A. Musser

I laughed out loud

Revisado: 08-15-24

These hosts are hilarious and authentic and this was a pleasantly surprising find! Sometimes you need some hilarious banter with your true crime!

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I feel like this book opened a new room in my soul

Revisado: 05-11-21

Someone recommended this book to me so long ago, I can't even remember who it was anymore... years ago, possibly a decade or more ago. It's been sitting in my wishlist ignored. I don't know what made me finally download it and leave it sitting in my app ignored as I scrolled past it to more intriguing picks for a while. I finally pressed play and immediately got distracted by a new release from a favorite author and tossed it aside. But, I did come back. I restarted. And I admit, I had to give it a good long while. I almost turned back more than once. But there's a moment when a man sits next to our narrator and just sits next to him while he sleeps because he is alone and without family and he believes that anyone's village would do that for a friend that is far away from and missing their family. I won't explain it here because the it will steal something away from the experience, but something about that one passage just cut right through to my soul. There's something about the importance of connection with people that just spoke to me. Maybe it's that we're still in a pandemic. Maybe I'm just being hormonal. I don't know but that passage, it was the beginning of my fall into love with a book and a personal transformation that went on for hours and hours and hours as I abandoned myself and my life and lived inside this audiobook. I loved, I hurt, I cried, I feel like I walked the streets of Mumbai and starved in the mountains of Afghanistan and mourned at funeral pyres, and endured torture in prisons. But what I took from this book was so much deeper than just a good story. There's a lot of real truth about life in here and about how we live it and what we value and I truly truly feel like this is a once in a lifetime story that will leave you changed. If you take ANY of my book reviews to heart, take this one. Know that it may take some time to get there. But if you can finish this tale and not feel that something inside you ached and yearned and grew and changed, then you, my friend, may not be human. But this book will forever be a treasure to me and I press it eagerly in your hands encouraging you to set off on your own journey in these pages because there is truly magic in this work of literature and I so regret not taking the journey sooner. There are books that I lived in but this book cut open parts of my soul and lives in me.

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I really enjoyed the unique style

Revisado: 01-18-21

First, I'm on a HUGE podcast kick right now. So this book is presented from 2 perspectives, from a podcast that seems much like the Serial podcast (wonderful, if you haven't checked it out) and then from Sadie's perspective. And I found it very compelling. I definitely was eager to return to it and find out what happened to Sadie. I don't want to give away any spoilers but much like in real life, answers aren't always available. But this one felt as much about the journey as the destination so while I didn't get the neat package with a perfect bow, the author is skilled enough to leave our heads heading in the most obvious direction of what really happened at the end of the story. However, slowly untangling the series of events and the good and bad and the redemption that can be found in this story makes it absolutely worth the listen in my opinion. I also really appreciated that Sadie's journey wasn't all in vain. She manages to fight evil in the world in her own way through her personal mission and that resonated with me. It felt very real, I didn't have to stretch my mind to believe in the presented scenarios. Ultimately, this one is on my recommend list. I will offer one caveat though. This book has themes of violence, murder, drug addiction, child neglect, and even childhood sexual abuse. However, the descriptions weren't gratuitous. But if you might be triggered by these themes, you might be better off skipping this book.

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Great fun with caveats

Revisado: 12-01-20

Ok, fair disclosures to start. The narrator, Jamie Renell is a personal friend. I used to babysit his kids and he's my godson's godfather. So...when he posted to social media that he'd narrated this series, I was curious how his narrator chops were. I admit, he was a great narrator and it's kinda fun hearing my friend's voice on my audible app. Since he is my friend, I put it out there that I may be biased but I genuinely think he's a darn decent narrator.

