The Book of Doors: A Novel
Written by Gareth Brown
Narrated by Miranda Raison
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
A debut novel full of magic, adventure, and romance, The Book of Doors opens up a thrilling world of contemporary fantasy for readers of The Midnight Library, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, The Night Circus, and any modern story that mixes the wonder of the unknown with just a tinge of darkness.
Cassie Andrews works in a New York City bookshop, shelving books, making coffee for customers, and living an unassuming, ordinary life. Until the day one of her favorite customers—a lonely yet charming old man—dies right in front of her. Cassie is devastated. She always loved his stories, and now she has nothing to remember him by. Nothing but the last book he was reading.
But this is no ordinary book…
It is the Book of Doors.
Inscribed with enigmatic words and mysterious drawings, it promises Cassie that any door is every door. You just need to know how to open them.
Then she’s approached by a gaunt stranger in a rumpled black suit with a Scottish brogue who calls himself Drummond Fox. He’s a librarian who keeps watch over a unique set of rare volumes. The tome now in Cassie’s possession is not the only book with great power, but it is the one most coveted by those who collect them.
Now Cassie is being hunted by those few who know of the Special Books. With only her roommate Izzy to confide in, she has to decide if she will help the mysterious and haunted Drummond protect the Book of Doors—and the other books in his secret library’s care—from those who will do evil. Because only Drummond knows where the unique library is and only Cassie’s book can get them there.
But there are those willing to kill to obtain those secrets. And a dark force—in the form of a shadowy, sadistic woman—is at the very top of that list.
Gareth Brown
Gareth Brown is the author of the international bestseller The Book of Doors. He wanted to be a writer from a very young age, and he completed his first novel as a teenager. For the last twenty years he has worked in the UK Civil Service and the National Health Service while writing in his spare time. When not working or writing, Gareth loves travelling, especially the whirlwind first few hours in a new city and long road trips through beautiful landscapes. He enjoys barbecues, patisseries, playing pool, and falling asleep in front of the television like an old man. Gareth lives with his wife and two impudent and highly excitable Skye terriers near Edinburgh in Scotland.
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Reviews for The Book of Doors
543 ratings40 reviews
What our readers think
Readers find this title a superb, compelling, and thought-provoking fantasy with excellent narration. The story's emotional depth, intricate plot, and character development create a world that readers become fully immersed in. Despite some frustrating moments, the book delivers a satisfying ending. With elements of magic, mystery, and time travel, this well-written debut novel is a must-read for fans of Erin Morgenstern's work. The engaging storytelling and complex characters make it a truly enjoyable and worthwhile journey.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Oct 23, 2025 An excellent narration of a very wonderful story. Its hard to talk about it without giving away spoilers, but its a well written story.
 I'm not too into dark violent things, and there was moments of that in this book, because the villian(s) are genuinely evil, so be prepared for some of that.
 But even though I don't like that stuff I still thought this was a good story, worth the listen/read
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Oct 7, 2025 Wow just wow! This was amazing! I was surprised at many turns! I’m so glad I read this!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sep 21, 2025 Story was fun, the narrator is amazing, one of the best I’ve heard. Loved it
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sep 14, 2025 Unique with so many twists and turns and only left me with one unanswered question. Very well performed....except. libRary, not libary darn it!!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Aug 25, 2025 Superb, I enjoyed it a lot. It brings themes from “The midnight library”, “All these and more”, “Before the coffee gets cold, but the story is much more captivating with a lot of twists. The ending, although a little blunt, leaves spare for a sequel. I totally recommend it, if you enjoy the genre.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Aug 21, 2025 Fantastic book great storylone,amazing depiction of every action has a consequence!10/10 highly recommended
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Aug 8, 2025 Wonder book! A great read, filled with satisfying twists and characters.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jul 6, 2025 I loved this book. Thought the story was fun and unique. Can't wait to swe what he writes next.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jun 16, 2025 I enjoyed this book. It took a little while to get into the story but it was well worth reading.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mar 24, 2025 An excellent audiobook! I usually do not listen to fanyasy books because I am not such a fan of fantasies at my age but this one is really good and I warmly recommend it. It has a lot of interesting and diverse characters, it has good action, including time travel and magic but also reality and the fight good vs. evil. Yes, I liked it!
