FhvnEd

I don’t like cliffhangers I’m done.

Revisado: 04-07-25

This is the second time Sanford has used this technique. Remember Senator Taryn Grant? That time it took 3 books in between to finish the story. This isn’t Dallas. This isn’t Falcon Crest. This is a novel. Novels have a beginning and a middle and an end. Leaving the reader hanging just to sell more books is a cheap shot.

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Quit using Luke Daniels as the narrator.

Revisado: 01-19-25

First let me add this preface. I have read every Robert Crais audio book since I came across 'The Monkey's Raincoat' way back when, and then couldn't wait to order and pre-order every one in the series since, The series began being narrated by Patrick Lawlor and Mel Foster. Both of these credibly presented Elvis' character, idiosyncrasies, humor, sarcasm and emotions. Either of these could have been my favorite. Then, for reasons, I guess, known only to the producing agency or maybe the writer himself, we (as in I) were subjected to another three narrators as the series progressed and I suffered through Ron McLarty, David Stuart and, worst of all (again, to me), Luke Daniels. The stories themselves remained top notch. Plots; characters; backstories; interactions with each other and the wily ways of the protagonists were always at the top of Robert Crais' skill set. Who can forget 'Piss your pants Krantz' from LA Requiem? The Big Empty is no different with regard all of the above characters and the story line. The difference, and I have noted this in the last Daniels narrated Cole novel I reviewed, is Daniels himself. For some reason he is intent on playing Joe Pike as if he were a psychopath. He voices him like he doesn't know how to speak. Like he's a whispering, fanged monster waiting to tear of the throat from the next child he meets. He doesn't play him with a regular voice like every other character. He also doesn't do justice to Cole either. He plays Elvis with this weird squeaky voice absent from the other narrators versions. He makes listening difficult. He makes me want to fast forward through pages just to quit listening to him talk. The overall rating would have been a 5 were it narrated by one of the original three who began this adventure with Crais. Why he and/or the production/editing team doesn't see this difference is beyond me. I don't think Crais' vision of Pike when he created him was as he comes across in Daniels' interpretation. It's been a three year wait for the latest Crais novel to come out. I'm hoping we don't have to wait another three years for the next one. I can, however, wait an eternity before reading another Luke Daniels version. Bring back Patrick Lawlor or Mel Foster............... Please.

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Not I expected from Sandford

Revisado: 01-08-25

Before continuing, let me say I have (almost) every John Sandford novel in my library. There are a couple stand-alones which don't interest me, but I have every one of the Davenport/Flowers series and usually pre-order every year or so whenever he puts one on the market. This one, however....... Well, I just couldn't get into it. Usually each one of this novels begins with the crime. This begins with not much at all. The entire concept of his 'hero' is bizarre, to say the least. He never fights. The one fight he did get into (spoiler alert) he lost. There is really no action to speak of. Just dialogue, and not really very spellbinding at that. There are probably less than 20 pages of any real action. Aside from the fact this guy is basically a (spoiler alert) murderer without any sense of contrition, which does make him fit the Davenport mold, the entire premise of the plot seems far fetched and tenuous. I listened to it, as usual, but without any real interest in the outcome. It felt like pablum for the brain.... an insomnia cure rather than the 'can't wait for the next chapter' sort of feel you normally get with Sandford. I used a credit to download it, and since I have 23 and had to use 2 before they expired, I saw the title and Richard Ferrone as the narrator and had to have it. Had anyone but Ferrone been reading this one, (who, btw, I miss as one of the all time great Audible narrators) I would have abandoned it after the first few chapters. His character development is spot on, as usual, with back stories galore and anecdotal information by the buckets, but the story itself was, really, really......... well..... boring. This is one of the few......... maybe the only, so far...... John Sandford novel I could have tuned the player off and walked away from and never give another thought to the outcome.

