The Ratcatcher

by Anthony Khaseria, Audible Originals (publisher)

Based on the bestselling Audible Original by Anthony Khaseria, THE RATCATCHER is a thrilling police drama for fans of Joy Ellis and Michael Wood.

It's been twelve weeks since Dresden Commissioner Paula Beyer was sent to the small town of Freidorf to investigate the disappearance of several teenagers. Now she is sitting opposite a psychologist who is tasked with figuring out whether Paula's statements about the case are true, or whether she needs to be suspended until further notice.

While Paula believes that the young people were kidnapped by someone mimicking the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, her colleagues believe that Paula is indulging in a fantasy and endangering the investigation. If Paula wants to stop the perpetrator, she has to convince the psychologist of her version of the story. But the longer the conversation goes on, the more Paula doubts herself…

Starring Ayesha Antoine, Nicholas Asbury, Rachel Atkins, Lydia Brownell, Henry Calcutt, Patrick Campbell, Gunnar Cauthery, Harry Chalmers-Morris, Saffron Coomber, Clare Corbett, Phoebe Douglas, James Dryden, Tia Dutt, Raj Ghatak, Pete Gold, Corey Graham, Derek Griffiths, Malachi Hall, Leah Marks, Rachael Louise Miller, Niamh Marie Smith, , Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Kyle McReynolds, Shogo Miyakita, Eva O’Hara, Dan Parr, Esme Patey-Ford, Travis Phillips, Nigel Pilkington, Penelope Rawlins, Enzo Squillino Jr, Annie Taylor, Cathy Tyson, Keith Wickham, Danny Horn, Emma Mills, Jon Nicholls, Evelyn Sykes, Bethany Weimers, Matthew Woodyatt and Rufus Wright.


Available in Dolby Atmos on Audible.

Genres: Audiobook, Mystery, Thriller, Crime, Fiction, Suspense, Detective

182 pages, Audible Audio

Published February 20, 2025

About the author

Anthony is UK born but of Indo-Irish heritage, something that is perhaps reflected in his eclectic taste in stories and for mixing genres and ideas within his work.

He is drawn to narratives that contain playful elements, unexpected, sometimes subversive twists and particularly enjoys high-concept Comedy-Drama, the Absurd, Magic Realism and Sci-Fi. He has won several international writing competitions and has had work presented at Tribeca Film Festival and BAFTA.

Recently he has been working on a narrative video game and has a Sit-Com and a feature film in development with production companies in London. Anthony has a BA Hons in English Literature, an MA in Screenwriting and is represented by The Agency, UK.

Reviews

[Lisa Guiry · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️ 3.5 stars

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detective Paula Beyer is sent to the small town of Freidorf to help with the investigation of missing teenagers. With every child who is taken, a rat is left behind deeming the kidnapper, "The Ratcatcher," taken from a sinister fairy tale. As Paula tries to decipher the kidnapper's next move, she is also struggling with the loss of her son and is having trouble distinguishing delusions from reality. One thing is for certain, this team has their hands full as the fairy tale predicts that all the children in town will eventually be affected by The Ratcatcher.

Audible Original
Duration 5 hours 18 minutes
Full Cast Production

Loved it! Very engaging and well produced! 💞

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this well acted full cast production, and it was easy to be immersed in the story.

Despite the allusion to a fairy tale, this is not a story for the faint hearted.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

Decent start and build up. Didn't love the "hysterical" female MC but she grew on me. Good plot. Then the clues stopped adding up and there was a lame twist. Lastly, the author left the story open ended.

[Stacy B · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Mahayana Dugast · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an audio drama with a full cast, all very well acted, I must say.
A detective suffering a difficult past and related mental issues is working on a police case that sounds inspired by old, horrific lore. Very entertaining.

[Ursula Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an English language version of a German story. Wonderful drama. Children are being taken from a small village and a DCI Inspector who lost a son is sent to investigate. That will factor into the story. Wonderful twists and turns. Fantastic cast, production and effects. I did have the ending pegged, but I hope the story will be continued. Great listen.

[Emily Burns · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was also an enjoyable audio experience !!! I love these because they feel like a movie in my ear !!

[Perm Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is my personal 5 star rating system because I’m too lazy to write a review for every book.

5 stars -> OMFG. I couldn’t stop listening. I was engaged from beginning to end. The story & narrator was amazing. I 100% recommend this book & author. I was able to clearly follow each and every character.

4 stars -> It was pretty good. I would’ve rated 5 stars, But either the ending was lacking, I struggled to keep up with characters, or the story didn’t keep me fully engaged. The narrator was pretty good as well. I’m on the fence about recommending this book, It could go either way.

