W.P.

A New Beginning for an Old Character

Revisado: 10-26-17

Michael Connelly opens up a new chapter in Harry Bosch's post-LAPD life with an intriguing story with two parallel and unconnected plot lines; the death (murder?) of an elderly billionaire, and the hunt for a serial rapist.

Connelly's well known admiration of Raymond Chandler seeps close to the surface in "The Wrong Side of Goodbye"; not just in the Chandler-esque title, but also in some of the plot devices within the story arc of the aged and now dead billionaire. I'll leave it at that to avoid any spoilers. I make the Chandler reference in admiration, not criticism. I too am a huge Chandler fan.

Titus Welliver absolutely nails the Bosch character; as anyone who has seen him in the Amazon series "Bosch" will attest. I had no doubt he would pull off the Bosch character, but I was skeptical at first of his ability to do voice acting for multiple characters. I'm now a convert. Welliver demonstrates a surprising range once the story opens up to more dialogue, rather than the narrative heavy prologue and first chapter. I eagerly look forward to listening to more of his book narrations.

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Twisting Plot, Great Characters, Stellar Narration

Revisado: 10-26-17

The plot is classic DeMille, mixing equal parts of real-life secure government research facilities, conspiracy theories, 400 years of history, a recuperating NYC detective out of his element in rural Long Island, an eclectic mix of characters, and plot-twists and turns at the right places. Put these elements together and you are rewarded with a thoroughly enjoyable mystery/thriller.

Nelson DeMille's wise-cracking protagonist, John Corey, is brought to life by Scott Brick's award worthy voice acting. Mr. Brick is a talented voice actor, bringing individuality to each character he portrays.

This is my first dive into the John Corey stories and I will be coming back for more; especially with Scott Brick narrating!

The reason I gave the story 4 stars rather than 5, is some of the "tactics" employed by the Corey character are unrealistic for anyone with a modicum of common tactical sense. This puts a dent into the believability of the character.

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Mix 1-Part John Scalzi to 2-Parts Mark Twain ...

Revisado: 10-04-17

... and you get a humorous and entertaining story that is more political/cultural satire than sci-fi, and well worth your time.

With close parallels to Scalzi's "Agent to the Stars" and the movie "Galaxy Quest", "Not Alone" takes jabs at our media culture, sleazy politicians, globalists, anti-globalists, nerds, power mongers, conspiracy theorists, and challenges what the definition of "truth" really is.

You can read the plot synopsis and see that this is not a sci-fi story in the traditional sense. Yes, it is a first contact story -- or is it? -- but it all takes place here on near-future earth, and there are no aliens -- or are there?

James Patrick Cronin does a stupendous job of voice-character-acting. From a Georgia peach PR rep to our protagonist and his brother all in rapid fire conversation with a father-figure neighbor ... the listener is never in doubt as to which character a voice belongs to.

It was hard to put this audio book down. It certainly flew by faster than the 23-hours of playtime, and once you are done you will wish there was more.

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Leave Physics Behind and Enjoy the Ride

Revisado: 10-04-17

Helldivers puts an interesting spin on the plethora of post-apocalyptic-world sci-fi novels out there. One can only ponder, however, how big (!) an airship must be that holds >500 people, has multiple decks, animals, farmland, nuclear reactors, processing plants ... and can also stay airborne for hundreds of years. Once you leave that aside, you have a thoroughly enjoyable although somewhat predictable space opera.

This is truly Saturday morning Buck Rodgers meets Indiana Jones type swashbuckling adventure. All good entertainment, not deep literature ... which makes for a nice escape from a lot of the preachy tomes that seem to be the market trend. Smith also leaves a lot of the visual descriptive work up to the reader's imagination; giving you just enough to let your mind fill in the blanks. This works very well, and is much preferred over trying to describe every pixel in an attempt to create a mental picture.

