Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
The Boy That Never Was cover art

The Boy That Never Was

By: Karen Perry
Narrated by: Roy McMillan, Gerry O'Brien, Christopher Ragland, Niamh Daly
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Generation cover art
Gold Dust cover art
Between a Wolf and a Dog cover art
After the Eclipse cover art
The Silence cover art
Duet cover art
This Love cover art
The Woman at 46 Heath Street cover art

Editor reviews

" The Boy That Never Was is that powerful thing, a beautifully written mystery driven by its exploration of the characters' innermost hearts'' (Tana French)"A truly remarkable novel... Written in a captivating, lyrical style and brilliantly structured, the story grips your heart from the first pages and simply never lets go" (Jeffery Deave)"This is a debut novel that will catch fire" (Nelson DeMille)

Summary

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of The Boy That Never Was by Karen Perry. Read by Gerry O'Brien, Niamh Daly, Christopher Ragland and Roy McMillan.

You were loved and lost - then you came back...

Five years ago, three-year-old Dillon disappeared. For his father Harry - who left him alone for ten crucial minutes - it was an unforgivable lapse. Yet Dillon's mother Robyn has never blamed her husband: Her own secret guilt is burden enough. Now they're trying to move on, returning home to Dublin to make a fresh start. But their lives are turned upside down the day Harry sees an eight-year-old boy in the crowd. A boy Harry is convinced is Dillon. But the boy vanishes before he can do anything about it.

What Harry thought he saw quickly plunges their marriage into a spiral of crazed obsession and broken trust, uncovering deceits and shameful secrets. Everything Robyn and Harry ever believed in one another is cast into doubt. And at the centre of it all is the boy that never was...

The Boy That Never Was is a deeply atmospheric and masterfully crafted tale of love and loss that will chill you to the bone. Fans of Rosamund Lupton and Sophie Hannah will fall in love with this debut from Karen Perry.

©2014 Penguin Audio (P)2014 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about The Boy That Never Was

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    50
  • 4 Stars
    31
  • 3 Stars
    17
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    53
  • 4 Stars
    27
  • 3 Stars
    13
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    43
  • 4 Stars
    25
  • 3 Stars
    19
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    5

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Beautifully narrated.

Any additional comments?

Beautiful narration brought the characters to life as they each told the story from their view point. The story was a little slow and improbable in places and I think I might have given up without the skill of the narrators.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enthralling

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes Excellent story and performance

What did you like best about this story?

Kept me guessing all the way to the end

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favourite?

All

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Cry but also kept me enthralled all the way through

Any additional comments?

Excellent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Emotional ride with plenty of twists

Any additional comments?

This was a great listen with several narrators taking the roles of the main characters. They all did a great job except for one time when mimicking a foreign accent. It was so muffled I couldn't understand anything that was said. But this took up 2 minutes of the entire book, so was fine.

The story begins in 2005 with a tragic earthquake and the loss of a son. It then skips to present day and mostly the chapters alertnate between the husband and wife. Through flashbacks we learn of events leading up to the day of the earthquake from their perspectives. Running alongside this is the present day story of how they moved on with their lives, or at least tried to, after their loss. The story starts strongly with action and emotion, then dips a little, but comes soaring back at the end with several plot twists. Just as I thought okay so that's what happened there was another surprise. It's difficult to say too much without giving the plot away. It reminded me of the recent BBC drama about a man looking for his missing son. What was also interesting was that I didn't really like the husband /father and yet it was easy to empathise with him.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

I wanted to finish it!

I tried very hard to get into this book but it just kept moving away from my attention span - the narrators were excellent but I just could not concentrate on the characters and their story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautifully written, fabulous narrated.

What did you like best about this story?

This book is so beautifully written, as to be quite poetic at times. It is unusual and compelling.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favourite?

I don't know which of the male narrators voiced Harry, but he did an exceptional job. He 'became' the character, at times managing only to whisper a word, so overcome with powerful emotion was the character. Niamh Daly delivered a similarly exceptional performance.

Any additional comments?

This is another wonderfully good story (I listened to Girl Unknown before it) by Karen Perry. It is unusual, intelligently constructed and beautifully written. A breath of excitement and fresh air in the face of all of the formulaic books out there. I look forward to much more from this author.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

The boy that never was - dramatic read,

The boy that never was - dramatic read, excellent narration.
You could really feel for this father in this dramatic book.
Great narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful listening

I could Not put this down. It was breath taking.

Worth buying and I would recommend it to anyone. Sue

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Powerful story

What made the experience of listening to The Boy That Never Was the most enjoyable?

I never quite knew which way the story was going, so the twists and turns always came as a surprise. I was willing certain things to happen, and I didn't always get what I wanted.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Harry - he's a man haunted my his loss, and that drives him to an obsessive degree.All of the characters were very strong.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favourite?

All of the narration was good, I particularly like the narrator who read the part of Robyn.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The ending, when we finally find out what happened to Dillon, and the result of that discovery.

Any additional comments?

An excellent book. I would highly recommend it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Masterful Storytelling

What did you like most about The Boy That Never Was?

The characters were very compelling. Each had his or her flaws, but their actions and the reasons behind them were entirely understandable. Whilst the circumstances were very unusual, I felt I understood why things developed in the way they did. The three narrators did a great job.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

I enjoyed feeling that I knew what had happened in the past, and then the dawning realisation that I was mistaken! The author managed the events in a masterful fashion.

Any additional comments?

The ending was a bit of a mystery to me. I wonder if I missed something?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

a goodie

Would you listen to The Boy That Never Was again? Why?

yes. it's good enough to hear a second time round

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

yes, they were both extremely good, "played" the parts well. The Irish voices were a real pleasure to listen to....

Any additional comments?

a book that I listened to at every possible (free) moment! Stayed in yr head between listenings

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful