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    Alice Isn't Dead: A Novel
    Alice Isn't Dead: A Novel
    Alice Isn't Dead: A Novel
    Audiobook8 hours

    Alice Isn't Dead: A Novel

    Written by Joseph Fink

    Narrated by Jasika Nicole

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    From the New York Times best-selling coauthor of It Devours! and Welcome to Night Vale comes a fast-paced thriller about a truck driver searching across America for the wife she had long assumed to be dead, performed by the voice of the Alice Isn’t Dead podcast, Jasika Nicole, with an exclusive essay written and read by Joseph Fink.

    ""This isn’t a story. It's a road trip.""

    Keisha Taylor lived a quiet life with her wife, Alice, until the day that Alice disappeared. After months of searching, presuming she was dead, Keisha held a funeral, mourned, and gradually tried to get on with her life. But that was before Keisha started to see her wife, again and again, in the background of news reports from all over America. Alice isn't dead, and she is showing up at every major tragedy and accident in the country.

    Following a line of clues, Keisha takes a job as a long-haul truck driver and begins searching for Alice. In pursuit of her missing wife, she will stumble on a forgotten American history of secret deals and buried crimes, an inhuman serial killer who has picked her as his next target, and an otherworldly conflict being waged in the quiet corners of our nation’s highway system--uncovering a conspiracy that goes way beyond one missing woman.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateOct 30, 2018
    ISBN9780062844200
    Alice Isn't Dead: A Novel
    Author

    Joseph Fink

    Joseph Fink is the creator of the Welcome to Night Vale and Alice Isn't Dead podcasts, and the New York Times bestselling author of Welcome to Night Vale, It Devours!, and The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home (all written with Jeffrey Cranor), and Alice Isn’t Dead. He is also the author of the middle-grade novel, The Halloween Moon. He and his wife, Meg Bashwiner, have written the memoir The First Ten Years. They live together in the Hudson River Valley.

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    Reviews for Alice Isn't Dead

    3.5/5

    175 ratings13 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Podcast was better voice acting was the reason . I like how it relates to life
    • 4/5
      Lovers of the podcast will probably be like me and really dig in for part3. Those to whom this story is completely new to will get a great experience from the start. Would probably only recommend purchasing this if you’re new. Long time fans should try a chapter in the middle before purchasing.
    • 4/5
      "If a point of view becomes one’s entire identity, what was monstrous on the inside can become monstrous on the outside." This is a timely, if thinly veiled, allegory on hatred and prejudice. I enjoyed this aspect of it, and of course the kick-ass female heroines. This is one of the most diverse books I've read recently: a married, lesbian, non-White couple at the center and female leaders of both factions in the "war". How often do we see White men writing books with this much diversity? Now that I think about it, I'm giving this book an extra star for that fact alone. The story and writing itself didn't stand out as much for me. The timing was disjointed, but that can likely be attributed to the fact that it's based on a podcast and thus written in serialized format. It could also just be that I'm not big on weird monsters.
    • 2/5
      I think if I had listened to the podcast, I would have liked this more.
    • 1/5
      Pretty much a garbage book. It sucks in every way imaginable
    • 5/5
      Alice Isn't Dead is a really good novel. It's a really good horror book, a really good sci-fi/fantasy book, and a really good book about humans in general. Just from reading the plot summary, you might think this was a book all about some vast conspiracy involving the U.S. Government and a bunch of weird monsters. You'd be sort of right for thinking that, but it's also about so much more. Underneath all the monsters and supernatural wars is a love story between a woman and her wife. It's a story about losing someone you love, finding them, feeling betrayed, persevering against all odds, and coming together in order to save all you hold dear. It's a deeply intimate story, even with the giant scope of the subject matter. And that's what really makes this book something special. It's a story about people caught up in this giant supernatural event.

      It would be super easy to feel lost in a story like this had Fink not grounded it so well with such an immediately relatable main character. From the first time we encounter Keisha, on the first page of the novel, we immediately identify with her. Fink does such a great job at getting us into her head and making us feel what she feels. Her struggle with anxiety will be immediately identifiable to anyone else who's struggled with it and the way she learns to cope with, and utilize, her anxiety is something that really resonates with me. Keisha is our window into this story and it's (mainly) through her that we experience the events. We see what she sees and we feel what she feels. Sure, the narration often shows us other people and events outside of Keisha's point of view, but it all ultimately comes back to her. Keisha, and her love for her wife (Alice), is what grounds this story. It's their relationship that makes this story work. It doesn't really matter who the Thistle Men are or why they do what they do because what we really care about is how Keisha and Alice will survive this story.

