Alex J

Hard to listen to

Revisado: 02-05-23

I wanted to read more O. Henry books because I liked, "The Gift of Magi". To my dismay, O. Henry is verbose. The Gift of Magi is good, because he gives only the details needed. Only the end has unnecessary sentences. Unfortunately, the end of it, is a great example of how Henry writes his stories.

He has excessive parts or extra words that does absolutely nothing but add bloat. It can slow down the story and make it very boring. For that reason, I wasn't able to go past chapter 17. I at times lost attention to the stories I read and had to rewind them. He tends to have some sort of twist, so the tales are interesting. Older readers or readers who read older material that are more verbose, will be able to enjoy the stories better.

The narrator fits the style of the book and he did his best with the material he had.

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Another great ride

Revisado: 02-02-23

Simple and sweet. The third novella is like the second installment. This one was a blend of Tony seeking answers and some dropping into his lap. Tony is the modern fairytale story of why you should stay away from shady business and shady people.

Zachary Quinto did well with the narrations but I felt he did better in the second story.

Overall 5 stars because the story is interesting and not because it's some mind blowing tale. It's another possibility of what could happen in the world Scalzi made. Listen to the books in order to fully understand the characters and their history.

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Much more complex

Revisado: 02-01-23

I don't have much to add to the second installment review, because it's not much different from the first book. This book is a little bit more complex than the previous one, "The dispatcher".

Zachary Quinto steps up his narration a couple notches. I feel like he did a much better job with playing two characters fighting with each other, it was impressive.

This story has more things happen to Tony, as opposed to him searching for the answers. The information falls into his lap in a macabre way. I love how he gets his information via different people, as opposed to some bad guy telling him everything.

Despite the story not being phenomenal or mind shattering, I gave it a perfect score because it's a great addition and I'm grateful it wasn't a waste of time.

It's like a continuation of a person's journey as they move through life. It doesn't add or take away anything. No answers to the phenomenon or any enlightening hypothesis are revealed... just an intriguing tale. It is different without being completely estranged from the primary novella. This book shows how twisted and creative the criminals in this world can be. I'm impressed by Scalzi's ability to create something so bizarre yet normalized.

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Simple and sweet

Revisado: 01-31-23

Overall, fantastic in an average yet fascinating tale. Shorts stories or novellas are perfect when you just want a break from the dissertations. I loved how simple and to the point,'The Dispatcher', was. This sci-fi story reminds me of the 'Outer Limits', shows. It's crazy, but will have you questioning a few things...not too hard though. It's not overly pretentious, long, preachy, cliché, or overdone. It's not a story with answers or some deep meaning. It's amazing in a grilled cheese sandwich way. In other words, think fries, not steak, caviar, or whatever you consider fancy.

Narration: I love Zachary Quinto as an actor. He did a nice job voicing everyone. While he was convincing most times, he isn't the best I've heard. I'll listen to him again. He was clear and I liked his pace being slightly faster than other narrators.

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Passable

Revisado: 01-30-23

Imagine my surprise when I saw a Sidney Sheldon's book, after thinking I had already read all his books 20 years ago. It wasn't until after I finished, I realized it had another name. My assumption was they wrote it together, but that wasn't the case. The book is written with the influence and style of Sidney Sheldon but more predictable, cliché, and flat with a lack of research about medical, psychological, or police procedure. Overall it isn't terrible and I found it was well-written. The issue is the story. All the characters are conveniently tied together, too neatly, to the point where it is unrealistic. The obsession of the killer is over the top, unrealistic, impulsive, immature, and stupid. It's hard to believe half these people would say or act the way they did. The stereotypical characters are trite and banal.

The narrator tried to do different accents, but she was suboptimal at best. Her Mexican accent sounded Russian and her Boston accent was plain crude. Despite the accents, I felt she did the best she could. The worst grievance of the book is the exposition dump of why. After so many years of books and movie scripts being written, people still think it's a great idea to have the antagonist, explain everything that occurred...how realistic. I am going to kill you but first, I will tell you why, and give the hero enough time to barge in and save you. The incidents played out like an unimaginative C rated film made in the 80s. Another old and played out scene is the protagonist making horrible decisions to move the plot. Dear authors of future books, having a character calling another character stupid, doesn't make us forgive your mistake and laziness of not writing a better story.

A person new to thrillers may enjoy it. I highly doubt someone who reads regularly (especially thrillers), would love this book. It has suspense, the characters are developed enough, the story is mildly entertaining, and it is well written despite the flaws. In other words, it's an average book that has some bad parts and some good parts. Overall, I wouldn't recommend it and because I was a huge fan of Sidney Sheldon, I wouldn't want anyone to associate the book with his name. At the same time, I've read worse and this is better than some of the books I've read in the past two weeks, and they were rated 4.5 or higher (not by me).

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I enjoyed it

Revisado: 01-27-23

This isn't the type of books I read but my mother is a huge Danielle Steel fan. She has all of her books and I figured I'd give her a chance. Steel knows how to weave an interesting tale. I was hoping it wouldn't be very predictable in the end. While the character did surprise me a little, some things were a little too neat for me.

The middle dragged a bit and I couldn't help but wonder why the story was continuing. She gave us closure for most things. This can be great for people invested in all the characters. For me, it was too much.

Luis Moreno did a wonderful job. He had an American and British accent. I was surprised when I heard his voice, since the main character is a woman. However, he also was the voice of several men, so it makes sense. I'm impressed with the voice acting I've heard in most audiobooks. The only bad one was Jennette McCurdy; my favorite being Seth Numrich. I love how Moreno was able to make Ed and Bob sound differently despite them both having British accents.

