The Universe

By: Mike Matzdorff

Narrated by: Tony Shalhoub

What if the Universe ran out of an office in Queens?

And what if your job was to shape the world, but every move you made risked unraveling it?

After the tragic loss of her husband, Katie seeks a fresh start and finds it when she is hired by the Universe. The job is to carefully orchestrate events, large and small, to keep existence on track—or so she's been told. During her first big assignment, Katie meets Mike--a man employed by the Universe for hundreds of years—and she begins to question her purpose. As their paths merge, and as Katie digs deeper into the secrets of the Universe, a dark secret reveals itself.

In a game where every move threatens chaos, can two pawns save the Universe, or will their choices bring it to an end?

©2025 Mike Matzdorff (P)2025 Mike Matzdorff

Started for the narrator, stayed for the story

Tony Shalhoub has been a constant in my childhood--from Wings, Men in Black, Galaxy Quest, and Monk (to name a few), he's a comfort actor for me. If he's in something, odds are I'll enjoy it. He also narrated an Audible original bedtime story A Short Account of the History of Mathematics. When I saw he narrated this, I figured 'why not'? and gave it a go.

Shalhoub makes listening to this story akin to a father/grandfather reading a book out loud. He kinda does voices but his staying power is his inflection and emotions he puts into each character. He reads at a natural pace (for me) and I never felt lost within the story due to his narration.

The story is...different. Not in a bad way, just different. It's supernatural. It's fate. It's so very human. It's inevitable but it never had to be. Matzdorff created a whole world that so easily fits into our own it's almost unnerving but the big questions are never answered and I was okay with that.
The basic premise is what we call 'fate' and 'divine intervention' are orchestrations created by agents of The Universe. Agents are given assignments that will change the course of history for the better. Who decides what is 'better'? That's the question. Officially, we follow Katie after she tragically looses her husband and as she becomes an agent. We learn about the agency through her eyes and we get to see the machinations of The Universe. Unbeknownst to her, Katie was hand-selected for her role and eventually the darker side of The Universe starts to unveil itself. Unofficially, there's another primary plot point woven between Katie's story as we learn how The Universe operated before it landed in Queens, New York City. We follow an unnamed female as she completes tasks for The Universe throughout centuries past. The way the two stories interweave and eventually come together is worth at least two listens.

Some people say the ending fell flat; I would counter that and ask how it was supposed to end any other way. The entire premise of the story is how fate and destiny don't exist and how everything is orchestrated by "upper management" in ways agents can't stop. Time continues therefore The Universe still has a job to do and despite the interpersonal drama of agents, it will march on. As it always has and as it always will.