In Between

by Kate Wilhelm, Carrington MacDuffie (Reading)

Sam and Lori had only just met and now they are dead, the result of a car accident. Accident? No. Dead? Not exactly. In life, Sam was a successful playwright, Lori a secretary for Ben Carnahan, a scheming movie producer who wants Sam's new script and whose negligence on a movie set twenty years earlier killed Lori's father. Now Sam and Lori are ghosts out of sequence with the real world yet fully aware of their existence. As they work together to find out what happened to them, a plot to murder Ben is revealed. As ghosts, how can they possibly stop this conspiracy? They can't contact the living, for rules are rules--in life and in death and even when you're in between.

Genres: Audiobook, Fiction, Mystery

Audio CD

First published May 1, 2014

About the author

Kate Wilhelm’s first short story, “The Pint-Sized Genie” was published in Fantastic Stories in 1956. Her first novel, MORE BITTER THAN DEATH, a mystery, was published in 1963. Over the span of her career, her writing has crossed over the genres of science fiction, speculative fiction, fantasy and magical realism, psychological suspense, mimetic, comic, and family sagas, a multimedia stage production, and radio plays. She returned to writing mysteries in 1990 with the acclaimed Charlie Meiklejohn and Constance Leidl Mysteries and the Barbara Holloway series of legal thrillers.

Wilhelm’s works have been adapted for television and movies in numerous countries; her novels and stories have been translated to more than a dozen languages. She has contributed to Quark, Orbit,  Magazine of Fantasy and ScienceFiction, Locus, Amazing Stories, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine,  Fantastic, Omni, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Redbook, and Cosmopolitan.

Kate Wilhelm is the widow of acclaimed science fiction author and editor, Damon Knight (1922-2002), with whom she founded the Clarion Writers’ Workshop and the Milford Writers’ Conference, described in her 2005 non-fiction work, STORYTELLER. They lectured together at universities across three continents; Kate has continued to offer interviews, talks, and monthly workshops.

Kate Wilhelm has received two Hugo awards, three Nebulas, as well as Jupiter, Locus, Spotted Owl, Prix Apollo, Kristen Lohman awards, among others. She was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2009, Kate was the recipient of one of the first Solstice Awards presented by the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) in recognition of her contributions to the field of science fiction. 

Kate’s highly popular Barbara Holloway mysteries, set in Eugene, Oregon, opened with Death Qualified in 1990. Mirror, Mirror, released in 2017, is the series’ 14th novel.

Reviews

[Teresa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty terrible. Disjointed and awkward

[Ina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually like her books on tqpe, but this one was done poorly.

[Tammie · Rating 1 out of 5]

i’m having trouble understanding her as an author. Somethings are good somethings are very childish, middle school. This was the latter. I’m not sure how much of it is because person she used for the audiobook, which is how I listen to books. If the audio reader isn’t good It ruins the book.

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

This read like a practice short in a writing journal. I'm still wondering why it was published. If you've never read Wilhelm, don't start here.

[S.R. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Still not quite sure what I read. The story meandered so much and changed narrators so much that I completely lost the plot and gave up.

[Bridget Dean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whoever edited the audiobook should be fired. I counted at least 5 times where the narrator started a sentence again and they didn’t edit the old one out.

[Sara Kreps · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. An interesting concept poorly executed. Two people wake up and they're ghosts and they have no problem with that? No questions or anger or anything? And they've been somehow indoctrinated but that is only to explain why they know so much about being spirits; no Beetlejuice missteps here. It takes away the potential fun and humor, or drama/pathos, of the situation while distancing the readers from the characters. The plot itself consists of two separate mysteries that are only linked by the protagonists being present and the flow would've been better served had they been separated into parts 1 and 2 it something similar. As it was, I spent most of the second part waiting for it to somehow relate to the first. With the book being as short as it is, and containing two separate, non-concurrent mysteries, the plots are unsatisfying and include incredulous leaps in logic on the characters parts. Characters we never really get the chance to know. The whole thing feels rushed and undeveloped.

[Anais919 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was looking for s audiobook to listen to while knitting and thought this was short and sweet. Got one right....short. Don't waste your time if you can help it. This is poorly written. It repeats lines in places (?) and feels disjointed. Too bad. Interesting premise, 2 ghosts wandering around trying to make things right for themselves and people they love.

[JZ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining, and a quick read. Almost too quick. I wonder if they're repeating characters.

[Sherry Keever · Rating 2 out of 5]

2nd book I've read by this author. I feel it was as real let down. I will try another and hopefully it will be better.

[Mckinley · Rating 2 out of 5]

It either ended sooner than planed or the storyline is a bit odd constructed.

[Leissa Kimball · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story but something felt off. It felt like it started in the middle and ended very quickly. It felt like a one of those .5 stories from a series.

[Deb W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook slapstick.

Unimpressive

[Traci · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could barely follow along with it. Uninterested. Could have been a great story with the plot.

[Michael Frasca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two novellas thrown together with no proper ending.

[Stacielynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book was a little peculiar. you are plunged into some ill-defined situation that grows a little more bizarre with each page. and nothing is ever really explained to this reader's satisfaction.
but there was a plot; a beginning, middle and end; obvious good and bad guys. it was readable but not necessarily memorable.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fresh take on the typical not quite dead story. Sam and Lori suddenly appear at Ben's house a week after they went off the road in Ben's sports car. They hear voices saying they are out of sync, and should really be in quarantine. However, they are restricted to Ben's estate.

They discover that no one can see them. They can move objects, but only when there is no one around to see them. They can make an entire night flash by in an instance, and suddenly it is the next morning.

They discover that they can move around just by thinking about where they want to go. They leave Ben's estate, and discuss the adventures they can have, when they can travel anywhere in the world they want to go. They don't need sleep, food, never get too hot or too cold.

When a friend of Sam's is accused of murder, they pop over to figure out how two In Between ghosts can help him.

[Laura Gilfillan · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were a couple of mysteries solved,rather off-handedly, by a couple of ghosts who are "out of sequence," though what that meant was never really explained. Not much character development, not much conflict development, not much plot development. A potentially interesting story, maybe a decent murder mystery, that was solved too easily, and just didn't get worked out enough. A surprisingly amateurish story, considering how many stories this author has written, as I've since found out. Is this typical for her? I'm interested enough to investigate, and see if her other works are any better written.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short story. Two people are accidentally murdered. They are in a sort of limbo, or In btween. The duo solve a couple of mysteries along the way. I wish more detail was given about this in between state, but I guess since the characters don't understand it fully, neither does the reader.
In Between is the first book I have read by this author. I am going to check out one of her full length novels from the library.

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story could have been longer, or a series of stories.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite - a little different. More of a short story.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting storyline. I can tell she's a good writer, but I'm guessing this isn't her best work.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick easy read about ghosts who help solve their own death and then help a friend beat a murder rap.

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short, not bad, quick read. Good for the summertime, maybe. Two ghosts off-handedly solve a couple murders, including their own. Cute, but it could have been SO much more. 3 stars

[Carol Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

As always, Kate Wilhelm delivers a terrific story with believable characters and a well-timed plot. On to the next - or maybe back to the beginning.

[Mena · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a masterpiece to me