Strangers in Time” grabbed me right away. The mix of historical detail and emotional storytelling made it one of the most memorable WWII novels I’ve read in a while. I couldn’t put it down.

A tale of 3 characters from different class and experiences during world war II era London. A boy of the lowest class in the lowest of lows that somehow maintains a moral compass, an utterly optimistic and girl with an idealistic vision of the world, and a book seller with golden heart, but a mysterious side all find their lives intertwined through loss. The audiobook with its different characters was very well performed, it was so hard to have to stop listening. A great read. Baldacci has done it again.

David Baldacci’s Strangers in Time is a gripping and fast-paced thriller that weaves together elements of mystery, psychological tension, and speculative fiction. Known for his sharp narrative style and tightly plotted stories, Baldacci once again delivers a work that is both compulsively listenable and emotionally resonant.

In this audiobook edition, the voice performance adds a compelling layer to the story, enhancing the suspense and characterization with impressive range and control. The narrator (or narrators, if multiple) effectively embodies the emotional tones of each scene, heightening the listener’s immersion and engagement throughout the book’s runtime. The pacing is well-matched to the story’s tone, with moments of intensity contrasted by slower, more reflective interludes.

Thematically, Strangers in Time explores the fragility of memory, the consequences of past actions, and the strange intersections between fate and free will. Baldacci introduces a protagonist whose journey is both personal and high-stakes, balancing internal conflict with external suspense.

While the audiobook excels in production quality and performance, the narrative’s complexity—particularly involving timelines or speculative elements—may require listeners to pay close attention to detail. However, this also speaks to the depth and sophistication of the material, making it ideal for fans of intricate thrillers.

Overall: A solid addition to Baldacci’s body of work, Strangers in Time stands out as a strong audiobook experience. With expertly paced narration and a story rich in tension and intrigue, this title is well-suited for both established fans and new listeners drawn to cerebral thrillers with a speculative edge.

Found family within a WWIl war time setting with great narrators.
The story follows three main characters and the bonds they develop throughout the story. Molly returns to London, a city under siege, during the height of Germany's bombing campaign to discover that's not all that has changed since she was sent to the country five years prior. Her friendship with Charlie and Ignatius turns into a found family which surpasses the constraints of social class, age, and gender.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for the advance audiobook for this story. I really thought the narrators brought the story to life and it was nice having a cast instead of just one narrator. I'm a huge Baladacci fan, and while this is a different genre than my norm (as well as his usual) - it was excellent. All opinions are my own.

I thought this story was charming. Three characters with very little in common are drawn together in a found family tale that was a new spin on a WWII story. I enjoyed this a lot.

Another brilliant novel by one of my favorite authors. I enjoyed Molly and Charlie - the main characters in this WWII thriller. The star though, has to be the audio narration, which was so well done that I felt like I was in a movie. I could visualize the characters and feel their emotions. I also enjoyed the authors note at the end, read by the author himself! Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC! Four out of five stars for me!

David Baldacci is a brilliant wordsmith, and a gifted author whose works serve to vividly enchant his audience time and again.

This story supplies a smattering of insight on a small sample of "other" groups' perspectives during WWII... through
Baldacci's elite character development we experience exactly how devastating this war was for EVERY SINGLE PERSON fighting to survive the years' long wrath of that harrowing, historical period.

This book needed to be written. There was no more capable author than Mr. Baldacci. He shares a respectful, yet ostensibly credible, eye-opening tale about one thing we often overlook during times of war... This book is about human beings and the accompanying human condition, which is necessary for our survival.

Beautiful book. Highly recommend! ORDER TODAY!!!

Note: I would normally shy away from historical fiction related to the WWII-era. The material I was exposed to during my adolescence impacted me profoundly. Those experiences taught me the depth of the heart-wrenching, gut-splitting, dreadful, soul-searching questions and thoughts that may be evoked by reading such content. However…

STRANGERS IN TIME now competently FILLS a previously undetected, yet blank, empty space on my BookShelL_F...

