Casey

Outstanding!

Revisado: 04-24-20

The first book in the series, 'The Terminal List' was my favorite listen of 2018. While I enjoyed 'True Believer' I thought it was a bit of a step down. However, Jack Carr's third installment in this series is every bit as great as the first. Fast becoming one of my favorite series.

I want to give whomever was responsible for casting Ray Porter as narrator for this series a gold star. He is absolutely the perfect voice for James Reece. His voice has a naturally strong quality that brings something extra to the table. He delivers the lines with absolute conviction.

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Baseball Players are Human? Who knew?

Revisado: 06-20-19

Baseball is one of my favorite subjects to read about. I don't know exactly how many baseball related audiobooks I have in my collection but the number is significant. This will stand as one of my favorites.

I love statistics and am a supporter of the advanced analytics movement. However, the one thing that has kept me from embracing it with even more enthusiasm is the tendency of some to disregard the human element of the sport. This book does not do that, in fact it is the perfect marriage of statistical analysis and the human behavior that make baseball the great sport that it is...the sport that I call my favorite.

Highlights for me include the chapter on managers and the talk of baseball cards because it is always nice to take a walk down memory lane. I enjoyed how each chapter opened with a story from the author's own life that relates to that chapters information.

As for the narration...I have listened to several titles narrated by Kyle Tait and am a big fan of his work on baseball texts. According to his bio, he spent time announcing for the Braves AA affiliate in Mississippi, so he clearly has a passion for the game. And the way the book was written gives him a chance to have some fun with the narration. This is the exact opposite of a dry, academic text. If you don't believe me...fiddlesticks.

I would recommend this book to any baseball fan looking for a greater appreciation of the sport!

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An Enjoyable Listen

Revisado: 03-21-19

As a Wrestling fan for 30 years I was very interested in listening to this audiobook. It wasn't exactly what I was hoping for but I still found it worthwhile.

The truth is that I already knew a lot of the information contained in the book. However, it did fill in a few gaps in my own knowledge of the time period. The book doesn't go as in depth as it could on any one territory in particular, so in that sense it could be considered a good place to start your research but for a fuller picture you would want to branch out from here. However, if you're a wrestling novice just looking for an overview of major events and the key players from this time period, this book will easily satisfy.

As for the listening experience, I found it enjoyable. I got through the book in about a day and was never bored by the performance. I even laughed out loud a couple of times which is not something I do frequently. One reviewer described the performance as monotone but I would call it steady. The fact is that the text itself is not particularly filled with emotion, no one subject is really lingered on for too long. Even in the case of a wrestler's death, the circumstances surrounding it are laid out but not a lot of time is spent dealing with the aftermath.

Whether you will personally enjoy this book will depend largely on what you are expecting. If you are hoping for a good overview of major events and key figures from the territory era of professional wrestling then you will come away satisfied. If you are looking for a starting point from which to do more research than you could do much worse. If you're looking for something that reads more like a tabloid that is full of wrestling style promos on Vince McMahon then you probably won't be so entertained.

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Tremendous debut!

Revisado: 01-12-19

There was a lot of positive buzz for 'The Terminal List' before its release. I am happy to say that all of that buzz was justly deserved. This book does not disappoint.

It is a high energy, action packed thriller from start to finish. James Reece is a bad ass fueled by his quest for revenge and yet his focus on revenge makes him a very vulnerable character. I can't wait for further adventures with him.

I once listened to Ray Porter narrate a biography of a Navy SEAL and thought his voice was perfectly suited for the project. His voice is commanding and powerful, he easily conveys a take no prisoners, down to business attitude. In other words, he is the absolute perfect choice for narrator of this book and kudos to whomever was responsible for casting. I don't know who would be cast as James Reece in a feature film but I'll always think of Ray Porter as the voice.

This iss a strong debut thriller from Jack Carr and I look forward to more from him in the future. The only question was why it took me so long to actually give it a listen?

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Amazing

Revisado: 08-06-18

David Baldacci is probably my favorite author. Ron McLarty is one of the best audiobook narrators I have ever heard and this is far from the first time I have heard the two working together.

But the reason that I found this book amazing is because it involves, a Billionaire, Russia and fake news. An easy enough story to tie together if the book were written six months ago but this came out in 2008. So either David Baldacci is a time traveler or things that we only think of as a problem now have actually been issues for much longer. As cool as the thought of a time traveling David Baldacci might be, I'm going to go ahead and guess it is the latter.

One Baldacci trademark is

that whatever conflicts his heroes seem to find themselves in they are almost always personal in some way. So if you're reading a Baldacci novel and his protagonist has a family member or love interest, it might not be wise to become attached to that character.
I actually think that might be one of the reasons this series is so short. You essentially have a character with no family and no past and in more recent years Baldacci's series have focused on events from his character's back stories.

I had a lot of fun listening to this book. Although, if you haven't read or listened to anything of David Baldacci's previously I'm not sure that this is where I would start. I'm currently listening to the second book in the series and even though it isn't my favorite Baldacci series (Will Robie) it does have its charm. I was still amazed though because as I said earlier this managed to feel very current even though it was written a decade ago.

