New-age storytime is worth your ear

There have been some great fiction podcasts released this year, and 2019 is closing with a couple of crackers. You might think fiction podcasts are akin to listening to an oldfashioned radio play, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Modern fiction podcasts are like a movie for your ears.

With a cast fit for a Hollywood blockbuster, epic sound layering, slick editing, and well-scripted dialogue, they are more than worthy of your time and attention.

From the makers of the hugely successful Law and Order TV series comes Hunted, a fiction podcast with Parker Posey playing US marshall Emily Barnes.

The podcast opens an hour after four convicts have escaped from a maximum security prison, and Barnes takes the lead on the dangerous manhunt to track down the fugitives.

It’s a mix of The Fugitive and Prison Break, with the leader of the convicts, Alex Ruiz (Lobo Sebastian), claiming to be wrongly accused.

The pod is produced by Endeavour Audio, which also released fiction podcast Blackout this year, a scripted apocalyptic thriller starring Rami Malek.

Crime continues with Motherhacker from Gimlet Media, starring Carrie Coon, from TV’s The Leftovers and Fargo.

Coon plays a PTA mum who finds herself scammed out of $12,000 by a phone hacker.

Her local police force isn’t interested in helping her find the cyber criminals responsible, so she takes matters into her own hands. As she threatens to expose the hackers, they offer her a choice – join the hacking team or face financial ruin.

It’s an entertaining exploration into the dark web, and the privacy risks of the digital age.