3 Stars -> It was boring at times & I missed chunks of the story. I most likely struggled to keep up with character developments. The only way I would recommend this book is if it was part of a series. The narrator was most likely average or just couldn’t fix a mediocre book.

2 Stars -> It was pretty horrible. I used it as background noise because I hadn’t had a chance to search for another book. The book either had a bad narrator, The character development was non existent, or the story was hot garbage. I would not recommend this book.

1 Star -> The absolute only reason I listened to this book was because i had no time to search for another one & I needed background noise. It was 1 step up from listening to the radio. I wouldn’t recommend this book to my worst enemy. Everything about this book was terrible. This is only recommended for people on death row and have absolutely nothing else to read.

[Paul Botterill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed listening to the English version of this. A good murder mystery. It was a bit weird that it was set in Germany and all the characters were German but they all had a variety of English accents but it did not spoil the enjoyment. I was worried near the end that the ending would be a massive disappointment but that did not happen and the finale was a satisfactory conclusion

[Cadie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an audiobook that felt more like a movie. It wasn't too bad to start to listen to, but eventually, it got old listening to the characters acting out of breath from...talking? Walking a few steps? It was a lot of heavy breathing and sometimes even the annoying chewing when they ate. I especially hated the main character, Paula, because of all the extra noise that wasn't needed. Her being a little cuckoo wasn't even the annoying part - it was the extra heavy breathing and chewing/swallowing!

I didn't mind the storyline - even when it got to the Dancing Plague part. Thanks to one Shane Madej from Buzzfeed Unsolved and Watcher on YouTube for talking about the Dancing Plague so much (in France, I believe?), I wasn't thinking the plot took the crazy turn as much as others might. The Dancing Plague was a thing!

I didn't realize it was going to end on a cliffhanger and apparently has sequels - that are only in German. So, unfortunately, I won't be continuing the series because I speak no German. 😅 I can only imagine who the actual rat catcher was and what the motive was! I don't think Paula was too crazy in thinking it was Peter coming back for revenge but I also kind of thought it might have been Katie at some points before the deep fakes were more explained (I thought a woman had called the second kid pretending to be his dead sister, so I could only remember Katie's character as a suspect). I'll probably just look up a translation summary of what happens in the next few books.

[Ginger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a full cast production on Audible, so it sounds like you are listening to a movie. The production was really well done. I was confused at first because the cast has English accents, but the novel takes place in Germany. However, the voice acting was top-notch. I did not love the story, though. It is made for tv style with the plot jumping back at forth and the open-ended upon completion. It's like fast food - easy, convenient but not satisfying.

[The Beloved Bibliophile · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fairly good audible listen. A full cast narration that does bring you into the story and has loads of twists and turns. Having said that, I didn’t connect with the characters overall and for that reason alone it just wasn’t for me. I may try it again at a later time but right now, 3/5.

[Ami Cormack · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliantly performed story.

A thrilling police drama about Paula Beyer (a police commissioner) who is sent to a small town to investigate the disappearance of several teenagers.

With links to the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamlin, this is a brilliant and engaging story that keeps you reading and trying to guess the outcome.

Would recommend to all but would say listen to the audio version!

[Vedran Mavrović · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great short listen between longer books. Tense till the very end. Amazing narration and sound effects! Give it a go, you won’t regret it.

[Claire Blundell · Rating 5 out of 5]

That ending! Please make another! Need to know what happens next, there are so many unanswered questions now. Really engaging story line with such an immersive audio, only thing, the background music sometimes over shadows the narrative, but other than that, 👌🏻

[Kaya Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty good. I just discovered there's two sequels? Neither of which are translated so it's going to be hard to keep going when I can't speak a single word of German. Still, I love a good twist on old fairytales, especially in modern settings. I'm pretty sure I wrote something like that around 10 years ago lol. Crazy to think about

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went into this with pretty low expectations and they were satisfyingly exceeded. It reminded me of Jo Nesbø books. This was an audible production with multiple voices, music, and sound effects based on a German novel. And the team did a fantastic job. I've definitely had a mixed result with audible originals and this is one of their better ones.
A darker police procedural where kids are getting kidnapped and it's tied to the Pied Piper fairy tale. It certainly requires a fair bit of suspension of disbelief but it was all tied together nicely with enough twists to keep the mystery going. Enjoyable listen.

[Mez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ending felt very abrupt

[Lozz’s Random Reads McKenzie - Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an audible listen with a full cast

What an extraordinary story with an amazing twist in the end.


Told in multiple timelines, the story follows young female police officer Paola Bayer.

As she is forced to meet with a doctor to assess her state of mind.

In the present, we learn that she is in danger of being put on leave due to her mental health issues.

Issues that were exacerbated by the investigation she is currently still on.

As she is in discussion, she recounts the case that has lead her to this predicament.

