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Pine

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Pine

By: Francine Toon
Narrated by: Cathleen McCarron
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About this listen

They are driving home from the search party when they see her. The trees are coarse and tall in the winter light, standing like men.

Lauren and her father, Niall, live alone in the Highlands, in a small village surrounded by pine forest. When a woman stumbles out onto the road one Halloween night, Niall drives her back to their house in his pickup. In the morning, she’s gone.

In a community where daughters rebel, men quietly rage, and drinking is a means of forgetting, mysteries like these are not out of the ordinary. The trapper found hanging with the dead animals for two weeks. Locked doors and stone circles. The disappearance of Lauren’s mother a decade ago.

Lauren looks for answers in her tarot cards, hoping she might one day be able to read her father’s turbulent mind. Neighbours know more than they let on, but when local teenager Ann-Marie goes missing it’s no longer clear whom she can trust.

In the shadow of the Highland forest, Francine Toon captures the wildness of rural childhood and the intensity of small-town claustrophobia. In a place that can feel like the edge of the word, she unites the chill of the modern Gothic with the pulse of a thriller. It is the perfect novel for our haunted times.

©2019 Francine Toon (P)2019 Penguin Audio Ghosts Horror Haunted Scary Village

Critic Reviews

"It's both eerie and thrilling at once, and had me under its spell until the end." (Sophie Mackintosh, author of The Water Cure)
All stars
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great story. creepy, moving, visceral, relatable on some levels. I don't know,, I don't have the words. I just think this is one of the best books ever. And the narration is absolutely spot on. She brings every character to life in such a beautiful and unique way, does the Scottish accent a beautiful justice. I highly recommend this book to literally everyone.

new favourite book

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I couldn't stop listening and finished the book over two days. Cathleen McCarron's narration, as always, is excellent and brings out the nuances of the lush and lyrical text.

Creepy and atmospheric

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A haubring tale that had me gripped from start to finish. Well written, strong characters and the narration was brilliant.

Creepy

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Pine reads like it was written by a teenager going through her "witch" phase. Not one of the characters is sufficiently developed as to allow for any emotional engagement of the reader. While this story would probably make quite an entertaining TV movie, the written word fails to convey any feelings of suspense or menace. The "bad guy" is screamingly obvious. The second last chapter is just ridiculous.

Thank heavens for the brilliant narration.

Tedious, predictable, unsatisfying.

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.