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Mar 14, 2025 Nonsense. It promised a lot so I expected a lot and when it didn’t deliver, that’s why I gave it two stars. It is sure laziness when the author describes a very important relationship in words such as “they loved books they love discussing books“ instead of using the dialogue between the two characters to show this love of books And how well they understand them. This book was lazy and it lacked character development, and the pace was all over the place at the end of the book. There was a sentence that said “look at the colors. They are so bright and colorful“. Yep, colours are colorful And that is the laziest sentence. I’ve heard in a long time.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Feb 18, 2025 Absolutely delightful! Couldn't stop listening. Wonderful story and characters. A new favorite of mine
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Feb 3, 2025 Couldn’t stop listening. Amazing narrator - she did all the characters seamlessly and with perfect phrasing.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jan 24, 2025 This book was excellent and so was the narration. What a journey!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jan 4, 2025 The narrator was great! Every character was differentiated and it was not hard to follow the story through her narration.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dec 17, 2024 Phenomenal story I loved it. I found it to be an unpredictable ride. May be one of my favorite stories ever.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Dec 13, 2024 Good concept, but torturous execution. Flat characters, way, way too much interior dialogue, minimal action, tons of extraneous detail, all of which added up to a slow and mostly boring story which is so sad because it’s a great concept. I give it 2 stars only because I think the author really tried but it needs a few really heavy edits. And the reason for the magical books’ existence was just awful—had no grounding in the story much less a line of logic that gets fleshed out at any point. That should have been left out. It made no difference to the story and was just so irritating. I hate writing poor novel reviews because I know what the authors go through to get to publication but unless you can get swept away by the concept to where the writing and story is inconsequential, it’s not going to be a fun read.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Oct 22, 2024 Book rating: 1 star. Extra star for the wonderful narration, without which I wouldn’t have gotten through this
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sep 14, 2024 A superb book that I highly recommend to anyone who like science fiction, magic, and good stories.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Aug 22, 2024 I loved it! I almost cried. I would love to use the book of doors to see my father. The ending was great closure and answers everything. I definitely recommend reading it!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Aug 1, 2024 One of those books yoIu really, really want to continue. Love the narrator!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jun 17, 2024 Time travel
 Good characters
 Good narration
 Interesting premise
 Sad it ended
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jun 5, 2024 Such a fun read full of fantasy, mystery, and darkness. Fantastic character development and world building allowing the reader to become fully immersed. I’m buying a physical copy as well!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5May 23, 2024 To be fair, this one took about 6 or so chapters to commit to. I was jarred by the opening chapters which read like Magic Tree House to me—was this middle grade fiction? Then enter Barberi and Drummond and my intrigue was piqued—enough to keep reading. I’m so glad I did! The author really hits his stride in the middle of the story, building tension which continues as Cassie discovers and grows into her own power. Page turning action and metaphors that are delightfully visual, the writing gets better and better, and the characters become more and more interesting and complex. Turns out, this was one I couldn’t put down.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5May 21, 2024 What an amazing journey. Lots of great twists and turns. Well done!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5May 20, 2024 Excellent narration! I really loved this book. Cassie was a great character and I loved her relationship with her grandfather and with Mr. Webber. For lovers of books, magic, and time travel. 10/10 would read again and recommend.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5May 19, 2024 Compelling and written in such a way that you were taken in
 Thought provoking
 Highly recommend
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5May 10, 2024 Fresh look at old imaginings. The protagonist, tho' intelligent, is helpless without the book ( books?). Is this meant to be metaphorical? You'll have to find out for yourself. Brilliant narrator is top notch with the many accents required.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Apr 30, 2024 Wow. This was a debut novel? This is definitely worth the time. It's a great story with great characters, and performed impeccably well. The story is both warm and interesting, and a little dark, enough to acknowledge the full range of what it means to be human. This keeps it from being too easy and too sweet -which can be a side effect of stories about books for book lovers- but doesn't ruin it. Just the performance of the reading is worth it, even if the story wasn't that great- but it was, which made it a satisfying listen. I will be following both the writer and the reader from now on.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Apr 27, 2024 Excellent mystery fantasy emigration well worth the listen and the narrator is fabulous