Now, the story... it's a far fetched premise but that was okay and didn't bother me so much until we got to the darn cat. Most of the henry/cat conversations you can pretend that Henry is making up the cat side of the conversation and it was silly but I was fine with that. But the cat tells him something about his apartment in one of these feline/pet owner convos that just kind of made me roll my eyes and groan. Maybe Henry had a subconscious recollection of the events from when he was sleeping. Maybe the cat is a CIA plant. Maybe Henry's "spectacular brain" (author's words, not mine) make it possible for him to commune with animals. I don't know but it was a bridge too far for me. But I will say that I still wanted to finish the story. It was a little silly at times but the plot was decent and the characters were likable and the bad guys were easy to hate. It isn't as cerebral as a John Grisham but it isn't as silly as Where the Hell is Tesla.

Aside from my feline annoyance, there is only one other critique in my pocket and here it is: the series is not the complete series. Book 3:46 ends on a total cliff hanger. Normally, this would cause me to scream at the moon if i thought I was buying the entire series. However, I took this in stride because I did get 15 hours of fun and entertainment out of it.

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Recommended with a caveat

Revisado: 11-11-20

I read the reviews of the book that criticized a post-apocalyptic book in which things go a little too smoothly and most of the people are "good guys". Normally, that would have been an immediate hard pass for me. However, it's November 2020. I live in the US and have been bogged down in the mental exhaustion of a global pandemic, protests and unrest, the complete disaster of a political divide in this country through a contentious election and I thought that perhaps in today's drama, a book that stretches reality into far too altruistic territory would be... nice? soothing? entertaining? Yes on all three counts. It provided an escape from reality and was entertaining and I genuinely enjoyed it. I will warn you though that if you're into post-apocalyptic fiction, this may not hit on all cylinders for you. So, here's my best attempt at an honest review to give you the info you need to decide if this one is worth your credit.

1.It felt a little young adult to me. I think that the nature of the survivors all being cooperative and working together and doing the right thing just made it feel immature. I don't mind that it was less mature, I still enjoyed it but don't go in here looking for super deep exploration of the obviously tough emotions that would come along with an end of the world scenario. The author presents the story in a way that seemed to file down the jagged edges of the harder realities of the human experience in a survival story.

2. In the early chapters, there was some groundwork laid to hint at a deeper story of why some characters are able to survive the plague. I expected the book to go deeper into solving the mystery of who and why those left behind survive. It kind of felt like the author had intended to go there but then became more invested in the survival story and kind of just dropped it.

3. There are some loose ends that don't get tied up. I understand that in survival stories, there isn't always a clear delineation for the end of the story. Surviving the end of the world leaves a sort of open end hanging out there for those characters that live past the last page. It takes a skilled author to find a natural place to end a story. I think the author attempted to do that here but it wasn't as successful as it could have been. I was surprised when the book ended as I hadn't felt like we were approaching the end of the story. I have to be careful here not to provide spoilers but suffice it to say that they put a plan into action to try to locate and incorporate other survivors and we never get to find out if that effort pays off.

4. The permanent settlement location and how our survivors get there was just a step too far. I had to seriously suspend expectations of reality to accept the series of events that allowed them to travel to their final settlement destination. The series of things that had to fall into place was just absurd. On top of that, I just don't feel like the place they chose to settle is logical or reasonable. The author tried to justify the decision but it was honestly just silly. However, it didn't detract from my enjoyment because I already had agreed to suspend disbelief by investing in a post-apocalyptic story where almost everyone is a good guy.

5. So. Many. Characters. In the initial stages of the story, I had a tough time remember which of the brothers was which. It got a little easier as I got into the story but then we get introduced to such a big cast of characters that I honestly had no hope of keeping much of anyone straight other than Rebecca and the 4 brothers. I could still follow the story even if I wasn't sure which character was which save for a few of the more distinct ones. However, I mention it because we do end up with a substantial cast of people and as such, the character development was pretty shallow. Even for the four brothers and their kids, we don't spend a lot of time in their minds and exploring their emotional reactions which made it a little harder to connect with them towards the end of the story.

So, overall, I probably would have rated this book no higher than a 3 last year. But I actually did enjoy the escape into a less believable story given the constant anxiety this year has bestowed. I was grateful for the distraction and enjoyed listening so I give it 4 stars. No complaints about the narrator.