As for R.C. Bray's narration, at first I was thinking "am I going to be able to make it through this?" But that concern was soon put to rest. In fairness to R.C. Bray, the first 20 or 30 minutes is mostly narrative without much character dialogue, so Mr. Bray doesn't have a chance to flex his narrative muscles to hook you in right at the beginning. Once he has the chance to actually do character voices, the listener is apt to be very pleasantly surprised!

No deep characters in this story, and it is a little hokey at times, but that is what makes it entertaining. I will certainly be signing up for episode-2, and if that proves as enjoyable as this one I will complete the trilogy.

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5-star Narration of a 2-star story

Revisado: 10-04-17

McKinty paints very believable and realistic pictures of Belfast and New York in the last decades of the 20th century. And as well he should, because he was raised in the former and moved to the latter during that time period. He also gets high marks for Irish humor and dark irony. He gets low marks for his obvious lack of firearms knowledge and the numerous technical errors. If you are going to write stories with this much gun play, then at a minimum get a gunny to proofread your story.

The book starts strong, but begins to struggle about 1/3 of the way in. It seems that McKinty cannot decide whether he wants to write like Dashiell Hammett or Shamus Heaney; so he bounces back and forth between the two. Some of his all too often used "word association" games consisting of a long list of verbs and adjectives to describe places and events come off sounding like a creative writing homework assignment from an NYU night course. Adrian, if you're reading this, stick with going full-out Irish Noir and drop the poetic side trips. I know it's an Irish thing, but it was laid on a wee bit too thick.

The only reason I stuck with this book was the outstanding voice skills of Gerard Doyle. Not just character voices, but accents as well. I tried one other pairing of McKinty and Doyle prior to this book, but pitched it half-way through due to the writing. Again, the only reason I had stuck with that one as long as I did was also due to Gerard Doyle's narration.

I truly hope that McKinty finds his niche, because he has great promise but needs focus. In the mean time, I will be looking for more Gerard Doyle narrations of other authors.

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Never Slows Down & Great Narration!

Revisado: 08-30-17

Any additional comments?

This is my first James Thayer book and I will certainly be coming back for more!

Thayer does a phenomenal job of capturing China of the 1930s. His writing describes and envokes a visualization using all five senses. Truly some master scene-setting and narrative visualization.

The character arcs are intriguing as well. Each character has a back-story that is revealed just a little at a time as the story progresses. Both the plot and the character developments get a bit more complex with each chapter. A true page-turning peeling of the onion.

What really sets this book over the top is the narration. Will Damron is one of those narrators where you cannot believe it is really only one person doing all those voices! Truly a great talent. I will be searching out not just more books by Thayer, but also more narrations by Will Damron!

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Connelly & Haller - A Wining Combination!

Revisado: 08-30-17

Any additional comments?

Connelly continues the Haller series with enough court-room maneuvering to make any attorney envious. There are a wealth of characters -- both major and minor -- all of which are well thought out and developed with their own quirks and idiosyncracies.

Peter Giles is to be commended for an incredible read and personalization of every character. He has an uncanny ability to put personality into each unique voice.

Fast paced, twists in just the right places, and great narration. What more could you ask for?!

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Not His Best-Start Elsewhere Then Read The Poet

Revisado: 08-30-17

Any additional comments?

I'm a HUGE Michael Connelly fan. That said, if you have not read/listened to any of his books yet, start with "The Black Echo" (Bosch Series) or "Blood Work" then come back to The Poet after you've read some of his other work.

The story was okay; very dark in some spots, somewhat predicatable in others. The characters are well fleshed out for a story of this genre. Connelly has the ability to make his characters real and three dimensional, rather than the stereotypical flat characters in most crime mystery novels.

My biggest problem with this audio book was the narration. The first couple chapters are borderline painful. Schirner has a very limited repertoire of voices. He sounds more like the TV announcer Gary Owens (Laugh-In); better suited for radio than audio books. In the second half of the book, Schriner definitely gets slightly better, but never good. In fact, from now on, if I see a book I want to listen to but he is the narrator, I will not buy it.

