Book Review: Him by J. D. Kirk

By georgelthomas on 6 Jun 2025 • ( 1 )

Hi everyone! I hope you’re all well. Today is Friday, and it’s once again time for another review. This week, I’m changing things up slightly and reviewing the audiobook Him by J. D. Kirk.

Him was published exclusively by Audible on 10th February 2025 and is 9 hours and 28 minutes long.

The Plot
Sarah’s life is devastated when her husband, Nick, dies in a horrific car accident. To ease her grief, she agrees to test EternaTech, an app Nick’s best friend has developed that uses AI to bring loved ones back to life. It’s a good idea in theory, but put into practice, things begin to go wrong pretty quickly.

Characters
Sarah
Sarah’s life is turned upside down when her husband, Nick, is killed in an apparent car accident. Distraught, she agrees to take part in a test version of EternaTech, an app that uses your deceased loved one’s entire digital footprint, including texts, emails and social media, to approximate their personality. Weary of the software at first, Sarah becomes ever more reliant on it.

Nick/Nick 2
Nick is Sarah’s husband. While driving home late one night, his car gets into an accident, and he is killed. Soon after, he is brought back to life in AI form, causing untold complications in Sarah’s life.

David
David is Nick’s childhood best friend. After Nick’s funeral, he tells Sarah about EternaTech. He explains that he and Nick were secretly working on it, suggesting it might be a good way to help her grieve—but all may be as it seems with David.

Melissa
Melissa is Sarah’s sister. After Nick’s death, she tries to be there for Sarah as much as possible—but Sarah’s secretiveness about the app and its complications starts to drive a wedge between them.

Writing Style
Kirk’s writing style is vivid and sharply focused. It’s characterised by crisp dialogue and a fast-paced narrative that maintains momentum throughout the story.

The audiobook format lends itself brilliantly to Kirk’s particular brand of storytelling; with wonderfully flawed and deep characters and a plot with a couple of great twists, it was sometimes hard to switch off. In fact, I listened to it in a single day, keeping my headphones in as I got on with my chores.

Narration
The audiobook is narrated by Louise Brealey and David Tennant, who each perform the dialogue perfectly and portray the emotional intensity of a loving yet flawed couple who have been together for years; they lend believability to a story that could easily feel over the top.

Final Thoughts
I’ve never reviewed an audiobook before, and I wasn’t sure how to go about it—it turns out it’s just the same as reviewing an actual book—go figure—but I digress. This was an exceptional listen. I have to say, I don’t often go for psychological thrillers in my choice of fiction, but this appealed to me because I’m a big fan of David Tennant (I’ve not seen him be anything less than brilliant in everything he’s been in). I’m glad I gave it a go.

If you like compelling stories (and who doesn’t) or psychological drama with a tinge of sci-fi, I think this would be perfect for you. It has that certain something great stories often have that leaves you not wanting it to end. But, alas, it did end, and so must this review… so…

I am giving Him a solid 10/10 (I’d give it 12 if I could).

Have you listened to Him? What did you think? Also, if you have recommendations for audiobooks you thought were great, I’m open to suggestions.

Thank you, as ever, for reading my review.

Until next time,

George