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Not up there with Sandford's best work

Revisado: 04-15-24

First, let me say I have read all of Sandford's 'Prey' and the Virgil Flowers series. I can't wait to pre-order whenever he comes out with a new novel from either of those series. I have not, however, read 'Kidd' or the 'Singular Menace' or his standalone novels. After coming across Kidd in a couple of the Prey books, his character was never appealing to me. Also I don't read science fiction and am always a bit confused whenever the titles include two authors. How do they do that? How can you collaborate to write a novel? But I digress. One big thing missing for me is Richard Ferrone. Since his passing in 2022, Sandford, and/or his publisher has had to make narrator changes and this choice is not ideal. Don't get me wrong. He may very well be excellent at other series he has narrated, but he's not Ferrone. No one is. Were I just reading the book, obviously that would not be an issue, but when listening to as many of the Prey series as I have, Richard Ferrone IS Lucas Davenport. Trying to wrap your head around another narrator playing the role is difficult. Like listening to someone other than Eric Conger reading Virgil Flowers or someone other than Dick Hill reading 'Jack Reacher'. Toxic Prey has interesting plot twists, as is Sandford's signature, and those twists make the book interesting enough to continue reading, even as the basic scenario screams... Really? Someone actually is crazy enough to do this and crazier still, can convince others to join the cause? To me, one of the semi-main characters, Alex Crawford, is instantly dislikeable and remains that way throughout. You find yourself inherently annoyed by his attitude and his timidity. Letty is unrecognizeable from her previous entries and, if this were the first time you came across her, you'd wonder who she was. Her friend, Barbara Cartwright, is more like the Letty we've come to know and love than this Letty ever could be. It's almost as if Sandford got confused as he was assembling his cast of characters and gave Barbara all of Letty's attributes. You also find yourself having a difficult time investing in the characters than you usually do with this series. Normally you are instantly comfortable with the characters as you begin listening, like putting on a pair of favorite slippers. This time I found myself wondering who these folks were and what they were doing. Sandford's usually perfect detailing was flawed by two distinct (though minor) glaring errors toward the end of the book. The first was when he described one of the characters heating a chicken pot pie in a microwave and struggling with the hot aluminum pie plate when he took it out. Everyone on the planet knows you don't put a metal pie plate in a microwave. Not sure how that escaped a decent editor. The second was when Letty opened her lap top and saw she had emails from her mother, Lucas, Weather, Greet and Cartwright....... Wait, what? Letty's mother was dead. Weather was her adopted mother. How did he miss that? I have listened to every one of the Prey, Flowers series books more than once.... Sometimes with Flowers, even more than that. Not so much with this one. Toxic Prey with get archived in my library of over 400 books, get locked behind a security wall, and disappear. Hopefully, the next offering will be back with Lucas and/or Virgil. I don't think this attempt to turn Letty Davenport into a brand of her own is succeeding. She is no where near as interesting or as mesmerizing as Lucas or Virgil. She lacks the personality and the flavor of either Virgil or Lucas. Sandford is extremely adept at developing female criminals, and some very interesting ones have appeared across both series. Writing about a woman protagonist? Well.... not so much.

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Enjoyable as always……but

Revisado: 12-04-23

I enjoy these books and LJ Gansor does a great job narrating but after a while it seems like Goldsborough uses the same template for every story. The same characters interact the same way all the time. The same habits portrayed; the same dialogue. Similar storylines. Similar plot. Reading them takes little brain power. One glaring error in this one is when Durkin is explaining the crime scene and tells how he saw his gun on the floor along with 2 shell casings. His gun is a revolver. It doesn’t eject the shell. Someone should have caught that.

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I miss Richard Ferrone.