Bottom line ... The Poet is a "must" if you're a Michael Connelly fan just so you can check the box; but I'm wishing now I would have read the analog version rather than listening to the audible book.

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Best Sci-Fi I've Read/Listened to In Years!

Revisado: 04-30-14

Where does The Martian rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I am a fan of hard science fiction; i.e., stories that have at least some basis in reality. The scenario in The Martian was written with today's technology. Mr. Weir has done an incredible amount of research, and anyone who is familiar with the various proposed Mars mission architectures, technologies, NASA operations, and NASA political in-fighting will be impressed.

If there is an award for book narrations, R.C. Bray ought to be at the top of the nominations list at the very least. It is hard to believe that this is actually read by only one person! There are somewhere around 20 character voices in this book, and Mr. Bray makes each and everyone of them distinct; including gender and ethnicity without giving a hint of false stereotyping. Even down to the point of very minor side characters that only have a couple lines -- such as a duo of dueling engineers, reporters, and flight controllers -- each and everyone of them has a very distinct voice, cadence, and regional inflection. Incredible!

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Martian?

The review outline is prompting me for "most memorable moments" and "favorite scene". I HATE SPOILERS ... and that is why I am not providing that input. Suffice it to say, any reader/listener will have a multitude of scenes and absolutely laugh-out-loud lines to choose from.

The main character, Mark Watney, is a self-deprecating uber-geek who could have chosen the career path of comedian if the astronaut selection board had not voted in his favor. If you were going to be stuck in a tuna can for two years, you would certainly want a Mark Watney aboard to cheer things up. This character is also the perfect example of self-sufficiency and a never-give-up attitude.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Whenever I see a movie for which I have previously read the book, my expectations are always exceedingly low. If a movie can be 1/2 as good as the book, I'd call it a success. The Martian will without a doubt be made into a movie. And I will without a doubt NOT go to see the movie version. There is absolutely no way any movie of The Martian will ever be 1/10th as good as the book, and it will assuredly be a gross let down.

Any additional comments?

My only negative comment is: Holy f***ing S*** this f***ing book sure f***ing throws a f***ing s***load of f***ing f-bombs!

This is okay if you are an adult reader/listener, but Mr. Weir has done himself a disservice in that this will keep the book out of the hands of many younger readers; and it is not appropriate listening in the car when younger ears are in range.

Bottom line - read The Martian. If you listen to the audible version, wear earbuds or ensure there are no young ears around.

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Story would rate 5-stars if edited

Revisado: 04-14-14

Would you try another book from Dan Simmons and/or Patrick Lawlor?

Dan Simmons does a superb job of weaving kernels of history into a splendid novel of intrigue. Hemingway, J. Edgar Hoover, Ian Fleming, Ingrid Bergman, Marlena Dietrich, Nazis, spies, Havana street urchins, even a young JFK ... they're all here!

Would you recommend The Crook Factory to your friends? Why or why not?

While the author does a good job of setting the tone and giving historical background, he goes on waaaay too many tangents. He feels he needs to give the back-story to just about every historical detail and character; even to the point of explaining in excruciating detail how cigars are made, just because at one point for about 10 minutes in the story the characters find themselves in a cigar rolling factory. These detours into minutia are a huge detractor; and Mr. Simmons should avail himself to the services of a talented editor to separate the wheat from the chaff. There are a few technical and historical errors, but none that are distracting.

What about Patrick Lawlor’s performance did you like?

Patrick Lawlor's performance is what saves this audio book! His characterizations, accents, inflections are top rate. He is one of those narrators where you often have to remind yourself that there is really only one person reading this book, rather than a cast of characters like an old radio show. Brav-OH!!

Any additional comments?

I will certainly be interested in taking a look at any other books in the historical novel genre that Mr. Simmons may have to offer -- with the hope they are better edited. I will definitely be interested in other books read by Mr. Lawlor.

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