The disappearance of a young female jogger in a Forrest, that was soon followed by a young boy on autistic spectrum, who has had trouble dealing with the death of his sister, his twin.

They expect the worst, but before they can get too far, there is another disappearance.

This time, a senior policeman’s Pizza delivering, nephew.

Certain clues, and patterns has Paola believing that someone is mimicking a story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin,

She thinks there is someone taking these children because, they have a grudge against the city, or someone in authority within the system.

The problem lies in fact that, Paola, is in a very fragile state mentally, and on medication due to the tragic death of her young son, and trying to keep it on the down low.

So only person that becomes aware of this is Jakob her young partner.

As the case becomes stranger, Paola has to cope with phone calls at odd hours, that appear to be coming from her dead son.

Is it her mind playing tricks ?

Or!

Is something else going on here.

In the meantime it’s a race against time to find information in relation to the missing children, because if Paola’s theory is correct, more children in the town will be taken.

This was beautifully told on audible with a full cast.

A little slow in the beginning while characters were developed, but the production really puts you into the middle of the action.

Suspenseful at times, as well as heartbreaking.

There is a shocking twist that I didn’t see coming at the end

I real enjoyed this one

[Mandy Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this and it kept me guessing what was going on. I enjoyed the narration and performances. The only part that needed work was the background noises needed to be a little quieter as it was hard to understand the talking at tikes as it was being covered up by other noises. I think sound editors already know what the script is so it’s easier for them to pick up words being said, but if it’s your first time listening it is distracting dealing with competing noise. And don’t get me wrong because I do like background noise music and search for these kinds of books but the background needs to be just that, in the background and voices need to be loud and clear. However, it wasn’t so bad that I didn’t enjoy it and it was only parts that were overpowering. Overall I really enjoyed it and hope there will be more soon.

[Sara Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a good story, the audiobook was incredible. I felt like I was watching a show.

[Manon Post · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Audible Originals are fantastic. This story contains lots of original plot twits. Hooked ‘till the end!

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story stayed interesting enough told through the main character, narration and effects were spot on for this one. Enjoyed it.

[Manny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fun thrill ride with an unexpected yet well earned ending!

[K Tickle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting horror/thriller from a small town crime. The book is written like a memoir during a detectives psychological assessment.
Not overly satisfied with the ending, and I do believe the detective was 100%on the mark.
The details throughout the story are twisted and dark with mass child harm for those with sensitivities toward child abuse in literature.

[Eloisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The audiobook cast was 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼. I love dramatized adaptations especially for thrillers.

[John Remedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a great little mystery tale. Well-acted, with clear and lucid sound making it easier to follow than some other dramatisations/plays I've listened to this year. What a great final episode!

[Tamsin Blain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was listened to rather than read, as it’s only available on audible for now.

Thoroughly enjoyed the premise of a serial killer/kidnapper, seeking revenge on a small town and using the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin to do it.
It brought the gruesome and scary tale, originally told in verse, to life. The true horror and hysteria as your child is taken in exchange for a rat. Lured to the Ratcatcher, not by melody but by phone, or internet, exploiting the vulnerabilities of each victim from information found drifting online. Calling them to him with a promise of solving their pain. The pain unseen by others…

The audible was rather different to a book, sound effects were used and the narrated descriptions of a persons actions were mostly absent. It was done more as a radio play. However, it completely drew me in and the destruction the Ratcatcher wreaks is fantastically done. The effect mentally on all, the semi end of a police officer’s career through mental torture as she investigates the case. Then the final twist….

[Toni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a fan of the female lead's character because it is WAY overdone. I have watched/read too many thrillers with brilliant detectives that all seem to be suffering from some kind of loss or injury that causes them to gain an addiction to pills, drugs, alcohol or some kind of disruptive behaviour.

I found the twist at the end VERY predictable and saw it coming from the start but the rest of the story was enjoyable.

What I didn't like was the unanswered questions, like: if the supposed wrongfully convicted guy was so upset, why did he wait so long to exact his revenge? did he need to perfect his hacking skills? Why only target the high school kids? did he kill the eyewitness? Why is there not one picture of him after he was released? You would think the town's people would have been there when he was released, with reporters, to ensure he packed up and got out of town. Was he truly framed? What was the point of torturing her with the voice of her dead son? What was the point of threatening her to let it go? Let what go? Digging into him?

I guess all these questions may come out later in books 2 and 3, if Audible decides to translate and produce them.

Overall, I liked the book and thought the full cast did a great job.

I saw a review where someone asked the same question asked in the book: why did he spare the three kids...he didn't. This was psychological warfare. He caused so much trauma to them, they are forever changed and that's the revenge. Besides, if he had succeeded and killed the other kids, how guilty would the surviving three had been? Not typically a fan of psychological thrillers, but that was brilliant.