We Need to Talk About Kevin

an outstanding reading by Lorelei King who captures all the anger, shock, dismay ¿ but never denial ¿ that Eva Khatchadourian experiences when her 15-year-old son slays nine people at his high school. ¿Gripping¿ is an over-used adjective ¿ but not here, as Eva explores her feelings in a series of letters to the husband who hasn¿t lived with her since the day of the killings. (Kati Nicholl DAILY EXPRESS)

This icily forensic, deeply disturbing story takes the form of letters from the mother of a brilliant, evil, teenage murderer to her husband, recounting her prison visits and remembering the circumstances of his upbringing. Lorelei King is the queen of readers: she brings to this performance sharp intelligence and a perfect, weary restraint, building up to the fearsome denouement that freezes the blood. (Sue Gaisford INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY)

may work better as an abridged audiobook than as a novel. Some critics have said that Shriver overwrites but there doesn't seem to be a wasted word as Lorelei King narrates the harrowing tale of a 15-year-old archer who kills seven of his classmates. (Christina Hardyment THE TIMES)

Lorelei King is once again the consummate reader. There is no faulting her performance, as she brings every character to life, making you feel the horror that is central to this story. (Emma Fisher OTTAKARS (staff review))

brilliant, especially Lorelei King's reading. (Sue Arnold GUARDIAN)

Kevin Khatchadourian killed several of his fellow high-school students, a cafeteria worker and a teacher, shortly before his sixteenth birthday. He is visited in prison by his mother, Eva, who narrates in a series of letters to her estranged husband, Franklin, the story of Kevin's upbringing. A successsful career woman, Eva is reluctant to forgo her independence and the life she shares with Franklin to become a mother. Once Kevin is born, she experiences extreme alienation and dislike of Kevin as he grows up to become a spiteful and cruel child. When Kevin commits his murderous act, Eva fears that her own shortcomings may have shaped what her son has become. But how much is she to blame?