The New Order

by Karen E. Bender
Published by Highbridge
Short Stories

Tavia Gilbert’s narration of these unsettling stories is deeply satisfying. The first work in this excellent collection is about two longtime friends who have drifted apart but who are working together to figure out what to do if their synagogue is attacked. This piece, like the others in this book, is steeped in the current American realities of violence, politics, and economic uncertainty. Gilbert is a versatile and convincing performer, adept at a wide variety of characters and at varying her delivery of each story. While the lack of sufficient pauses between stories makes it hard to hear where one ends and the next begins, the audiobook more than compensates in the end.—AudioFile Magazine