Kilroy

Terrible

Revisado: 03-17-25

This is completely worthless. Not only is the narration AI -- which isn't necessarily a deal-breaker, but this AI voice can't even pronounce Marlon Brando's name right -- but I swear it sounds as if the copy itself was written by artificial intelligence. The so-called celebrities featured contain maybe at least five recognizable names, the rest are not celebrities by any means. Plus, the write-ups of the crimes are surface, to say the least, as you would find more detail in a Wikipedia entry about each event. My guess is someone produced this book in half an hour. Don't waste your time.

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Got bogged down in too many tedious passages.

Revisado: 10-08-24

How to make what could have been a good book excruciating:

Detail every single wiretapped conversation between the two suspects, and include every ridiculous religious statement and rationalization by the killer over and over and over again until the reader wants to scream in frustration.

Get bogged down in detailing every moment of the court case. This is not entertainment.

Fail to find a good editor.

Honestly, I almost turned this off so many times, and a few times I almost threw it across the room. Another reader thought it was fantastic because of all of the sex and drugs. Honestly? I would have loved more sex and drugs and a lot less religion. Especially since the self-proclaimed religious person clearly was not exactly.... religious.

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Outstanding and well researched book.

Revisado: 09-28-24

If you were going to read only one book about Alex Murdaugh, make it this one. It is meticulously researched but the storyline never gets bogged down. The author starts where she needs to, and includes the family's history (which will likely blow your mind), and she never forgets the victims of what the many, many crimes this man committed. This book is an outstanding achievement in true crime writing -- and an indictment of a corrupt power structure that preyed on the less powerful for generations and never stopped to consider anything but their own influence and wealth.

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Not horrible, but not that good, either.

Revisado: 09-07-24

I really wanted to like this book and discover a new series, but it just did not do it for me. The main character, who is supposed to be adventuresome and plucky for the time, actually blackmails people to get information out of them, saying she'll expose something about them if they don't tell her what she wants to know. It's hard to like a hero who does that. In fact, character development is weak all around. Secondly, the plot is poorly executed and the solution to the mystery comes out of nowhere. Finally, while the narrator is a wonderful actress, she's not a book narrator and it doesn't sound like she even read the book first before she recorded this. There's all kinds of pauses while she is obviously reading ahead in her mind before she dives in. I'll keep looking for a new series.

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Terrible book with an amateurish plot.

Revisado: 08-29-24

I cannot believe that either St. Martin's or McMillan would buy this book and then publicize it as much as they did. The authors cannot be mystery writers. The plot is just awful and absurd. It is so slow, the clues fall like anchors, and the heroinne therapist may be the most unlikable, psychopathic therapist in the history of counseling. She's a very bad marriage counselor, but she's an even worse sleuth who misses the most obvious clues, follows patients without an ethical consideration in the world, and goes off on long musings about characters that are so obviously red herrings that the reader can't help but roll their eyes. In the end, I would say it's worst sin is being boring. I would not be surprised to learn that the entire thing was written by AI. It is that obvious, full of cliches, and badly plotted.

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Horrible book of recycled content

Revisado: 07-04-24

This book is just awful. Clearly it is nothing more than a grab for money from true crime enthusiasts. AI could have done a better job of writing it. Well, actually, AI may well have written it. Each crime is simply a very summarized version of what happened using recycled content from online articles and prior books. Often, ridiculous claims are repeated as true when they have proven to be false, such as victims of the family that moved in after the so-called Amityville murders levitating. Very poor quality. Not worth the time. Even the narrator sounds cheesy and canned.

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stop talking already!

Revisado: 02-02-24

This is one of those annoying podcasts where the hosts joke and talk so much you never actually get to hear anything interesting, even for the guests. And the product placement mentions are so obvious that it's painful. Ugh.

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A disappointing Inspector Banks novel

Revisado: 01-10-24

The narration is atrocious. For some reason, the narrator chooses to read the Inspector Banks dialogue as if he were a New Jersey mobster made grumpy by hemorrhoids. It is so far out of character for how any reader would imagine Inspector Banks that it is jarring. the narrator makes equally awful choices for other characters, including the female ones. On top of that, the promising plot is dragged down horribly by long and tedious detours into the private life of Inspector Banks and his second-in-command, Annie. There is a strange preoccupation with sex in this book that seems totally out of character for Inspector Banks. This includes the reader being subjected to sex dreams about the victim as well as ex-girlfriends. On top of that, we are supposed to believe that Banks wants to get back together with his ex-wife even though he has not talked to her in a year? And that is really the trouble with this novel. There is no realistic or even decently developed justification for his emotional preoccupations. Was Banks supposed to be undergoing a midlife crisis or something? I'm not pointing this out because I'm a prude, but because it really bogged the book down and ruined the pacing. Not sure which editor told him to emphasize this aspect of Inspector Banks, but they were dead wrong. This is a shame because the underlying crime plot was very intriguing but ultimately wasted.

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Overediting gutted the book

Revisado: 08-05-23

I cannot believe this book was under 3 hours. shame on whoever edited it and then whoever decided to charge a full credit for this. It should be nearly 7 hours long but all of the color and subplots have been cut out of it. The entire appeal of Tony Hillerman's books rests on the details, the authentic depiction of Navajo life, the ancillary characters, etc. All of that richness is missing from this version. Not recommended. And please do not judge the quality of his books on this example. Why do people even abridge audio books to begin with? Are we really a nation with that short of an attention span?

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Slowest start to a book ever.....

Revisado: 07-18-23

If you are looking for anything resembling a literary version of the PBS series, you will not find it here. This book goes on and on and on at the beginning about how things used to be and about how it's so much easier for people, and especially the rude and lazy youth of today. And I am over 65 years old, so it's not like I have a dog in the hunt. It's like if you took the oldest fart relative you have, then sat down with their grandparent, who was even more intractable, and were forced to listen to them grousing about how much easier you have it. I recommend fast forwarding to the halfway mark. Otherwise, it gets incredibly tedious. Would have been a fine historical narrative without the social commentary.Narrator is very good, however.

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