Jackals
by Charles L. Grant
Narrated by Travis Baldree
Why Listen?
Travis Baldree turns Grant's highway predators into something genuinely unnerving—his narration finds the creeping dread in every tailgate and breakdown, making this revenge thriller feel lived-in and claustrophobic rather than pulpy.
About This Audiobook
Dark highways become hunting grounds in Charles L. Grant's atmospheric thriller, where predators masquerading as ordinary motorists stalk America's roadways. When Jim Scott, a man haunted by personal loss, encounters Rachel—a woman bearing the telltale signs of barely escaping something terrible—he recognizes the work of creatures he knows all too well. These "jackals" are human monsters who use the anonymity of the interstate system to prey on vulnerable travelers, and Scott has made it his mission to hunt them down. As Rachel's arrival signals that the pack has found him, Scott must prepare for a deadly confrontation that will test everything he's learned about survival and vengeance.
Travis Baldree brings a measured intensity to Grant's suspenseful narrative, his versatile voice work distinguishing between the calculating menace of the antagonists and Scott's weary determination. Baldree's pacing allows the psychological tension to build naturally, making effective use of silence and inflection to amplify the story's more unsettling moments. His performance captures both the gritty realism of roadside encounters and the underlying dread that permeates Grant's vision of American highways as places where civilization's veneer can quickly disappear.