most part! 😂
The story is told via multiple POVs, following Ellie, Henry, the couple Caleb & Naomi, and a middle-aged gay man, Raymond, with a small section from an elderly man, Edgar. It has a creepy start as Ellie’s driving home on a rainy, rural detour, and she sees a woman in the road, swerves, and crashes into a fallen tree blocking the road. Henry ends up hitting her car, and before long Caleb and Naomi and the others have similar experiences on the same stretch of road. The story kicks into gear when Ellie and Henry find their way through the trees to a mysterious dive bar to get out of the rain and find help. There they meet an overly friendly bartender and a mysterious woman who looks like the woman Ellie saw in the road, even though she insists she isn’t.
From there, it gets dramatic very fast. Ellie and Henry form a bond while trying to make sense of everything, and from there we get monsters, reality shifting, and terrifying encounters in the woods. You have to suspend your disbelief in many scenes, but I was fully engaged, as I had no idea what was coming next. I kept wondering if this was a supernatural story, a parallel-universe story, or something else. Around the 70% mark, the bigger picture behind the dive bar and what’s happening to everyone gets much clearer. And most readers are gonna have strong opinions about the main villain once their mask starts slipping.
The short chapters, shifting POVs, suspenseful plot points, and action scenes are well spaced out, which made this a fast listen for me. I enjoyed how each character’s past became increasingly important, along with the idea of fate. The only thing that stopped this from being a 5⭐️ read for me was that some of the crazier events toward the climax were a bit TOO over the top, and not everything was fully explained. The final scenes are a race against time and thrilling on audio. While listening, I kept thinking that this would make a fantastic movie! The ending is open-ended, and I can’t say every intricacy of it made sense to me, but I was very entertained.
If any of this sounds intriguing to you, or you enjoy stories that explore fate, the idea that you can’t outrun death, supernatural horror, or pocket universes, I recommend adding this to your TBR. It’s also a great addition to a spooky-season TBR. But LISTEN TO THIS ONE ON AUDIO—it’s more of a cinematic thrill ride than your typical audio!
Narrator Performance
Dive Bar at the End of the Road is narrated by seasoned and award-winning narrators Helen Laser, Sean Patrick Hopkins, and Shane Ghostkeeper, and this is an audiobook where the narration adds SO much to the listening experience.
Helen Laser immediately pulled me in with her portrayal of Ellie. From the opening scenes, when Ellie’s driving on dark, rainy back roads to her parents’ house, I was unsettled. When she sees the woman in the road, swerves, and crashes into the fallen tree, you can feel all of her shock, confusion, and fear. Once Ellie and Henry make it to the dive bar and meet the overly friendly bartender and the mysterious woman who looks like the woman in the road, Laser does a great job letting you hear Ellie questioning everything and trying to figure out what isn’t adding up.
One of my favorite parts of Laser’s performance was how she conveyed Ellie’s chemistry with Henry. As they share their suspicions and compare what they’ve seen, Laser makes their conversations feel natural, and I was rooting for them to stick together. Laser also does a great job narrating Ellie’s scenes outside the bar, especially when her reality shifts and she encounters monsters. When Ellie’s confronted with her own worst fear, you can hear the fear and panic in Laser’s voice, but it’s layered with a badass determination that really made me like Ellie even more.
And then there’s her portrayal of the bartender, which was on point!! Early on, she gives him an easygoing, helpful voice that makes him seem harmless. But as his mask starts slipping, Laser’s performance becomes more menacing and unsettling—and eventually completely unhinged. His transformation really showed off Laser’s acting range and was a major highlight for me.
Laser shines throughout but takes her performance up a notch toward the end. The final race-against-time scenes are narrated with full-on intensity, and you can hear the exhaustion, urgency, fear, and determination as Ellie deals with multiple threats.