      That's not to say, however, that the mystery of who the Thistle Men are and who's ultimately behind them and the supernatural war happening under the very nose of America isn't important, fleshed out, and ultimately solved in a satisfying way. Because while the story is mainly about Keisha's relationship with Alice and how it survives all that's happened between them, it's also about Keisha's journey to uncovering the secrets behind the Thistle Men, Bay and Creek, and the war between the two. It's a road trip story that takes Keisha all around America as she searches for answers: first as to where her wife is and later as to who is behind all of these strange and terrible events she's witnessing. In a way, Alice Isn't Dead reminds me a lot about Neil Gaiman's American Gods in the best way possible. Both are books about these huge supernatural wars between two sides who seem to hate each other. Both feature resolutions that prove that things weren't as they initially appeared. And both are largely road trip stories driven and revolving around a singular protagonist. Both novels use intimate stories about their main characters as the conduit to telling this larger story about supernatural wars. And both novels are superb.

      I appreciate how this is a horror novel that doesn't really relish in how scary it is. The way Fink describes the Thistle Men will make your skin crawl and give you nightmares on end, but he doesn't linger with it. He tells you enough for you to get the picture and then moves on with the action. This isn't a book full of "jump scares"; it's a book that builds up its atmosphere and leaves you feeling like anything horrible could happen at any moment. It pumps you full of dread and fear for the main character. There are plenty of times where you really don't know if Keisha and Alice are gonna make it out of these events alive. You hope they will, but you realize they might not. It's a scary book that isn't obsessed with being scary. It's far more obsessed with exploring humanity. In the last third of the book, there's a lot of good exploration about humanity in general; what makes a human good or bad. There's this idea that we find it easy to call bad people monsters because it allows us to separate them from ourselves, to view them as un-human, as other. This book fights against that idea. At the end of the day, the scariest monsters are always humans.

      It's worth noting that while Alice Isn't Dead is based on the podcast of the same name, this novel isn't just a novelization of the podcast. Yes, both the podcast and this novel tell what is essentially the same story, but the way they respectively tell it differs. The novel condenses and tweaks a lot of the events that happen in the podcast into a more concise series of events and even goes so far as to skip over entire episodes of the podcast as to include them in the novel would, quite frankly, totally destroy the pacing and forward thrust of the narrative. The novel doesn't differ from the podcast in what it doesn't contain, but there's also a whole lot of stuff added to the novel that isn't in the podcast. There's a lot you can do in novels, in terms of differing points of view, that you can't really do in a podcast that's being narrated from the point of view of a single character. So the novel features a ton of scenes that aren't in the podcast or were just alluded to having happened at some point. Point is: there's a lot in this book for fans of the podcast; it's not just the exact same story you've already heard. It's the same overall story but told in a different way with additions and changes and an entirely different feel.