I really enjoyed the story—David Baldacci delivers another gripping, imaginative tale that kept me hooked from start to finish. The characters were especially strong; I found myself invested in their journeys and really cared about what happened to them. However, I listened to the audiobook version and struggled with the narrator. The performance didn’t quite match the tone or pacing I expected, and it pulled me out of the story at times. I’d recommend reading the print or eBook version instead if the narration doesn’t click for you.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

Well written, fascinating historical fiction. I enjoyed the WWII aspect and thought the author did a great job bringing it to life. I would read more by this author in the future.

3.5/3.75

I love historical fiction. My favorites are ones that you really learn about something in a specific time period that you wouldn’t really know much about. Or ones that really make you emotionally attached to what the characters are going through, again, in a specific time in history. This book is set around 1944/1945 and is a story about 3 characters that ended up becoming very important to one another. It’s a good story, I just didn’t learn anything new in this one. It’s more a fiction story for me. Which was a cute read and it ended well.

I had been on a bit of a break from WWII-themed books, but when I saw that David Baldacci had written a novel in one of my favorite genres—historical fiction—I couldn’t resist giving it a listen. I’m always a fan of audiobooks with multiple narrators, and this one definitely delivered with the perfect accents. Combining historical fiction with mystery and suspense, it was everything I hoped for and more!

Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Audio for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

#StrangersinTime #NetGalley

I am a romance and fantasy reader 90% of the time. However, sometimes I want something completely different and I literally stalked Netgalley for an ARC of Strangers in Time. Eventually, I gave up and bought the actual book. Lo and behold, I was got an email from Netgalley to read it the very next day! 😂

I can't say enough good things about this story. I'm a sucker for any book set during WWII (I have a history degree) and this has been one of my favorites so far. At the beginning of the book, we meet our three different characters in their own storylines. Eventually, their storylines came together flawlessly! I cheered with them, I cried with them and I grew to love them. Weeks later, I'm still thinking about Molly and Charlie and Oliver. The historical detail that went into this book is astounding but the story never got weighed down with historical fact. I truly felt like I was reading the accounts of people who'd lived during the London Blitz. This was the perfect book to get you out of a reading slump or when you need a literary palate cleanser.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for an ARC of this book. I TRULY loved it!

Colleen Chi-Girl at GR
3-1/2 STARS
Bookshelves: 2025, audio, anti-racist, children, education-teaching, europe, germany-austria, ww2-holocaust

This was a sweet story set in England during WWII and features two older children who find each other, after losing their own families during the bombings. These two orphans also find a true and kind friend in an older male, widower, and they become their own family.

It is also a good reminder of just how awful England (France, Poland, and others) really suffered at the hands of Germany's Nazi regime.

Although I enjoyed this story, I found I had to push myself to finish it. I believe it was because two of the main characters were older children and therefore, much of the story is from their viewpoint. Other readers may really enjoy this VP but I much prefer POV's driven from adult main characters.

I really enjoy David Baldacci as an author. His prose is well written and he always develops his characters well as he did in this novel.

The audiobook was so well narrated by a cast: Stewart Crank (Narrator), Alexandra Boulton (Narrator), John Lee (Narrator), Nicola F. Delgado (Narrator), Matthew Lloyd Davies (Narrator), Joe Pitts (Narrator)

Thank you so much to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this ARC copy.

This was an moving World War II novel focused on the bombings of London. The idea of a found family in the midst of so much loss and devastation was very moving. The author did a great job capturing and creating the voices of the three main characters. Great storytelling.

An unlikely cast of characters joins together to survive the bombings in London towards the end of World War II.
The Honorable Charlie Matters from the east end of the lost his father to Dunkirk and his mother to the first wave of the Blitzkrieg. As the war progresses, Charlie and his grandma struggle to survive both bombs and economic downturns, which leave them with next to nothing. Charlie steals from the rich to keep body and soul together, but he takes no pride in what he has become. When he cleans out the till at the Book Keep, a small bookshop owned by Ignatius Oliver, Charlie regrets his theft and vows to return the money. His choice sets in motion an unusual friendship—one which will change more than one life.

After months of silence from her parents in London, Molly Wakefield returns to her comfortable home five years after she left at the age of ten. Nothing appears the same. Her former nanny answers the door, and Molly soon realizes her family is as gutted as the city. The nanny hasn’t seen Molly’s father in months, and her mother has spent most of the war at an asylum far from London.

