Audio Review: What We Saw At Night by Jacquelyn Mitchard

Author: Jacquelyn Mitchard

Narrator: Rebecca Gibel  
Title:What We Saw At Night

Publisher: AudioGo

Format:Unabridged Audio

Length: 7 hrs, 39 mins

Publication: 2013

Source: Publisher via Audiobookjukebox

Allie Kim suffers from Xeroderma Pigmentosum: a fatal allergy to sunlight that confines her and her two best friends, Rob and Juliet, to the night. When freewheeling Juliet takes up Parkour—the stunt-sport of scaling and leaping off tall buildings—Allie and Rob have no choice but to join her, if only to protect her. Though potentially deadly, Parkour after dark makes Allie feel truly alive, and for the first time equal to the “daytimers.” 

On a random summer night, the trio catches a glimpse of what appears to be murder. Allie alone takes it upon herself to investigate, and the truth comes at an unthinkable price. Navigating the shadowy world of specialized XP care, extreme sports, and forbidden love, Allie ultimately uncovers a secret that upends everything she believes about the people she trusts the most.

Thoughts:Allie, Rob and Juliet live like vampires. They sleep during the day but the night is there to do as they please. Why? Well they have a skin disease that prohibits them from being in the sun and at some point they will possibly die from it. So, they go out in the night to seek some excitement and they start taking more risks and one night while scaling a building they discover what appears to be a murder but thinking they may have misinterpreted what they saw, they shrug it off...until it happens again and the world that they've created for themselves begins to unravel. 

Okay, so I wasn't that drawn into What We Saw At Night and on occasion found myself trying to figure out what exactly it was about. Sometimes Juliet would disappear and not talk to Ally or Rob and they would whine about it. Or Ally would get upset with how close Rob and Juliet seem and she would ignore them and they would go weeks without talking before the white flag is thrown up. Juliet also is keeping secrets from everyone and it's easy to tell all is not well with her. Now, the plot is composed as a mysterious puzzle piece that connects to each of the characters. The story comes across gloomy in tone, the characters appear to harbor this overwhelming sadness about their life and it translates well through the Gibel's portrayal of the work. The ending left me thinking what just happened, so I feel there has got to be another book coming out. Overall, the narration moves along steadily and Gibel does a good job of distinguishing between the characters, though some sound slightly similar. Friendships get tested in this coming of age murder mystery and destinies become defined.