Labyrinth

By: A. G. Riddle

Narrated by: James Babson

From the bestselling author of Lost in Time and Quantum Radio comes a new mind-bending thriller: a group of strangers with tinnitus begins seeing numbers—numbers they soon realize are a code that will change the world.

Alan Norris has lost everything. Except for his daughter. And he's willing to do anything to protect her.

The day of his wife's funeral, as he's walking to give the eulogy, the ringing in his ears starts. His tinnitus began when he was in the Marines, the day a roadside bomb went off. Usually, it's a low whine—a tea kettle that never quite boils. But as his prosthetic and his good leg sink into the soggy grass, the ringing changes. That afternoon, the ringing only he can hear sounds like three jagged rocks dropped in a tin can and shaken.

When the rattling hits a crescendo, he sees a series of numbers: 12122518914208.

He assumes it's a stress reaction. A hallucination. He's wrong about that. And several other things.

The ringing and the numbers are a mystery, but the worst part is that when that unseen hand shakes the can, Alan begins to lose time.

A few minutes at first.

Then longer.

Until one night, he wakes up next to a dead body.

He could call the police. Or run. He doesn't do either. Because he doesn't know what happened to his daughter during the time he lost, leaving him no choice but to dig deeper.

Alan soon discovers he's not the only one seeing the numbers. And that the sequence is key to a conspiracy with far-reaching consequences. For him and the entire world.

©2025 A. G. Riddle (P)2025 Recorded Books

Could have edited out the first 6 hours

I've read or listened to all of his books. This was by far the most difficult one to get through. First off, the first six hours absolutely nothing happens. just a long and boring intro to what eventually happens. There are long periods that sound like a Google search read out loud. It adds nothing to the story besides making me doze off. Then there are parts that tell part of the back story for some characters, they drag on far past what was needed to get a full picture. The downside to how he did it is that for most of this neverending story the other characters have no depth and are completely one dimensional. It's also easy to see where it's going even though the main character actually says he has no idea what the obvious is.
This was definitely one I could have skipped and not lost 21 hours of my life. I was looking forward to this one too. It could have been much better with an adequate editor.

Outstanding journey

What a great story infusing deep relatable characters and near-time scifi elements that are so pertinent to today. As a person also with tinnitus, it adds a certain element of relatability. Adding a certain amount of homage to Ready Player One was a nice touch, intended or not.

Good story. Needs some tighter editing

Overall I liked the book. Decent narrator, though he needs to work on a larger variety of character voices. Not bad, but it can be a bit flat or repetitive at times.

I've read other books by Riddle and this was a hesitant purchase. He always seems to have a great vision and he gets there in the end, but I think he really needs the help of a good editor to help streamline the story. There are large parts of the book that kinda drag because the story is giving way too much detail for inconsequential parts. Just like RR Martin talks about food too much, Riddle seems to get lost in minor details that don't really matter. Like when the CEO goes on at length when describing his Claire user story of Labyrinth. Really not needed. This happens in a few other places.

Overall I'm recommending the story as a buy. Just hope the narrator and author take the feedback under consideration.

Definitely interesting

You really have to pay attention towards the middle because it starts using different timelines and a lot of metaphors but if you pay attention, it’s really good

Another great literary Riddle from AG

I thought this one was a masterfully written journey through real life humanitarian issues wrapped into a fictional gift like all of this man’s works. Highly recommend if you want your thoughts provoked to look out onto an ocean of possibilities