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Best in the Series

Revisado: 08-02-18

I discovered this series last year and I have now read all eight books contained in it up to now.

I believe the series really started to find itself with book 6 and that each book subsequent has been better than the one before.

I believe Ben Coes delivered a masterpiece with 'Bloody Sunday'. I was a bit unsure of how the story would play out when I first saw the plot summary but it delivered beyond my expectations. I finished it in a day because I just couldn't wait to see what wuld happen to Dewey next and how he would save the day. This had a lot of action, suspense and intrigue. There is even a subplot that sets things up for the future.

This is the first book in the series that Ari Fliakos has narrated after also narrating a short story and his performance is strong. He did a lot of great work making characters distinct. It can be tough to take over a series in the middle after audiences have gotten used to previous narrators but I thought he did a fantastic job of making his mark.

Fans of the series will love this story, I believe. If you are new to the series you may not wish to start with this book as it does play off of events revealed in the previous 2 installments at least.

Highly recommended and I can't wait for Dewey's next adventure!

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Just Couldn't Get Into It

Revisado: 07-26-18

I can't believe that I am going to say this about a Star Wars novel written by Timothy Zahn that features Thrawn as a main character but I just could not get invested in the story. In particular, I found the section that took place during the Clone Wars to be a chore to get through. I liked the Thrawn/Vader story a little bit more but not much.

While I can't put my finger on the entire reason that it just didn't work for me I think the fact that Imperial infighting has been done so much in the new canon didn't help. 'A New Dawn', 'Tarkin', 'Lords of the Sith', nd the first 'Thrawn' novel all featured Imperials with competing interests as part of the plot. It is starting to feel like the Rebel Alliance should have just waited the Empire out and fight among itself to its destruction.

If I can point to something I did like in the story it would be the sections where we followed the Storm Troopers as they worked together as a team. That was fun to see, capable troopers did indeed exist in the Empire.

Marc Thompson is a hero. This is hardly the first Star Wars novel that I have only managed to finish due to his amazing performance and talent and I am quite confident, though saddened as well to know that it won't be the last.

Maybe my expectations were too high. Maybe I will listen to this one again in a couple years and appreciate it more. But for now, it is just okay and I don't feel like I would have missed much if I had skipped it entirely.

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Charlie Crushed It

Revisado: 05-26-18

I never know what to expect when an author narrates their own work. Most of the time I listen and think the author should have left it to a professional. Sometimes, I think that the author ruined their own work with a horrible performance.

Then there are times like this. Charlie LeDuff was absolutely fantastic. I sat down, thinking I'd listen to the book for just a few minutes today and pick it up again later. The next thing I know, I have listened to the entire thing with very few pauses. I cannot imagine anyone else delivering a performance like Charlie's.

I'm sure a professional narrator could have done a good job with the text and maybe have even done it justice in their own way. But the one thing that only Charlie LeDuff could do is the thing he did in spades. He gave an authentic performance.

He was manic when he needed to be manic and somber when he needed to be somber. He struck the right tone for the story he told but was always energetic.

I guess if you are super partisan or either the left or the right you will find parts of the book hard to swallow but if you are one of the numerous people who span many racial, gender, social, age and class groups who believe that all politicians fail to serve the citizenry, you will spend most of your time listening to the book and nodding along. Well, when you aren't laughing at a funny aside from Charlie.

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Fantastic

Revisado: 03-09-18

Alcatraz as a subject matter has always fascinated me but it is something I hadn't really studied seriously up to this point.

This book was a good place for me to start because it had a little of everything. It contained an overview of the prison itself and some of the escapes that were attempted over the years. Then when it got to the Morris/Anglin escape of 1962 we got a lot of detailed information including biographical information concerning all of the major players.

Then after the escape we got an examination of the aftermath and a look at some of the theories that have come about over the intervening years.

This is the first time I heard a book narrated by Dave Clark. As another reviewer commented, he has a voice that suits this book. I thought I was listening to an extended documentary when listening to the main narration but I also enjoyed the vocal changes he would make when reading quotes from specific people. His voice was easy to listen to and I was able to finish the audiobook in one day with very few pauses for any reason.

If you want to learn more about Alcatraz, this book is a pretty good place to start. After listening to it, I intend to listen to more books by the author and more narrated by Dave Clark in the future. It is hard to come up with a better endorsement than that.

I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. The fact that it was free did not impact my ratings in any way.

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One of My Favorites

Revisado: 02-14-18

I bought a version of this book released by Blackstone when I first joined Audible in 2006. Even though this is not a new recording I picked up this version as well as I had a credit I needed to spend.

This is a great book that goes inside the tenure of Michael Eisner as CEO of the Walt Disney Company. While there are a few errors in the text that I noticed and at least one mispronunciation of a name, it is still as engrossing as the first time I listened to it back in June of 2006. In fact, I am probably still an audible member today in part because of how much I have enjoyed relistening to this one over the years.

It is a lengthly listen at over 25 hours but it is never boring. Some of the most interesting aspects are learning of the shows and movies that Disney could have made but passed on like Lord of the Rings and Survivor. I think this a must listen for anyone interested in Disney history or anyone interested in knowing how to business both the right and wrong way.

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