Revisado: 10-09-23

I have every audio book John Sandford has written... Both series. I was hooked from the first day I discovered his works. His imagination is remarkable and his story telling skills are unsurpassed. His characters are easy to get in to and they stay with you after the story ends. Two of the reasons they are so easy to listen to are the narrators. Lucas Davenport is Richard Ferrone and Richard Ferrone is Lucas Davenport. They are inseparable.... have been from Book 1. Same is true with Eric Conger and Virgil Flowers. They just fit like a favorite pair of slippers. When Sanford's latest entry in the series was announced, I immediately pre-ordered it and then patiently waited for its arrival. It came and the first thing I noticed was: Narrated by: Robert Petkoff. What? I asked myself? Then I discovered, much to my sadness, Richard Ferrone had passed away. Any audio book listener who has ever listened to a book he has narrated will miss him. He is one of the very best, and he absolutely made Lucas Davenport come to life. Mr. Petkoff has very large shoes to fill. I'm pretty sure Sandford and his editorial team auditioned many narrators before settling on Petkoff, and hoped they made the right decision. For first-time listeners, they probably did. For us seasoned, veteran listeners, not so much. Don't get me wrong. The story is still wonderful, as they always are, but after eating filet mignon for so many years, having to settle for hamburg is a bit of a bummer. He's good, but he's not Ferrone. He tries, and I'll give him credit for that. It must be tough to step in and replace someone as talented, popular and well loved as Ferrone and expect to be welcomed into the family with open arms. Personally, I would rather they tasked Conger with the reading since Virgil is a main character. That would have made more sense to me. It also would have made for a more comfortable listening experience.... Like relaxing in your favorite chair by the fire or sitting on a towel at the beach under blue skies and a warm summer sun. This was more like standing on a moving bus, hanging on to the strap and holding the book as you get jostled and bumped around. Perhaps it's the fact the mind resists change and seeks the comfort of familiarity over the stress of trying something new. Maybe I'll get used to the change as the series (hopefully) continues. But, then again, maybe not.

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Just can't get past Luke Daniels

Revisado: 06-13-23

Why the writer/publisher/syndicate insists on taking a first rate novel and putting it in the hands of a third-rate narrator is beyond my comprehension. Some narrators are born to play the characters they bring to life: Richard Ferrone as Luke Davenport; Eric Conger as Virgil Flowers; Dick Hill as Jack Reacher and James Daniels as Elvis Cole. If this were a hard cover I was reading at my leisure it would be fascinating and fun because this is a great book. It has all you expect from an Elvis Cole - Joe Pike novel. The wit; the sarcasm; the fun; the self deprecation; the local knowledge; the drama (well... Joe Pike doesn't do much killing... or even hurting, for that matter) and it's a shame it is all brought down by such a poor narrator. The way he voices Elvis is not bad.... he's no James Daniels, but on him he does ok. It's what he does to the other characters, especially Joe, that makes listening to this so difficult. He makes Joe sound like a sociopath with that forced gravelly whisper that annoys from the first time you hear it. That's not Joe Pike. He has no handle on how to perform him. Same with the rest of the characters. He goes so far over the top in his voices of all the other men that you think he must be spoofing Crais' work. Lou Poitras sounds like a dirt bag. He turned John Stone into some despicable person when, in fact, he is not. His portrayal of the boy's father makes you want to shoot him as soon as he opens his mouth. The story is good. It's very good. Why Robert Crais and his editors and publisher can't see how badly Luke Daniels is destroying this work is beyond me. I seriously thought of returning it for a credit after the first chapter because I didn't think I could get through it. It frustrated me; it annoyed me and it made me want to turn it off. That's not what Audible is all about. I have over 400 books in my library and I have returned maybe 10 of them over the years..... mostly because of the narration. If I can't get into if because I'm annoyed by listening to some third-rate narrator mess up, what should be an enjoyable experience, then the book is useless to me. I've suffered through previous Cole novels read by Luke Daniels, but this time it's almost like he's doing this on purpose.

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It's Sandford.... but it's not.