Overall a nice book. And it's refreshing to read a book from a great writer.

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Part of the rating is definitely a me problem

Revisado: 01-26-23

As a true crime fanatic, I have slurped down hours of court trials via audio or video, several podcasts, and countless books. I can tolerate re-enactments common in TLC, Investigative Discovery, Court TV, and Forensic Files; as well as, simple story telling on YouTube. Finding Tamika failed to do the story justice. Partially it's me...I listen to audiobooks on 1.5 on Amazon and 1.25-1.5 on YouTube or Spotify because people talk too slow for my attention span. Long story short, the singing and music sounded horrible on 1.5. Regardless of the sound, it was excessive. Yes, I skipped ahead. After a couple of hours, I thought the story was over, and it wasn't. They had found the killer, and they played music as if it were a conclusion. I turned it off, to see I had a few more hours to go, and I was flabbergasted.

A stylistic option overtook the telling of the story and drowned out the events and tragedy of Tamika. While, the narrator has a right to add in her opinion, beliefs, and thoughts, I didn't care. I didn't want to listen about her and her opinion, but about Tamika and her story. I wish there were more interviews from her family, people surrounding Tamika and investigators, less music, less narrator information/opinion, less empty or dead voids, less sound effects, less filler, and better organization to reduce redundancy. Some parts were repeated more than needed, and we don't need to hear her favorite song to sing that many times. Overall, the storyteller has a nice voice, but the storytelling was subpar at best. The largest offense was the music and sound effects. Tamika's story needs to be told, and I hope someone re-tells it better.

If you haven't listened to many podcasts, watched that many true-crime shows, or read true-crime books, then this audiobook may not bother you. Keep that in mind when deciding to listen to this; I've been into this stuff for over 25 years.

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Too long

Revisado: 01-25-23

Having multiple climaxes can be risky in a book. It works in action films, but most often, they have faux climaxes. I work five days a week and watch my Korean dramas, so I usually finish books in 1–2 days, maybe three if I start during the week and it's a long book. This book took about four days and I started on the weekend. It was easy to stop, because it felt like it was dragging. The narrator was easy to listen to...the story was the issue.

While this book is set in present day 2020ish timeframe, the set-up and the events that unfolded seemed as if, it would be more plausible in the late 1800's. The story was told in present day and the past by a different narrator. If you have ever read a Toni Morrison book, then you'll have no problem with the change in time because, Toni Morrison hardly gave a heads-up, and it drove me bonkers. The change in time in this book is easier to follow. Some events are plausible and others absurd. The ending was predictable and characters somewhat boring. I've seen the evil woman in charge that turns out to be a good person at heart, in shows like Velvet and The Grand Hotel. It's as if these ladies always exist as the head of housekeeping or some other job. Regardless, this book is nothing new or fascinating. If you've read hundreds or thousands of books, you won't be impressed. Especially, if you've read classics and books from literary giants.

Overall, the story has an interesting premise. The author has room for improvement and the small talent needs to be nourished. Generally, I give modern writers higher ratings than I would an old school established writer, because someone like Stephen King, Dan Brown, Danielle Steele, etc. should know better. Keep that in mind if you've read many great authors. This is not on that level. I wouldn't recommend the book, because it dragged too much and pacing is important to me. If pacing isn't an issue, and you're tolerant of slower books, then check this book out. Again, this isn't Agatha Christie, Emily Brontë, Charlotte Bronte level stuff, so keep your expectations low.

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Coben can do better

Revisado: 01-25-23

I have read his (Harlan Coben) books before, so I trusted the book would be good. Unfortunately, this is a great story within a mediocre story, distracted with unnecessary story lines or details that doesn't have any relation to the main story. Keep in the mind, the title has nothing to do with the story itself. Coben is a great writer, but it seems as if he was writing about several things that could be used in three separate books, making the book feel disjointed. It's possible he may write a second book that actually goes into Wilde's story (the boy in the woods)...I felt we didn't get any closure on him. The dialogue was comical at times, because it's hard to imagine anyone speaking that way in reality.

I liked the smokes and mirrors, because that's reality. In reality, some things aren't as they seem, some people have ulterior motives for their actions, and life isn't fair. Coben did a great job of including real life elements that often occur but, are only told in true crime episodes and trials on Investigative Discovery, Law and Crime, or Crime TV. Instead of using an unreliable narrator to provide a twist or reveal a mystery later on, Coben uses other character's stories or dilemmas to distract us. It's almost like real police work, when they are trying to solve a mystery, and they get distracted by an innocent person they're trying to tie to a crime, while the criminal gets away. Overall, the book is easy to read and interesting. If you aren't critical, overly annoyed by any politics in your book, and you haven't read hundreds to thousands of books, you'll probably enjoy this book. The narrator is great and I love the different voices.

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Fascinating

Revisado: 01-22-23

Somewhat predictable, but not completely. I've read so many thrillers and watched so many thriller movies, it's rare I don't figure some twists out. So now, I care more about the unfolding of the stories, as opposed to the twists. This story was well told and easy to be engrossed in. This is my first book I'm reading from Frieda McFadden. I enjoyed it, but wouldn't list it as a favorite. The story is a bit of a stretch, but that's common in thrillers. The end was a little rushed and there isn't any happy endings, so if that bothers you, then pass. Overall, it's still a good read. The audiobook narrator did a great job as well.

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