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Overall, I'd give this a 4.5

Revisado: 11-03-20

Ok, let me start by saying that the reviews I read left me prepared to suspend some disbelief at police procedure and let go of some of my nit picking at plot holes. Normally, these things can absolutely ruin a story for me. But in this instance, I was willing to overlook them. This book just came to me at a time when it was in line with my life. I've been involved in a deep study of my bible and I had just finished Matthew and Genesis when I began this book. I found that a book that threw back to my bible study was possibly more intriguing than it would have been otherwise so my enjoyment of this may have been inflated a little. I just really freaking enjoyed this. I'm a fan of Jeremy Robinson and this was a different book for him in some ways. The philosophical questions it delved into were closer to Alter than most of his work. However, there was still plenty of action and fighting to remind me of his typical horror/suspense. Now, if you are going to roll your eyes at biblical references or the idea of a God, you're probably going to enjoy this far less. However, for me, especially right now, this was one of my favorite Robinson books. There are some far fetched scenarios (like having a preacher visit a crime scene and participate in the investigation) which I think the author could have done a bit better at weaving into a more believable scenario but since I knew going in that I needed to just overlook this, I was able to enjoy the book. I think this is a good mixture of Robinson's horror and suspense with a bit of the "higher questions" that felt more in the vein of Alter (although to a lesser degree). I admit that I thought Alter was a masterpiece so if you hated it, you may not find the same enjoyment in NPC.

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Recommended but with trigger warnings

Revisado: 10-19-20

First of all, the warnings: If you are grieving the loss of a loved one, dealing with custody issues, or would be triggered by themes of murder, this book is probably not for you. The descriptions of the crime are not overly gratuitous and were delivered skillfully only to support the plot but I don't want to send anyone in without adequate caution.

I listened to this after listening to The Life we Bury by the same author. I enjoyed that and this one I found to be very similar in nature but the story was different enough to keep me from feeling like I was listening to the same story with different characters. The story is told from two perspectives, that of the detective investigating the crime and from the perspective of the defense attorney defending the accused. I found this to be very well-executed and my loyalties tended to shift depending on which perspective I was listening to at the moment. It created some internal drama for me caring about both characters and knowing that they couldn't both be worthy of my sympathy and care.

Overall the plot was clever and well-planned. I admit that I wasn't completely shocked by the ending but did feel some thrills of excitement at details that I hadn't anticipated. I also felt personally betrayed to some extent by the final revelations that proved some of my sympathies were misplaced (although I knew it was coming). The evil actions in the story and my personal investment of empathy felt betrayed which is the hallmark of a skilled author. I applaud Eskens for his skill in creating such complex emotional response from the reader.

If you have not read The Life We Bury, I'd recommend you start there. We have some character cameos that I think make the story more interesting knowing the background relationship of Bodie, Max and Lilah. However, the author does give a high level overview of how they are connected so it isn't going to ruin the book if you skip the earlier book. But I caution that there is some additional depth in those relationships that will add value to your experience in this story. The complexities of Max Rupert's struggle are definitely enhanced by knowing more of his background from the earlier story.

I mostly listen to my audiobooks on my commute and last week included a business trip with a long flight and this was a perfect distraction for the monotony of travel and navigating the airport. While it wasn't something I felt a rabid need to return to at the cost of sending calls to voicemail and avoiding activities that required my attention, I did find myself looking forward to listening and looking forward to picking it back up when I was away from it. I reserve that 5th star for the books that make me rabid though so please don't consider my four star rating a detraction, four stars is "just short" of my highest recommendation.

The one thing I did not like as well was the narrator that told the story from Bodie's perspective. I found his narration was a bit unnatural feeling. The narrator almost felt like he belonged narrating one of those nature shows explaining mating cycles of the three toed sloth instead of a novel. Once I got into the story, the narrator's pace and inflection for Bodie bothered me less and less until by the end, it didn't phase me. However, Bray's performance as Max Rupert was just spot on (and I freely admit Bray is my favorite narrator). My less than stellar review of the the other male narrator is not enough to keep me from recommending this title, though. I think most people that like a crime drama with a bit of clever plotting will find their time well-spent in this one. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for other works by this author.

