Juggler Naut

slow narration and an "are you serious?!?!" ending

Revisado: 11-06-22

The female narrator, O'Donnell, speaks very slowly and leaves unnaturally long gaps between sentences -- so much drag that I checked whether my device was playing at 75% speed instead of normal/100%. Twice. Irritating as heck!

The male narrator, Damron, speaks at normal speed. But neither does much to distinguish different characters' voices, and O'Donnell struggles to convey male voices.

And the ending ... Ultimately, our heroes' efforts prove to be unnecessary, because the villain essentially does himself in for no discernible reason.

Disappointing.

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This story did NOT age well!

Revisado: 06-08-22

I remember liking the Warlock books as a kid, but as an adult, I can't get past the smarmy smugness — great white American male to the rescue! — and the sneering misogyny. It's about as charming as you'd expect a thinly veiled commentary on Vietnam by a pompous white boy to be. I quit listening in disgust halfway through.

The radio drama–style audio effects are overwrought, sometimes obscuring the dialogue. The repeated grunting during the many senseless fight scenes is particularly distracting.

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A fun premise wasted

Revisado: 08-22-17

The psychic angle could be fun, but it is overshadowed by the obnoxious immaturity of the main character. She comes across as being in her early teens rather than her 30s. It's much easier to believe in her flawless 6th sense than that a grown man would find her baby-girl antics attractive.

Also, and it's a small thing, the narrator pronounced the suffix "-ed" as "-it." So "needed" becomes "need it" and so on.

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not for feminists!!

Revisado: 07-07-17

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No. The main character is potentially very interesting—issues of enhanced memory usually are—but the way women simply scuttle in his wake, excusing and supporting and enabling him, and don't appear as human at all goes from grating to irritating to unsupportable.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Meh. Could Amos get the hell over himself, please. I certainly have.

What aspect of Ron McLarty and Orlagh Cassidy ’s performance would you have changed?

The performers did fine.

Could you see Memory Man being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

It's practically "Longmire" already, so just recast Robert Taylor. Don't bother casting any actresses; the female characters could be played by disposable cardboard cutouts.

Any additional comments?

Disappointing—could have been SO much better. I realize the protagonist has a brain injury, but he is ONLY his brain injury—just a set of brooding cognitions. That'll work for a short story, maybe, but not for a full-length novel.

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The AI is the most interesting character

Revisado: 07-07-17

Would you try another book from J. A. Jance and/or Karen Ziemba?

No

What was most disappointing about J. A. Jance’s story?

Dull characters—I don't care about any of them except the AI.

Plodding plotting—excessive repetition of "what we know so far." I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TWO TIMES.

How could the performance have been better?

DO NOT add an "accent"—and I use the term loosely—to a character specifically described as speaking unaccented English.

DO NOT turn every dependent clause into a question.

What character would you cut from Man Overboard?

The human ones

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If you're a fan of the flu ...

Revisado: 04-17-16

The author did a great job of making me feel like I had the flu along with the main character—all muzzy-headed and droopy. But I don't like feeling like I have the flu.

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Could not slog through to the end

Revisado: 04-17-16

I felt kind of bad for not caring about these characters, since most of them were ill ... but not bad enough to listen all the way through to the end of the book. Guess I was looking for something with more action.

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OK mystery; IRRITATING narrator

Revisado: 01-24-16

This narrator has a heavy Southern or Southie or something accent that breaks through much too frequently—but not consistently, so the variations in pronunciation are numerous and distracting. For instance, she refers to a couch as a sofa in one sentence and a "sofer" in the next. The name Connor comes out "Cah-nah," but only sometimes. And I'm still unsure whether another character is named Ellena, Helena, or Eleanor.

The narrator also seems to have some kind of sinus condition/congestion that made my head throb when I listened to it. Or maybe that was an attempt at characterization she resorted to because of limited vocal range. Tough to say.

Recommendation: Read this book in print.

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OK (but not great) story; awful narration

Revisado: 01-13-16

Any additional comments?

This is a run-of-the-mill whodunit that fails to be spiced up by sex scenes or beautified by its island setting. One could simply go along for the ride except that . . .

The narration is AWFUL! This narrator's diction is atrocious—half the time you can't understand what she's saying. Even if it's an accurate representation of how Hawai'i residents speak—and I don't know that it is—the mumbling and slurring distract from the story. For instance, she cannot pronounce the word "bureau," which is a noticeable problem because the main character works at "the Bureau" (the FBI). Poor/caricaturish attempts at Southern, Italian, and . . . British? . . . accents don't help, either.

Disappointing.

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Good story; annoying narration

Revisado: 06-18-15

This is a fun mystery with friendly characters. But the narrato'rs nasal voice drops the ends of words and ends of sentences, especially when portraying male characters, and she sounds on the verge of tears about half the time.

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