Revisado: 01-31-23

John Sandford; Lucas Davenport & Richard Ferrone… or John Sandford; Virgil Flowers & Eric Conger, you can’t go wrong. Even the Lettie Davenport series shows some potential. But this character…. Not so much. For one thing, It’s too technical for my tastes. It tells me more about computers than I really need or want to know. It’s hard to get excited about characters who are basically criminals themselves. There’s nothing to hang your emotional hat on. I found myself not caring about the characters or what happened to them. There’s no seat of the pants action that’s part and parcel of a Sanford offering. The pace is slow and, although the book was only 8 hours long, it felt like twice that. It’s not bad, and I’m sure some tekkies will love the computer geek stuff, just not my cup of tea. Oh I listened to it, because I had run through all my other Sandford books, and if I started another Flowers novel I would start mouthing the words along with Conger. It filled gaps in my driving and took away the tediousness of the drive, but beyond that? I’ve got over 400 audio books in my library and I have second, third and even forth time gone through many of them. This one will find its place on the one-time-only shelf in the corner with the ten or twenty others that get listened to once and never see the light of day again.

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This may be the best of the entire series.

Revisado: 01-22-23

From opening to the close, this has to be the best in the entire Lucas Davenport/Virgil Flowers series run. As usual, Richard Ferrone nails the performance (although it did take some time to hearing him do Virgil when All I've ever heard as Virgil is Eric Conger). At the end, this book almost felt as if it were the swan song for the series. Everything got tied up into neat little packages and everyone left feeling good. Spoiler: I was hoping that Lucas would take fired FBI Agent Orish under his wing and get her placed in the Marshall's Service, but it worked out okay. I sailed thought this book in record time. Usually I just listen while driving, but I found myself muting the TV and sticking my Air Pods in and listening. Where Sandford comes up with these plot lines amazes me and his geographic descriptions are so detailed, you know he's been to every location he writes about. His books always feel like comfort food for the mind. I just hope they keep coming.

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He surely doesn't need the money.

Revisado: 10-01-22

It has been said too many famous celebrities/athletes refuse to leave the spotlight until they’ve become pale, pathetic images of what they were in their hey day. Staying too long at the party is an ungracious way to be remembered. The same can be said for world famous authors. Stephen King is (arguably) one of the most successful writers on the planet and I have been the first in line at many a book store to buy his offerings as they came off the presses. This was long before anyone imagined an internet and online shopping and Audible Books. Actually, 'online shopping' wasn't even a phrase. We didn't listen to books. We read them. Starting with Carrie back in 1974, my bookcase collection of Stephen King novels grew. Salem's Lot; The Dead Zone; Firestarter; The Stand; Christine, Misery.... the collection just grew and each time I closed the final page I was never disappointed. I always thought living inside Stephen King's head would be fascinating and more than a little scary. The tales he conjured would make me wonder the color of the sky in his world. But at some point, the well of his fertile imagination started to run dry. There's only so many scenarios where evil and horror and mayhem can attack the senses before they get repetitious, and over the past few years Mr. King has begun to tread roads he (and other authors) have previously traveled. Oh, there were flashes of his earlier genius. The institute; Mr. Mercedes and 11/22/63, to name a few, but they were fleeting and culminated in, what should be described as his swan song, Fairy Tales. His tendency for length of his novels has always made his books take up the most room in the bookcase, and maybe that was a badge or some sort. Maybe his modus operendi was the longer, the better. It definitely was the longer, the more expensive. I think I single handedly put his kids through college. But the bloom is finally off the rose. This offering is just long, tedious and, essentially, boring. It doesn't come close to matching the quality of his earlier works and I found myself wondering if he has written it at all. The usual rapier wit is sorely missing. His insights into the minds of his characters that made so many of them memorable just isn't here. Did he co-write this with a family member or did a family member write it and he added his name to it for marketing purposes? Everyone must know that the King name on a novel becomes an automatic NY Times best seller. The horror is gone. The scary way he makes the hair rise on the back of your neck and made you want to scream at his hero to DO NOT OPEN THAT DOOR... has turned into just a mild concern as to the outcome, because nothing really scary happens here. Nothing at all. 18 hours into a 20 hour listen and something finally happens that gets your attention. The problem is, it doesn't grab it and hold on and make you turn pages faster to see what happens. It just relaxes its hold and you settle back and reach for another Oreo. I wish it were better. I wanted to believe Mr. King, unlike so many other celebrities, had not stayed too long at the party. Sadly, I was wrong.

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