Erika Wine

NARRATOR IS SO BAD, IT’S LAUGHABLE.

Revisado: 02-02-24

I was recently revisiting a BTK rabbit hole and I knew I’d read this book sometime in the past, but for some reason I couldn’t remember anything about it. When I checked goodreads and saw it had only been six months since I’d listened, I was truly surprised, so I started it up again to refresh my memory. I instantly realized why I didn’t recall it: THE NARRATOR. I’ve listened to, probably close to 1,000 audiobooks and I’ve never heard so.many.mispronounced words in such a short span of time. It’s wild! I assume someone had to listen to his performance before they made it publicly available…but another reviewer claims the only time he mispronounced words was while reading BTK’s writing, and that’s just…wrong. It’s just wrong. If you want a laugh, definitely give this one a listen. And, as much of John Douglas fan as I am, this isn’t one of his stronger books. It probably needed the Mark Olshaker treatment, but it’s still worth a read. If you don’t want to be confused about what word the narrator thinks he’s saying, maybe just read the physical book.

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Lots of writing, no substance.

Revisado: 08-11-22

I didn’t love the way this book was written. The author seems to really love their own words, though, and all you get here is a lot of words and not much substance. And what substance there might be feels very much like it was inspired by every crime movie I’ve ever seen. I would not recommend this book, but I will say this: I saw a review here on Audible that claimed the author was too liberal, as well as some other benign comments to that effect. I don’t define myself by my political affiliation, and I don’t really care what strangers feel in that regard, but I am afraid that reader thinks that basic human rights are a ‘liberal’ thing. The only comments that even remotely fit what I was expecting were to the effect that interracial couples don’t deserve to be murdered, that slavery existed, and that freedom of speech means everyone’s speech, not just the speech we agree with (and that last comment is not the author’s sentiment, but a belief held by one of the killer’s victims).

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Don't miss this classic!

Revisado: 11-13-20

Campbell Scott's narration is engaging and hypnotic. He brings poetry to King's prose. And if you're a fan of horror and haven't read this one yet, what are you waiting for? King knows how to bring the common together in an uncommon setting and tighten the screws. He creates parallels between reality and the unspeakable that should have you reexamining, or at least shooting sideways glances at, all that glitters. If you're not a fan of horror, I still believe this one is worth a listen, because at it's heart it is the story of family and sacrifices, and being able to create love and friendship when circumstances give you less than you deserve.

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A Collaboration Worthy of the King Name

Revisado: 07-30-19

This story has everything I love about Stephen King, and I think the collaboration with Owen tempers/broadens the scope of what lovers of classic King stories are used to/expect. Outside of who the writers are, the story stands well on its own. It’s a great look at traditional (binary) gender roles and how they can define a life, and in turn, can be defined by times of crisis. The ending is wonderful, and rings true for me.

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Juvenile, Trite, Predictable.

Revisado: 05-28-19

This. Was. Awful.

This might have been better as a YA novel? But I can’t deal with YA, which is why I hated this.

The writing itself is very juvenile and needlessly repetitive. The story centers around a tragedy involving privileged, high school-aged kids and their parents. All the characters are beyond immature, most of them harbor murderous tendencies, and not a single one is likable.

The author spends a lot of energy making the reader suspicious of basically every character, which is exhausting, but also makes the actual culprit too obvious because it’s the only person he doesn’t consistently point the finger at. The entire thing is so wildly unbelievable that by the time I *finally* got to the climax of the novel (which goes on, and on...and on), I couldn’t keep my brain engaged. As it happens though, I didn’t need to, because immediately following the chaotic ‘big scene’ the author presents the reader with a conversation between the protagonist and her therapist in which she explains the ‘vastly nuanced subtext’ to the action (<—-please note my sarcasm), which is basically the main character saying, ‘here’s what happened:...’..

A note about the audiobook: I don’t know what was more grating for me; the narration or the story. Three narrators and they’re all so melodramatic, they made me want to punch myself in the face. Within the first 5 minutes of the story I was ready to return this one to Audible. I hate leaving things unfinished though, so I decided I’d reevaluate at the halfway point. As much as I hate to admit it, I was actually curious enough to finish the book, if only to prove myself right. So, I won’t return the audiobook, but I wanted to leave a review that let people know that even the book sounds like a beachy-thriller for adults, it’s actually more like ‘Lifetime for Kids’.

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Good book, terrible production quality

Revisado: 10-25-18

This is a really interesting book, though it focuses more on the multiple failings of the government with regards to post-discharge care for soldiers and the aftermath of Katrina, than on the case. I came in expecting the story of the murder, which ended up being more of a side-note to the author’s critique. More energy was given to the people Zach served with than to his victim. However, it’s a really in-depth look at how the system failed one person so horrifically that he was unable to cope with his own perceived failures, which led him to self-medicate with alcohol and drugs, which (though the author conspicuously misses that crucial step in the blame game) ultimately led to his incomprehensible act of violence. All in all, worth the read.

The production quality of this recording was awful. My only problem with the narration is that he’s repeatedly inconsistent in his pronunciation of many words (Jaegermeister is sometimes ‘my-ster’, sometimes ‘master’ (???); Geisa is both ‘Geesa’ and ‘Guysa’; as well as multiple pronunciations of Zach’s wife’s name, just for starters. (According to many other reviewers, the narrator mispronounces many of the location names as well). Also, the editing is awful and distracting, with very noticeable audio changes in the places where it was overdubbed or spliced in. (Especially during the coverage of Zach’s time in the military). It’s like listening to a ransom note.

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Mr. Heald Delivers

Revisado: 06-21-18

Anthony Heald’s narration brings the story to life. Hawthorne seems to be one of the few authors of classic literature that doesn’t induce chronic eye rolling. He is, however, verbose to the point of tedium...ad nauseam, etc. If it weren’t for the five-star narration, I may have missed out on, what is invariably a silly story, but enjoyable nonetheless.

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A story about different kinds of pain for different kinds of people.

Revisado: 01-10-17

Unbelievably, the authors reading of this book is distracting. But the story is still raw and honest like everything he writes. His ability to describe the gaping emotions that stretch between the fears and comforts of being alive make this my favorite book, still.

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A couple negatives about the reader

Revisado: 07-20-14

If you could sum up A Feast for Crows in three words, what would they be?

Fantastic Story Telling.

How could the performance have been better?

The general narration is okay, but the constant changes to the pronounciation of the characters' names is really irritating. For the first three books (as far as my memory serves) the names are consistent. Not only does the pronounciation change in this book, but there are several options from which the reader bounces back and forth. It's distracting. Also, he often fails to relay the context in which dialogue is delivered. Questions are spoken as statements, and vice versa, and he seems to be incapable of reading women's dialogue as anything but whiny and plaintive. There is also a sing-songy quality to all dialogue (both men and women) that I found terribly distracting. His performance is such that it would deter me from purchasing other stories read by him if it wasn't part of a series I was already enamored of.

Any additional comments?

I'd heard from several others that this is the dryest of the series, but I did not find that to be true for me. There isn't any 'epic' moment, but rather a series of events that lead from the last book to the next, which I find enjoyable.

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