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Entertaining but nothing especially compelling

Revisado: 07-07-20

A colleague recommended this author and suggested I read/listen in order. Given his recommendation, perhaps my hopes were too high for this book. He'd explained that he finds this author hilarious and I just didn't find this book especially funny. The plot was fine but nothing especially clever or intriguing. The character development was lacking for my taste as the book mostly focused on the plot. I did find our protagonist to be likable. I find so many authors in this genre give us protagonists that are just hateful but I rather liked that he wasn't some big ego-tripping, save-the-day, over-masculine, meathead. Instead he was just an average joe. I didn't particularly care for some of his romantic choices as the age difference seemed awfully slimy and honestly it didn't really seem to fit with the character. However, overall for a quick beach read that doesn't dive too deep into character development, it's a fine choice. If you're an audiobook addict like I am and really want something clever or juicy to get absolutely lost in, this probably won't do it for you. I find myself torn on whether or not I want to continue with the author since he was given such rave reviews by a coworker and am wondering if some of his later works would be more to my taste. I've already moved on to another author for right now but I have not decided if I'll give Hiaasen another chance yet.

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I must have different standards...

Revisado: 06-24-20

After reading so many rave reviews of this book, I can only presume that most of Coben's fans have a different set of standards for what makes a great audiobook. That's not a criticism, just an observation. I did not consider this book worth the credit for several reasons that I will share with you for those of you that may have standards for enjoyment that are a bit harder to satisfy than others that have raved about this book.

First, let's discuss our protagonist, Kat. Our author committed one of my biggest pet peeves with her character and made her a stereotypical cliche that is just incongruent with the age, experience, logic, and bravery she would have been developing over her career as a detective. It's been 18 years since she last saw her ex-fiance which puts her in a more seasoned and mature age range. However, she finds her ex on a dating website and sends him a music video that makes her look desperate, clingy, and outright pathetic. I tried to think to when in my life I might have considered allowing alcohol and weakened inhibitions to inspire such a pitiful act and I think that maybe this is something that could be more reasonable in one's 20s or fresh out of the breakup. But at Kat's age? A woman that is an NYPD detective? Eighteen years after the breakup? It felt kind of like a slap from the author that he was suggesting that no matter what age or how independent and resourceful and logical a woman might be, they just can't let go and will willingly humiliate themselves for the one that got away. And that kind of weak female cliche of lonely, heartsick, and desperate just grates on my nerves. I get that Kat's past with her ex is pivotal to the plot but there are a lot less eye-rolling-ly cliche ways he could have accomplished the same thing. It's lazy writing and borderline offensive when authors give strong female leads such stereotypically cliched flaws. I think Coben could have done better. In his defense, he also gives Kat's partner some uber-cliched macho, sexist, meat-headed, egotistical traits so he doesn't reserve all his cliches for women. Although Kat's partner's personality wasn't as starkly conflicting with the character background so it wasn't as chaffing to me. But still...Coben could have served the reader better by developing more complex characters instead of filling the roster with formulaic cliches of people.

Second, we must discuss the narrator. While I am usually pretty lenient on narrators, LaVoy's narration just barely passed muster with me. Her attempt at deeper male voices bordered on ridiculous at times. However, her biggest sin was the voice of Dana's son. He's in college but every word he uttered through LaVoy sounded like a whiny 5 year old in need of a nap. However, I could have overlooked the narration if the story had been more to my satisfaction.

Now we must discuss the plot. There two major unrelated mysteries that Kat is embroiled in resolving. The first is the death of her father and the second is a missing person's case. The case of her father's death slowly peters out and loses importance through the book and I started to wonder why it was even included. I don't feel like it significantly added anything aside from some filler material. The missing person's case is where all the intrigue and suspense lives. But because there was so much time devoted to the secondary story line, I felt like the character development of our victims and perpetrators really suffered. They were all having such massively emotional experiences and Coben's writing felt a little too much like a flat retelling of events instead of really diving into the experiences of the characters. As a result, the book didn't draw me in as well as it could have. I didn't feel especially connected to or passionate about any of the characters. I really wish Coben had worked a bit harder to really take me on a more thorough tour of these characters and their experiences in order to give me something more to connect to and to build the suspense as I began to really care about them. Something about this just felt a bit detached and clinical and as a result the suspense suffered.

