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1% Lifesteal (Book 4), by Robert Blaise | Free Audiobook
6 April 2026
Audiobook details
She came back. He had no rules for that.
Rue Chamberlain has known for a while that her heart is failing. What she did not expect was for it to actually stop. When Kane Deveraux, a centuries-old reaper, arrives to collect her soul, something goes differently from the thousands of collections before it. He sends her back. What follows is not a second chance so much as borrowed time, with supervision she never requested.
Grim, co-written by voice actor and author Joe Arden and D.J. Krimmer, runs on two alternating perspectives. Rue, now alive with a countdown she did not choose, is determined to spend whatever time remains on her own terms. Kane, who has spent centuries beside death without once being pulled toward the living, is discovering that one exception can undo every rule he built his existence around. Neither of them is handling it well.
The audiobook brings a full cast of six narrators, including Joe Arden himself, to a story that earns that kind of production. The tone is dark, and the humour arrives when you least expect it. At 11 hours and 28 minutes, it holds close to one question neither character will answer directly: what do you do with a life that has a known end?
I went in expecting something with a gothic aesthetic and a predictable arc. The premise, a young woman with a failing heart who briefly dies and wakes up under the supervision of the reaper who was supposed to collect her, is the kind of setup that can collapse under its own weight. It did not.
Rue is the stronger of the two characters on the page, and the book knows it. She is not passive, not softened by her condition, and not interested in performing gratitude for a life extension she did not ask for. D.J. Krimmer and Joe Arden write her as someone who was already fully formed before she died, and that choice holds the whole story together. Her stubbornness reads as character, not quirk.
Kane is written with more restraint, and it works in his favor. He has spent centuries guiding souls without being touched by any of them. The slow fracturing of that distance is the real engine of the story, and the writing does not rush it. There is a passage about what it means to have witnessed thousands of endings that stopped me and made me rewind. That does not happen often.
Grim was published by Blue Nose Publishing in September 2025. It landed on Goodreads as one of the most anticipated romance releases of that month, co-written by Joe Arden, whose debut novel The Chameleon Effect was shortlisted by Audible's editorial staff as one of the best audiobooks of 2022, and D.J. Krimmer. That kind of anticipation can work against a book. Here it did not.
On the narration: six voices across 11 hours and 28 minutes is a production gamble that pays off. Andi Eloise as Rue, Joe Arden as Kane, and the rest of the ensemble handle their characters with enough consistency that the shifts between perspectives feel natural. Arden narrating a character he co-wrote gives those sections a specificity a hired narrator would have had to guess at. The full cast format is exactly the right choice for this material.
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Grim by Joe Arden and D.J. Krimmer opens with Rue Chamberlain dying, briefly, and a centuries-old reaper named Kane Deveraux choosing to send her back instead of collecting her soul. Published by Blue Nose Publishing in 2025, it is a paranormal romance built around two alternating perspectives and one question neither character wants to answer directly.
Take advantage of the free trial, cancellable at any time, and experience this story through a full cast of six narrators, including Joe Arden himself. At 11 hours and 28 minutes, the production gives each voice a distinct weight, and Arden narrating Kane, the character he co-wrote, adds something to the listening that a different casting simply would not have.
The audiobook is yours to keep even after the trial ends. The offer also gives you access to thousands of other titles, with no commitment required. Start listening to Grim now.
US-based editor & staff writer focused on audiobooks. Honest reviews, curated “best of” lists, and practical guides with an accessibility lens.