Shane Ghostkeeper gives Henry a warm, steady voice at the start. When he first crashes into Ellie’s car and realizes that something’s wrong, you can hear the bewilderment and concern in his voice. Ghostkeeper makes Henry’s paramedic background come through, as you can hear him focus on helping others rather than panicking in many scenes. As the story progresses, Ghostkeeper gradually shifts Henry’s delivery from someone who’s trying to accept things happening around him into someone who’s suspicious, on guard, & determined to survive. I also liked the loyalty and trust that Ghostkeeper portrayed in Henry’s interactions with Ellie.
Hopkins gives Raymond a VERY different energy from the other characters. Raymond’s voice immediately has a more self-focused, impatient vibe, particularly when he’s thinking about his younger boyfriend, Bryce, potentially leaving him. Late in the story, when Raymond accepts the bargain from the bartender, Hopkins shifts his performance to show a much darker side of Raymond that was very believable. You can hear his desperation and what he’s suddenly capable of when his survival is at risk. The scenes where he’s forced to confront his own worst fear and fight for survival are especially well narrated, immersive, and highly entertaining!
If you’re considering reading this, I highly recommend listening to the audiobook. The narrators elevate this one to a whole new level and make the entire experience feel thrilling and suspenseful. It’s also the perfect addition to your spooky-season TBR, especially if you enjoy action-packed supernatural horror or stories that explore pocket universes. For maximum enjoyment, I recommend going in knowing that you’ll need to suspend your disbelief and enjoy the wild ride!
Narrator Performance
Dive Bar at the End of the Road is narrated by seasoned and award-winning narrators Helen Laser, Sean Patrick Hopkins, and Shane Ghostkeeper, and this is an audiobook where the narration adds SO much to the listening experience.
Helen Laser immediately pulled me in with her portrayal of Ellie. From the opening scenes, when Ellie’s driving on dark, rainy back roads to her parents’ house, I was unsettled. When she sees the woman in the road, swerves, and crashes into the fallen tree, you can feel all of her shock, confusion, and fear. Once Ellie and Henry make it to the dive bar and meet the overly friendly bartender and the mysterious woman who looks like the woman in the road, Laser does a great job letting you hear Ellie questioning everything and trying to figure out what isn’t adding up.
One of my favorite parts of Laser’s performance was how she conveyed Ellie’s chemistry with Henry. As they share their suspicions and compare what they’ve seen, Laser makes their conversations feel natural, and I was rooting for them to stick together. Laser also does a great job narrating Ellie’s scenes outside the bar, especially when her reality shifts and she encounters monsters. When Ellie’s confronted with her own worst fear, you can hear the fear and panic in Laser’s voice, but it’s layered with a badass determination that really made me like Ellie even more.
And then there’s her portrayal of the bartender, which was on point!! Early on, she gives him an easygoing, helpful voice that makes him seem harmless. But as his mask starts slipping, Laser’s performance becomes more menacing and unsettling—and eventually completely unhinged. His transformation really showed off Laser’s acting range and was a major highlight for me.
Laser shines throughout but takes her performance up a notch toward the end. The final race-against-time scenes are narrated with full-on intensity, and you can hear the exhaustion, urgency, fear, and determination as Ellie deals with multiple threats.
Shane Ghostkeeper gives Henry a warm, steady voice at the start. When he first crashes into Ellie’s car and realizes that something’s wrong, you can hear the bewilderment and concern in his voice. Ghostkeeper makes Henry’s paramedic background come through, as you can hear him focus on helping others rather than panicking in many scenes. As the story progresses, Ghostkeeper gradually shifts Henry’s delivery from someone who’s trying to accept things happening around him into someone who’s suspicious, on guard, & determined to survive. I also liked the loyalty and trust that Ghostkeeper portrayed in Henry’s interactions with Ellie.
