John Simons

Where's the PDF

Revisado: 08-08-19

For an hour-long book, this was way overpriced, but my chief complaint is: Throughout the book, the narrator refers you to a PDF for more information. The problem is, Audible, there is no PDF with this audio book. I wrote directly to the author, Thomas Corson-Knowles, who styles himself a great supporter of writers, but he did not respond.

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Riveting True Story

Revisado: 08-06-18

You may have heard the name Bill Browder recently as one of the men our leader nearly turned over to Putin for "questioning." Browder would have been tortured to death had the US accepted Putin's "incredible offer." In the author's own words: "For the last ten years, I’ve been trying to avoid getting killed by Putin’s regime, and there already exists a trail of dead bodies connected to its desire to see me dead."

Red Notice is Browder's fascinating true story about how he came to be hunted by the Russian dictator's assassins. His story is both intimate and terrifying as he details how he became the largest Western investment banker operating in Russia during the wild days of the mid to late 1990's and the subsequent reign of terror under Putin. Browder's courage in demanding shareholder rights for investors in Russia who were being shamelessly looted by the oligarchs is breathtaking in the steadfast but casual courage he consistently demonstrates. Imagine you owned Exxon stock and learned that the CEO was secretly transferring all assets to a shell company he had created. In a free society you would have the courts and the media to appeal to and that CEO would probably never see the outside of a prison. Now imagine you were in a country where anyone willing to bribe the president could do anything he wanted to do.

Bill Browder is a hero and I've never said that about an investment banker. Again, in his own words: "I’m lodged so firmly under Putin’s skin because I’m the person responsible for getting the Magnitsky Act passed in the United States in 2012. This is a law that allows the U.S. government to freeze assets and ban visas of human-rights violators around the world. Some of these human-rights violators had killed Sergei Magnitsky, my Russian lawyer who was murdered in a Moscow jail for uncovering a massive $230 million government-corruption scheme that we’ve since traced to known Putin cronies. In essence, Putin received some of the proceeds of this crime, and he is terrified that the Magnitsky Act could be applied to his offshore fortune, which is probably one of the largest amassed in modern times."

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Classic Ruined By Terrible Narrator

Revisado: 09-11-16

Would you try another book from Larry McMurtry and/or Lee Horsley?

I love Larry McMurtry but Lee Horsley's reading is an abomination.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Gus McCrae

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Lee Horsley?

Frank Muller did a good job with Commanche Moon, but as far as I'm concerned everything should be narrated by Will Patton who performed Dead Man's Walk. You will recognize his voice from many movies, my favorite being Armageddon. I think women readers are vastly underutilized in audio book narration. The more stark and violent the story, the more powerful it is when read by a woman.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Anger, sadness and disappointment that a beautiful book was destroyed by incompetent direction and narration.

Any additional comments?

Gustavus McCrae, one of the classic heroes in Larry McMurtry's breathtaking Lonesome Dove as portrayed by Lee Horsley came across as some sort of clown with a learning disability. Horsley shouts every line of Gus's dialogue and frequently forgets himself and shouts much of the rest of the book as well. He turned this beloved classic of the western genre into a bizarre parody.

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Elkhart Tolle's wisdom will be studied for a thousand years .

Revisado: 07-22-16

This book will change everything about your life if you allow it and if you are not afraid.

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