All that said, the "perfect crime" that we discover was truly a clever idea and I think had the trappings to become a much more compelling and suspenseful story. Unfortunately, the lack of character development kept me insulated from truly caring about the characters. The author relies on stereotypical cliche that is incongruent with the age and experiences of our heroine and relies of formulaic stereotypes for several characters. And finally, our narrator's male voices are just distractingly annoying (especially the whiney college student). I just cannot recommend this one. If stereotypical cliche and superficial character development won't detract from your enjoyment, then the plot had some clever moments that you might find more compelling (as several reviewers did).

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Tough to review

Revisado: 03-13-20

I'm struggling to decide what rating to give this book. First of all, I absolutely enjoyed it. I didn't find it left me bored or dragged. But if you asked me what it was about while I was listening, I couldn't have told you. The unusual part is that now that I've finished it, I'm still not totally sure what it was about. Normally, this would put a book firmly in the "not worth it" pile but I honestly really enjoyed the story and the characters and I don't feel the same sense of dissatisfaction I'd normally associate with a book that isn't really "about" anything. I find this baffling to me. So, here's my attempt to give you an accurate snapshot of my feelings and what I took from the book.

Some books are plot-driven, some are character driven, some are a mixture of the two. This one had an underlying fantastical undercurrent that I initially thought was going to be the basis for the entire story and hold together the narrative. And it did that to some extent but it wasn't really "sticky" enough to float the entire book for me. It left me with a feeling of not really being totally sure what the book is about. It wasn't a super strong "plot" because the fantastical elements didn't seem to have an underlying goal or need to be met. Instead it was just an element that contributed to some more interesting experiences for the characters in the story. Ultimately, it felt more like a saga that is character driven and honestly, I felt like some deeper underlying plot would have given me a bit more to sink my teeth into and enjoy. Instead, I felt like I was mostly enjoying the characters and the trajectory of their lives without really being sure what floor the elevator was going to stop at to complete the ride.

The character development was decent but because it's third person, it didn't get too deep into the inner thoughts and motivations for the characters. For example, with Francis, we see the outward reflections of her desire to be with her daughter but we don't get the opportunity to get into her heart and head and experience her emotions with her. I think it would have been more powerful to tell the story from multiple first person points of view but that would complicate the timeline. However, I think it would have made the tale a bit more powerful and provided that connection in the absence of a super strong plot.

All that said, I didn't get bored with the book. I did enjoy it. I saw a lot of my old southern grandmother and her sisters in Mary Love's relationship with her family as the Matriarch. I had a HARD time relating to Elinor. She does some things in the book that just don't jive with me as a woman or a mother and that would have broken most people. The fantastical elements of the story provide a strong enough net to justify her actions to some degree but not seeing things from her first person perspective and experiencing her emotions made her hard to relate to much less like very well. I found it easier to root for her early in the book in the ways she subtly stood up to Mary Love but I ended up feeling mostly disconnected from her. I also felt a bit like Francis' husband gets kind of tossed out with the bath water. He doesn't have the same emotional ties to the family as James or Queenie and I had a hard time with him being there until the end. I wished it had been a character I had a deeper connection to instead of him.

Ultimately, the book kept me entertained even if I felt a little unsure that I really got what it was supposed to be about so I'd say if you're a huge fan of a gothic kind of novel and you're from an old southern family, you may find this worth your credit. However, if you're looking for horror here, you're barking up the wrong river oak. If you're not especially enamored with the south and with how the politics of an old southern family was often run back in the day before us young whippersnappers learned to cross our mamas and grandmamas, you might feel disconnected from the story. If you're someone that needs a really strong plot to carry your interest, you'll probably feel a bit disappointed. This is more like a meandering walk through a wood and meeting some interesting and unusual characters and situations along the way.

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