Free Audiobook : The Exchange, By John Grisham
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Free Audiobook : The 6:20 Man, By David Baldacci
13 February 2025
Audiobook details
One phone call, one dead man, and nothing that adds up
Mickey Gibson keeps her life running on a tight schedule. Two kids, a remote job chasing down financial fraud for a global investigation firm, and just enough sleep to get through the next day. None of that prepares her for the phone call that sends her to an empty mansion to check on a routine case file, or for what she finds waiting for her once she gets inside.
The man on the floor was supposed to be untraceable. The colleague who sent her there doesn't exist. And the closer Mickey looks at what should have been a simple verification job, the more she realizes someone built this trap specifically for her. She's spent years reading people for a living. Now someone is reading her, staying two steps ahead of every move she makes.
What follows is less an investigation than a standoff, one where Mickey can't be sure if she's chasing a killer or being maneuvered into becoming one. Every answer she gets only raises the stakes for her children, her freedom, and the version of herself she thought she'd left behind when she turned in her badge.
I went into Simply Lies expecting the usual Baldacci momentum, and got something a little slower burning instead, in a good way. Mickey Gibson isn't a superhero investigator. She's a tired single mother pulled into a situation that keeps twisting the moment she thinks she has a handle on it.
What works best here is the setup. Baldacci doesn't rush Mickey into danger, he builds it piece by piece, starting with a request so mundane she has no reason to question it. By the time the trap becomes obvious, she's already too far in to walk away, and that slow tightening is more unsettling than any big action sequence.
The antagonist is the real engine of the book. Baldacci keeps her mostly off the page and lets her presence work through phone calls and secondhand information, which somehow makes her more unnerving than if she'd been given full scenes. Mickey has to piece together a person she's never actually met, and that uncertainty carries the entire middle section.
Where the book loses a little steam is the final stretch, when some of the earlier restraint gives way to a more familiar thriller wrap-up. It doesn't undo the tension that came before it, but readers hoping the ending matches the patience of the setup might find themselves wanting a touch more.
The narration is where this audiobook earns its keep. Lisa Flanagan gives Mickey a grounded, no-nonsense voice that never tips into melodrama even as things spiral, while Corey Carthew handles the male cast with enough range that law enforcement voices and shadier players never blur together. At 11 hours and 45 minutes, the two of them trade the story back and forth smoothly enough that the pacing never drags, even through the slower stretches.
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Simply Lies by David Baldacci follows Mickey Gibson, a single mother and former detective, as one routine work request pulls her into a scheme built entirely around her. What looks like a simple house call turns into a discovery she can't unsee, and a game she never agreed to play.
Take advantage of the free trial, cancellable at any time, and let Lisa Flanagan and Corey Carthew carry all 11 hours and 45 minutes of this psychological thriller. Their back and forth narration keeps Mickey's grounded perspective and the shadier voices around her clearly separated, which suits a story built on not knowing who to trust.
The audiobook remains yours forever, even after the trial ends. The same free trial also unlocks thousands of other titles, with no commitment required. Start listening now and see how far one lie can go.
More Audiobooks by David Baldacci
US-based editor & staff writer focused on audiobooks. Honest reviews, curated “best of” lists, and practical guides with an accessibility lens.