      Alice Isn't Dead is a genuinely good book. It's well written, featuring a number of dynamic, well-defined characters, each with clear motives and desires and agency. It's got a really good mystery that's ultimately resolved in a really satisfying way. It's full of strong prose that ushers the story along at a good pace. It might take a little bit to get going, but once it does, you won't want to put it down. It's a horror book in the best sense of that term: it explores the darkness of the worst of humanity and contrasts it with the brightness of the best of it. It's a story about love surviving in the worst of circumstances. It's a story of two people finding each other and forgiving each other after a major betrayal. It's a story about a woman coping with her anxiety and learning to use it to her advantage. It's a story about survival and fighting to save what you hold dear. It's an intimate story set against the backdrop of an epic one. If you enjoy scary stories about conspiracies, you'll enjoy this. If you enjoy survival stories, you'll enjoy this. If you enjoy stories of two lovers fighting for each other, you'll enjoy this. This is a great book by a great author. Read it. You'll enjoy it.
    • 5/5
      I have been a fan of Joseph Fink's work for a long time, especially the podcasts he is a part of creating. If you have listened to the podcast of the same title, a lot of the content is overall the same, but there were things that I didn't remember happening in the podcast that we got to hear about in the novel.Some of the things that I really liked about this story is that things are deeper then you might initially think and it feels like Joseph Fink shares a lot about his world view with readers through this story. But, even more than that, as he states after the story has finished, he shares what living with anxiety has been like for him through Keisha.Also, the voice actor is Jasika Nicole, who voiced Keisha in the podcast and does a phenomenal job giving a unique voice to each character in the book.Content Warning: There is quite a bit of description of gore and violence. (I personally don't typically do well with horror and such, but I think this story is so worth hearing/reading. So as I listened to the audiobook I did puzzles so I didn't have the gory images too strongly in my mind but was still able to take in what happened in the novel.)
    • 3/5
      This audiobook wasn’t bad at all. It’s kind of like Welcome to Nightvale in flavor maybe, but not the same at all.
      Rather weird (in a good way), and at times a little confusing, it all works out in the end. You might like the ride as well as me, and you might not. I guess it depends on if you had tried and liked or loved the original podcast (WtN).
      Jasika Nicole is the narrator, and this is something she was born to do I believe. She was good.
      3.5 stars, and recommended to those who enjoy a little weirdness in their lives.
    • 3/5
      Translating a work from one medium to another can be tricky—even when done by the same creator. In this case the creator (Joseph Fink) of the podcast ALICE ISN'T DEAD has translated it to book form. While non-fiction podcasts still dominate the format, fictional story driven podcasts are quickly creating their own space. HOMECOMING, LIMELIGHT & WELCOME TO NIGHTVALE are other prominent fiction podcasts that have jumped mediums. The gist of ALICE is that the main character is road-tripping to find her presumed dead spouse and in the interim uncovering a dark and menacing conspiracy (kind of X Files meets Twin Peaks meets The Fugitive). The pulse of the podcast is the first-person narration telling much of the story like a recorded diary. The heart of the podcast is the actress delivering that narration: Jasika Nicole. Much of the story telling is non-linear jumping back and forth in time just applying layers to the story. What could be confusing or disjointed is held together by her voice. Some of my favorite episodes didn’t really move the story ahead but were entertaining side trips designed to add to the overall atmosphere. That is sorely lacking from the book which proceeds in a more straight-ahead fashion with a third person narrator and only the occasional nod to the personal narration. At times, the book feels like an outline for the podcast, draining the story of much of its immediacy and intimacy. Had I not heard the podcast I might like the book more—and it is really not bad—I just liked the Podcast a lot. To the book’s favor, some characters are given more room to breathe and the conclusion is less abrupt. Mostly, however, I missed the stuff the author left out and didn’t like as much what he put in their place. I listened to the podcast while driving home alone from work through winter darkness. I read the book while under the weight of winter blankets pulled up to my chin in bed. Both are prime locations to stir the imagination but I remember the drives home so much more.
    • 4/5
      This is the novel version of the fiction podcast Alice Isn't Dead, which told the story of Keisha, who takes to the highway in a truck searching for her wife, Alice, who she believed was dead until she randomly showed up in the background of a TV news story. On those roads, Keisha encounters monsters and secrets, strangeness and violence. For those familiar with the podcast version, it's worth pointing out that this is basically the same story, albeit with some editing, changed details, and things left out. It's not a transcript of the podcast, and it's been translated from the first-person narrative of the original into a third-person one.I had somewhat mixed feelings about the podcast, myself. From the beginning, there were things I really liked about it. The monsters are genuinely creepy and threatening and even compelling, in a disturbing sort of way. The weirdness is definitely to my taste. The idea that it was trying to say something about America through the medium of a fictional road trip was intriguing. And there were moments of really good, almost poetic insight.But, I must confess, the shine wore off it a bit as it went along, for me. Even as I still rather liked it, I also got a bit tired of it. The plot went to a conspiracy-theory kind of place that didn't entirely work for me. And the ending felt anticlimactic, its commentary on political activism well-meaning but entirely too heavy-handed.And I think I felt most of the same things about the novel. Well, more or less. The monsters maybe don't feel quite as creepy, meeting them for the second time, but the ending maybe feels less anticlimactic after three hundred pages of buildup rather than three years. The moments of poetic insight perhaps feel a bit muted, or maybe some of them just don't work quite as well on the page as they do delivered in Jasika Nicole's voice. I'm not sure. And, funnily enough, while the podcast felt to me like it dragged on just a little too long, the novel actually feels rather too fast, too compressed. Which just goes to show you how the sense of pacing can vary with the medium.In the end, I'd say that both the podcast and the novel feel like they're grasping towards brilliance but not really making it there. The place they do make it to is interesting, but inevitably leaves me with the feeling that there's potential here that was never quite fulfilled.That truck/skull logo featured on the cover, though, is freaking amazing. I love it so much that, despite my mixed feelings about the story, I bought it on a t-shirt.
    • 4/5
      A creepy horror novel full of twists and turns.
    • 1/5
      This novel has many shortcomings. The plot is so strange and erratic it is almost impossible to follow. It doesn’t travel an arc, but instead is a series of scenes that don’t seem well connected or to go anywhere. Although Fink seeks to create drama, suspense, and terror, most of it is contrived and too abrupt. The violence is gratuitous, reminding one of a bad action film. The characters are poorly developed and cartoonish (i.e., superheroes and evil bad guys). Their motivations are dubious and thus hard to empathize with. Even the love interest between Keisha and Alice is so unrealistic as to leave one cringing. The narrative frequently wanders into philosophizing, mostly about overly simplistic ideas of good and evil. The settings are treated superficially because they come and go so rapidly. It was hard to maintain interest in all the craziness and thus the book took far too long to finish. Often tempted to quit, I kept at it to the bitter end seeking some insights that may not have been obvious, but alas, the ending seemed just as contrived and overly melodramatic as the rest of the novel.
    • 3/5
      I came to this having never listened to the podcast and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. It meant I had zero expectations, but it also occasionally meant that maybe I was not as caught up in the story as I would have been had it been being performed. I also felt that it got too pointed with its message toward the end, which is super-annoying. I don't mind an allegorical story with a moral, but I do mind being beat over the head with the message and the moral, which I sadly thought this book did. I didn't hate it and I'm intrigued enough with the story and characters to check out the podcast, but nor did I love it.