Mark B.

Embarrassing retread…sorry

Revisado: 09-28-24

I love this series. I always have. I hope to again. But this was an absolute carbon copy of the hunt for red October. Spoiler alert? Not really. If you read the novel or saw the movie, you will recognize virtually every story beat. Tom Clancy might just be rolling over in his grave.

But on the bright side, Scott, brick, the narrator, was brilliant as always. He even managed to sneak a little Sean Connery into his performance at just the right times.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

A nearly PERFECT Sequel to a fantastic movie!

Revisado: 12-06-22

I don't write many reviews because few audiobooks reach the level of INSTANT CLASSIC! This one does just that. INSTANT CLASSIC! There are multiple stories in this work and all of them are riveting. There are multiple timelines in the stories and all of them are easily followed and riveting in their own right. The narration was spot-on--the reader was even able to channel Al Pacino's voice and mannerisms throughout. At times, I was able to forget that this wasn't actually Pacino talking.

I listen to almost 70 audiobooks a year and this one is now one of my all-time favorites. I can't go into details about the stories or the characters without spoilers, but suffice it to say that if you liked the movie HEAT, you'll absolutely LOVE this! Of all the movies and books I've experienced in my lifetime, this is the first time I have ever said, "This is a PERFECT sequel. Get it. Read it. LOVE it!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Brilliant book in all ways

Revisado: 03-20-22

I've been reading Mark Greaney's work for quite some time and have enjoyed his books. But this one rises above all of those--even his Tom Clancy stories. Not only does this book dig into the back-story of The Gray Man, but the device of telling the backstory in parallel to the current situation really built up the tension with both stories being compelling, tense and exciting.

Brilliant book done brilliantly!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

The experiment FAILED! But good story…

Revisado: 01-18-22

As always, Mark Greaney delivered a very excellent (if short) story. Unfortunately, the experiment to create a full-blown audio version in lieu of a standard reading from a talented narrator FAILED. Here’s why:

1. No sense of time or place because the audio sounded like a script for a movie more than an audio version of a novel. Missing were the descriptions that make novels so great to read. We had no sense of where we were or more importantly for the flashbacks, WHEN we were.

2. There was a constant level of background noise that often overpowered the voices of the actors. I get it—this was supposed to be a fuller and richer audiobook experience because of sound effects—BUT—at the end of the day, it is an AUDIOBOOK, not a blind man’s version of a movie. I shouldn’t have had to struggle to hear what the characters were saying because the hissing and buzzing and atmospheric sounds were so loud that the actors performance was drowned out.

3. DIALOGUE: Dialogue alone doesn’t cut it for an audiobook—sorry. In the novel, we get the benefit of hearing HOW the lines are delivered, here, we just kind of have to guess—if they’re yelling, they’re mad. If they’re laughing, they laugh. But no other context or benefit of getting to “read” their thoughts.

So kudos are due for the ambitious attempt. But they ultimately stripped away the best parts of an audiobook—getting the “hear” everything that the author put into the book—all the benefits of the full novel. If you are curious as to how you might like this approach, turn on a television show or a movie that you’ve never seen before and turn your back to the screen and just listen. If you think that this is an enjoyable experience, you might like this approach. If you wish you could take in the scene, the place, know what time of day it is and what the characters look like, you will probably agree that this is NOT the best way to experience an audiobook.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Desperately needs a “Beta” listener

Revisado: 10-01-21

I really hate leaving a review that’s less than 5 stars, but enough is enough — I’ve listened to all the books in this series and enjoyed the writing and the stories, even if they are too short— but it’s so obvious that nobody has ever done an editing pass on any of these books. The shocking mispronunciations of common words is stunning in their idiocy.

No spoiler alert here — the books are about an FBI agent. FBI is short for Federal Bureau of Investigation. The word “bureau” is a two syllable word with emphasis on the first syllable. Not as this narrator pronounces it with emphasis on the second syllable. It’s the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard hundreds of times. And let’s be honest, how hard would it be for someone in the chain of production to just listen to the first few paragraphs and realize that this narrator is pronouncing Bureau incorrectly?

Comically, out of the five books in the aeries, there was one time (yes, only one time) that it was pronounced correctly— but that time was an accident because the character speaking had a thick southern accent and the narrator used the accent to change the pronunciation and it needed up being correct.

In the world of audiobooks, errors like this are the equivalent of having an author misspell the same word over and over and over and over throughout a book. Maddeningly frustrating and it definitely detracts from the enjoyment of the book.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

AWESOME! One of my all time Top 10 Audiobooks!

Revisado: 07-25-21 El oyente recibió este título gratis

This was a riveting listen. Simply AWESOME on so many levels! But before I get into specifics, I want to provide some context:

1. I am a HUGE audiobook fan. So far this year (2021) I have listened to over 40 titles and more than 80 last year.
2. My favorite genre is Mystery/Thriller and my favorite authors are Tom Clancy (and his successors), Bradley Wright, Harlan Coben and similar. My all time favorite narrator is Scott Brick followed closely by Michael Crouch.
3. I listen to one romance title (all sub-genres--including LGBTQ+ and M/M) for every 10 Mystery/Thrillers.
4. I read the original printed version of DAMAGED HEARTS a little over a year ago.
5. In the 15 years I've been an Audible subscriber, I've only left one or two other reviews.