Hopkins gives Raymond a VERY different energy from the other characters. Raymond’s voice immediately has a more self-focused, impatient vibe, particularly when he’s thinking about his younger boyfriend, Bryce, potentially leaving him. Late in the story, when Raymond accepts the bargain from the bartender, Hopkins shifts his performance to show a much darker side of Raymond that was very believable. You can hear his desperation and what he’s suddenly capable of when his survival is at risk. The scenes where he’s forced to confront his own worst fear and fight for survival are especially well narrated, immersive, and highly entertaining!
If you’re considering reading this, I highly recommend listening to the audiobook. The narrators elevate this one to a whole new level and make the entire experience feel thrilling and suspenseful. It’s also the perfect addition to your spooky-season TBR, especially if you enjoy action-packed supernatural horror or stories that explore pocket universes. For maximum enjoyment, I recommend going in knowing that you’ll need to suspend your disbelief and enjoy the wild ride!
Dive Bar at the End of the Road is narrated by seasoned and award-winning narrators Helen Laser, Sean Patrick Hopkins, and Shane Ghostkeeper, and this is an audiobook where the narration adds SO much to the listening experience.
Helen Laser immediately pulled me in with her portrayal of Ellie. From the opening scenes, when Ellie’s driving on dark, rainy back roads to her parents’ house, I was unsettled. When she sees the woman in the road, swerves, and crashes into the fallen tree, you can feel all of her shock, confusion, and fear. Once Ellie and Henry make it to the dive bar and meet the overly friendly bartender and the mysterious woman who looks like the woman in the road, Laser does a great job letting you hear Ellie questioning everything and trying to figure out what isn’t adding up.
One of my favorite parts of Laser’s performance was how she conveyed Ellie’s chemistry with Henry. As they share their suspicions and compare what they’ve seen, Laser makes their conversations feel natural, and I was rooting for them to stick together. Laser also does a great job narrating Ellie’s scenes outside the bar, especially when her reality shifts and she encounters monsters. When Ellie’s confronted with her own worst fear, you can hear the fear and panic in Laser’s voice, but it’s layered with a badass determination that really made me like Ellie even more.
And then there’s her portrayal of the bartender, which was on point!! Early on, she gives him an easygoing, helpful voice that makes him seem harmless. But as his mask starts slipping, Laser’s performance becomes more menacing and unsettling—and eventually completely unhinged. His transformation really showed off Laser’s acting range and was a major highlight for me.
Laser shines throughout but takes her performance up a notch toward the end. The final race-against-time scenes are narrated with full-on intensity, and you can hear the exhaustion, urgency, fear, and determination as Ellie deals with multiple threats.
Shane Ghostkeeper gives Henry a warm, steady voice at the start. When he first crashes into Ellie’s car and realizes that something’s wrong, you can hear the bewilderment and concern in his voice. Ghostkeeper makes Henry’s paramedic background come through, as you can hear him focus on helping others rather than panicking in many scenes. As the story progresses, Ghostkeeper gradually shifts Henry’s delivery from someone who’s trying to accept things happening around him into someone who’s suspicious, on guard, & determined to survive. I also liked the loyalty and trust that Ghostkeeper portrayed in Henry’s interactions with Ellie.
Hopkins gives Raymond a VERY different energy from the other characters. Raymond’s voice immediately has a more self-focused, impatient vibe, particularly when he’s thinking about his younger boyfriend, Bryce, potentially leaving him. Late in the story, when Raymond accepts the bargain from the bartender, Hopkins shifts his performance to show a much darker side of Raymond that was very believable. You can hear his desperation and what he’s suddenly capable of when his survival is at risk. The scenes where he’s forced to confront his own worst fear and fight for survival are especially well narrated, immersive, and highly entertaining!
If you’re considering reading this, I highly recommend listening to the audiobook. The narrators elevate this one to a whole new level and make the entire experience feel thrilling and suspenseful. It’s also the perfect addition to your spooky-season TBR, especially if you enjoy action-packed supernatural horror or stories that explore pocket universes. For maximum enjoyment, I recommend going in knowing that you’ll need to suspend your disbelief and enjoy the wild ride!