When Molly takes matters into her own hands and sneaks out to visit her father’s place of employment, a chance encounter with Charlie Matters changes the trajectory of her life.

Ignatius Oliver, a decorated bomb warden, takes his job seriously. After his wife’s untimely death, Ignatius knows he must do everything possible to stop the advance of the Germans. He struggles with regrets and self-recriminations. When Molly and Charlie enter his life, Ignatius learns how familiar bonds can arise from the ashes of remorse and war.

What I Loved About this Audiobook

The voice actors made Baldacci’s moving story an immersive experience. The listener feels transported to war-torn London and looks for excuses to listen longer. Bravo to the narrators for the superb interpretation of Baldacci’s moving novel.

I am incredibly grateful to have been given the opportunity to listen and review the audio of Strangers in Time by @HachetteAudio. The story is set in London, England during World War 2. It focuses on the unique lives of three incredibly different characters, brought together by circumstances of war time. For me, personally, the theme that stands out most is unlikely friendships, Other themes presented in the story are loyalty, love, loss, poverty, heroism, mental illness, endurance, and resilience. I appreciated that the book was not full of curse words (huge turn off for me), allowing me to focus on the content of the book. The narrators of the story were amazing at properly executing their characters. I did have some difficulty comprehending some of the voices (Major Bryant and Gran) due to their heavy accents. However, I am a mountaineer from deep in the heart of Appalachia so I’m accustomed to slower speech and Southern drawls. I only gave this read 3 stars because it was slow getting started, I had difficulty adequately hearing some parts, and not it was not as exciting as I would’ve liked. Overall, it’s definitely worth the read.

Finding friends in the strangest of circumstances. How strangers become "family" when you need them most. So much heartbreak in this book, yet the courage of these two young teens is commendable. Great war story in London.

I was excited to receive this as an ALC! My mom read a David Baldacci book and raved about it. When I saw this new historical fiction coming out, I knew I had to get my hands on it!

This book will 1000% be better enjoyed via audiobook. Seriously some of the best narration I've heard. I loved the multiple narrators that would change mid-sentence with dialogue, the accents, and the pronunciations.

Even though I have read several books about WW2, since this is a favorite time period of mine to read about, this was the first book that I feel really captured for me the rationing and subsequent hunger, the horror of the bombings, and the devastation of coming back from bomb shelters to realize loved ones did not make it out of bombed buildings in time.

I loved the authors note at the end where Baldacci talks about having a poor character, a rich character, and a character in between.

A review will be posted on my booksta, toomanyfivestarreads, soon.

Strangers in Time is a compelling blend of mystery and historical fiction, and I really enjoyed it. The characters — especially Molly, Charley, and Ignatius Oliver — are wonderfully complex and memorable. Baldacci does a great job showing how people from very different walks of life can come together during tragic times, offering strength and hope to one another.
Baldacci’s has a gift for setting the scene so vividly that you feel like you’re right there among the characters, walking through the streets, sharing their fears, and experiencing their hopes. His attention to detail pulls you into the action and makes the story feel immediate and real.
The audiobook cast, featuring David Baldacci, Stewart Crank, Alexandra Boulton, John Lee, Nicola F. Delgado, Matthew Lloyd Davies, and Joe Pitts, brought the story to life beautifully. The different narrators added richness and texture to the experience.
There were plenty of twists and turns to keep me guessing, and I appreciated how naturally the historical details were woven into the mystery. It dragged just a little in places for me, which kept it just shy of a full 5 stars, but overall, this was a wonderful listen and a strong recommendation for fans of historical fiction and character-driven mysteries.
Thank you to Hachette Audio and Grand Central Publishing for the opportunity to review this audiobook, which was just released on April 15, 2025!

Although I read this as an ebook, thank you NetGalley and Hachette Publishing, I wanted to hear this book narrated! I loved the phrases in the book and the narration did not disappoint! One of the best books of my 75 read for 2025, but also the most enjoyable audiobook.

Buy it, borrow it enjoy it. It’s one of his best!