So why did I like this audiobook so much? There are numerous reasons. I guess first and foremost is the unique structure of this book. This story is told from the 1st Person POV of 6 of the characters in the book. I do not consider myself a literary expert by any measure, but I have never read a book that used this device. That being said, it is a brilliant way to tell this particular story. I have heard several romance titles that use 1st Person POV for the main character (MC) or the two MCs and it's usually adequate--to a point. The limitation of this approach is that the conflicts and dramas are (necessarily) limited to the interaction between those two characters. This makes the stories much smaller in scope and lately, the conflicts have struck me as repetitive and contrived (thus the 10-1 ratio in my listening to Mystery/Thrillers vs. Romance). But DAMAGED HEARTS tells a much broader, much more interesting and much more exciting overall story.

And this also feeds into why I thought the audiobook was so frigging great--Toby James, the voice artist, was magnificent! The biggest challenge with this 1st Person POV structure is that it *should* be difficult to tell the characters apart and keep track of who is talking. But what I noticed in the printed version I read, and which Toby did such a magnificent job of managing in his performance is that you could instantly tell who was talking by their language, diction, accents and overall voicing. And while I think that Scott Brick may be the best voice artist of all time, Toby is going to be in that conversation. Even in dialogue, I could tell who was talking. After reading the book, it was the one area I thought would be lacking in an audiobook.

About the story:

The core of DAMAGED HEARTS is an unexpected romance between two men, neither of whom identifies as gay and who are thrown together by a bullying incident on the Venice Beach boardwalk. That inciting incident leads to complications for Michelangelo, one of the MCs who works secretly for NSA (National Security Agency). When he intervenes to save Bran (the other MC) to save him from a potential beating, he breaks the arm of one of the bullies, setting off a chain of events that encompasses the rest of the characters and drives several subplots throughout the story. And while all of this is happening, they two MCs are falling in like and then in love with one another. The love story is a slow-burn with lots of uncertainty, insecurity and a bit of immaturity. At first, it's a bit unbelievable, but as you learn more about the MCs and their backgrounds, it makes sense. There is some heat, but not a lot of heat. Hardcore fans of M/M would probably be disappointed if they are looking for lots of heat and erotica. It's not that kind of book.

But what I found most fascinating (again, due to the 1st Person POV structure) was getting into the heads of the characters, and hearing, in their own voice, what they were thinking and why. In most books, this is all told to us by the narrator (3rd Person Omniscient) and it usually just scratches the surface. But to be able to get into the head of the antagonist and listen to his thoughts as he makes his plans and listening to the flawed logic, selfish motivations and messed up morals was something new to me. And again it was Toby's performance that made me hate the antagonist so much--even his voice was disgusting.

And as I mentioned, the romance was a slow-burn, but there was still lots of tension because the pacing was brilliantly controlled by the author--just as things would heat up between the two MCs, we are ripped away to listen to other characters in a sub-plot. But here's the thing--the sub-plots were so compelling that I almost forgot that I was kind of mad about being left hanging with the MCs. And then, when we are brought back, we forgot that we ever left. And, of course, as things heated up and were coming to a climax, the last 4 hours were as binge-worthy as any other audiobook I've ever listened to.

Oh, and even though I had read the book over a year ago, there were a couple of parts that surprisingly, brought me to tears--again. Powerful stuff. AS well written as I thought the book was, this audiobook was performed to the same level of greatness.

And that's why this audiobook is in my Top 10 of All Time!

**Technical Note: My OCD flares up when I listen to an audiobook that has errors and mispronunciations. It drives me CRA-CRA. In one series I've been listening to, for example, the author uses the word "demeanor" a whole lot in each of his books. Every single time, the narrator pronounces it, "De-mean-YER." And in an even bigger series, there is a lot of action that takes place in Alaska, where there is a city named "Barrow, Alaska." It should be pronounced "BA-row" like a "wheel barrow." And every time, the narrator pronounced it "Borrow" like "Can I borrow some money." My head exploded about 15 times. Every time this happens, I am taken out of the story while my head comes back together and I am relaxed enough to continue.

I bring this up because I cannot recall another audiobook where I didn't notice ANY mispronunciations. None. I don't know how this can happen when even much more famous authors and much more famous voice artists still have errors. I'm not necessarily saying that there aren't ANY mistakes--just that I didn't catch a single one.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Great book, but...

Revisado: 06-08-21

This was a good story, and Alexander King is a great character. So the following comment is aimed at the narrator and producers, someone needs to do a much better job at listening to the audiobook before releasing it. Much of this story takes place in a location called “Barrow” Alaska. Throughout the book the narrator pronounce the name of the town as borrow Alaska. So every time a character said the name of the town it was like fingernails on a chalkboard. It’s barrow like wheelbarrow, not borrow like May I please borrow some sugar. It may seem nitpicky, but it’s the kind of grating error that really Diminishes the enjoyment I’ve been otherwise really good book.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 8 personas