Comfort Zone

A Tale of Suspense

Fiction - Audiobook
258 Pages
Reviewed on 03/29/2023
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Molly Garcia for Readers' Favorite

Comfort Zone starts with an introduction to the subject of mental health, and the stigma those diagnosed with it can face. The story itself begins with the murder of a female victim which is described in very vivid detail and sets the scene for the rest of the book. Stephen Bentley demonstrates his knowledge of the British criminal justice system as he describes his main character, Phil Mercer. Mercer has a number of colleagues in his role as a barrister, and their links to organized crime and local criminals are introduced. He had a privileged life and is doing well for himself until his life starts going wrong. At this point, Phil starts to hear a voice. The voice calls himself Vincent and lists the names of all the people that Phil feels have wronged him over the years. Things escalate when Vincent starts to suggest that Phil should murder everyone on his list. At first, Phil is horrified by the idea; he has values, and they don’t include killing anyone, no matter what they’ve done. In keeping with the intro, Stephen Bentley has also included a little more about the impact of mental health at the end of the audiobook.

Stephen Bentley is good at explaining the meanings of both the technical terms, and his use of typical London phrases, which means that all readers will be able to relate to this book. I found that the build-up worked well and that the main character’s background was introduced in a way that explained its relevance to the storyline. This was demonstrated by Phil’s service in the army and its links to current events, as well as the traumas he’d faced while serving. Comfort Zone is an interesting take on using mental health as part of a fictional story, and the author has taken his time in working it into the plot. Overall, it was mostly an enjoyable book to listen to, and I would recommend it to lovers of gritty, horror/thrillers.

I listened to Comfort Zone as an audiobook. Technically it was produced well, the sound quality was excellent, and there were no unintentional background noises. The narrator, Hannibal Hills, sounded a little flat and stilted at times when narrating the story parts, but his character voices struck the right tone. It was a challenging story for a narrator since the characters came from many different areas of the UK, but I felt that Hannibal managed to voice the right accent for each. The chapters have been well divided; some were fairly short and others longer, but none lasted more than 10 minutes. As a book, it made the leap to audio well, keeping all the descriptive imagery and plot build-up.