The Bay at Midnight

By: Diane Chamberlain

Narrated by: Cris Dukehart, Randye Kaye, Julie McKay

Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

Her family's cottage on the New Jersey shore was a place of freedom and innocence for Julie Bauer - until her 17-year-old sister, Isabel, was murdered. It's been more than 40 years since that August night, but Julie's memories of her sister's death still shape her world. Now someone from her past is raising questions about what really happened that night. About Julie's own complicity. About a devastating secret her mother kept from them all. About the person who went to prison for Izzy's murder - and the person who didn't. Faced with questions and armed with few answers, Julie must gather the courage to revisit her past and untangle the complex emotions that led to one unspeakable act of violence on the bay at midnight.

©2005 Diane Chamberlain (P)2015 Tantor

Critic reviews

"The story of what really happened unfolds organically and credibly, building to a touching denouement that plumbs the nature of crimes of the heart." ( Publishers Weekly)

Intriguing drama

Great story, kept me listening and interested. One of the narrators has too much vocal fray, but it is only mildly annoying.

a bit slow to begin with

i found the story hard to get into though the last quarter of the story was hard to put down. i enjoyed the murder mystery who done it part of the story and the outcome wasn't predictable but not her best book but still worth listening

He said, She said

The "he said, she said" of Julie's narrator would have been better left unsaid, very distracting! Once I stopped wincing, the book was enjoyable and the story intriguing.

Story was interesting, however writers style of he said she said I said became annoying and dragged the story.

Story was interesting, however writers style of he said she said I said became annoying and dragged the story.

She said, he said....

OMG, the repetition of “she said” detracts SO much from this story, it’s a true shame! Otherwise it is/would be a great book.

Interesting mystery, too much immoral behavior

I enjoyed the story as far as the mystery element and some of the historical descriptions. Having grown up in that time period, of the 60s and 70’s it was fun to revisit some of the cultural oddities. What I did not enjoy was the frequent references to adolescent sexual feelings and the many sexual relationships. Especially the relationship that the Italian girl, Maria had with Ross. Catholic Italian girls from the 1940’s did not give themselves to young men and act in such a sneaky way, No matter how little they went to church. I grew up in that culture and although not unheard of, it was rare. Also distressing were all the rather funny references young Julie made to her confessions when she clearly didn’t intend to live up to the high ideals called for in her church. As an adult her first reaction to her daughters pregnancy was to tell her to have an abortion, and her first real date with Ethan was all about sex. It seemed mocking to Catholics to portray these women as so deceitful and immoral. And then there was Shannon, clearly portrayed as the perfect modern spoiled, and ungrateful airhead with the same pitiful moral standards. Diane Chamberlain’s story would have been better without all of her drama and all the other soap opera affairs. In fact, some of Diane’s other books, such as the Stolen marriage, and the Dream Daughter, were excellent stories, without all of the trashy scenes that this book contained. In those books, she portrayed the characters as true to their cultures and religions. If I had known this book contained so much of this material, I would not have chosen to listen to it.

Great story - distracting narrator

This is a great story about the importance of facing family problems head on. However, throughout the book, the narrator constantly read “he said”, “she said”, “I asked”, etc. the combination of how she emphasized these sentence endings and how choppy and often it was used was very distracting.

Good story but....

The narrator that did Julie drove me nuts but holding on to the last word in a sentence especially the word said

Good story

I agree with another listener, they should have left out all of the “he said” and “she said”

Performance

I'm not sure who read the part of Julie, but the way " he said" "I said" "she said" was recited in such a way that I wanted to PUNCH MYSELF IN MY FACE.
I'm not sure if I should blame the author or the reader, but it became so distracting that it affected my overall impression.