Will you save the girl??

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Imagine, being at the bottom end of a long career. Struggling to find relevance. Trying to stay afloat, in a work environment that wants you to quit. A lonely warrior, soldiering on. And then being subjected to something unimaginable, life changing, earth shattering…. Something that changes who you are, what you stand for…

Late night radio show host, Adam Turner, is facing the slide into irrelevance. He’s far away from his glory days of prime time slots, billboards, and producers… He’s lost all of that to tough luck. Now he’s a late night radio show host, who is responsible for feeling the airwaves from midnight to 6am. All by himself, alone in the radio station. He’s used to silent nights, when the only people he can connect are drunk college students or occasional long haul truckers.

He's just settling in for an uneventful night, when his world tumbles into a nightmare. 12.45am, he gets an anonymous call. Caller says only one thing…. “Don’t hang up, or the girl dies”

 

At first, Adam thinks it’s a prank call but things soon start getting serious. And the call gets more and more scary. The caller pushes Adam to talk about things that are better left at home. The night wears on and the questions get more and more personal. Caller pushes Adam to answer questions that reveal his biggest fears and secrets. Talking about his fall from grace. As the time ticks, Adam needs to find out who this caller is and what his endgame is. The stakes keep getting higher, as the caller keeps upping the things he wants Adam to share with the world.

 

Don’t Hang up by Benjamin Stevenson is an audible original novella. It’s a 3 hour long ride that starts slow, but gathers up speed as time goes. And at its highest, it spins with a speed that turns the head.  It’s narrated by Luke Arnold and Sibylla Budd. And they do a fantastic job at keeping the pace of the story. I was listening to this one while I was driving back home and I was so engrossed into the story that I sat in my parked car for the last 35 mins, coz I didn’t want to stop.

 

When it comes to the actual plotline, some might think that it is familiar or predictable. At least a few reviews I saw online, mentioned that… but it wasn’t so for me. I found the experience thrilling and the twists unexpected. There are parts of the novella that could have been tightened but the pace of the story cancels that out in due time. It’s a novella that you should pick up when life is slow n boring. Benjamin Stevenson does a great job of creating a character that is instantly likable, in Adam Turner. You begin the journey with Adam feeling sorry for his downfall. Sympathetic to his plight and humiliation at being demoted to the night show. His daily routine that he walks us through makes us feel like we are bonding with a buddy who’s going through rough times. As the story progresses though… I’m not sure if those feelings stay strong. By the time the novella ends… we are not even sure… we like Adam at all…

 

Don’t hang up proves to be a very interesting experience. A quick adrenaline injection that will make you sit up straight and take notice. Of course, don’t expect literary genius here. There isn’t a life lesson or any profound ground reality in the novella. It’s a fluff piece that is designed to give you a quick rush and that’s all there is to it. So if you are facing a dreary evening alone or stuck in traffic with nothing exciting happening on the road, pick this one up… I promise, you won’t hang it up till the end 😊