Jan

Narrator was fabulous!

Revisado: 01-08-24

Great reimagining of Dickens and damning of Purdue and the Pharmaceutical Industry’s greed. Listened twice in a row!

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Narrator great; the story? not so much

Revisado: 05-18-19

I find the chase sequence in the house with descriptions of hallways, locked doors, and rooms so stultifying. One thing that I did appreciate, though, was that the lead-up to a possible romantic connection -- also a dreary contrivance -- was dispatched with gruesome bluntness. Though I admit to being drawn in, I agree with another reviewer who found the ending preposterous.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Narrator drives me bonkers!

Revisado: 07-23-18

This starts out okay but both the narrator and the story became very irritating quite soon. First the story: it really doesn't talk about genetic roots very much at all but cites many extremely questionable -- by the author's own admission -- writings from days when not much was known about genetic roots!

I was excited by the beginning when the author discussed Cheddar Man and the extraction of DNA from the tooth of this find in England but that was it as far as any tangible DNA or genetic information goes thus far (I am about half-way through the book). Only a few interesting tidbits like finding out how imprecise archaeology is when identifying, for example, the breadth of where the "Celts" ranged in Europe. But that type of information is sprinkled only very sparsely throughout.

The reader: OMG, where to start? He takes a breath for effect after almost every word! And the "effect" is very affected! I listen reluctantly, gritting my teeth. If he would only tone his dramatic license down to about 1% of what he does MAYBE he would be tolerable. I am tempted to return it but I don't know if this book is even eligible for that.

Too bad. I am really interested in the topic.

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Good narration

Revisado: 10-09-16

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This is the first book in a long time that I looked forward to listening to. I listen on my dog walks -- two 45-minute walks per day.

Would you be willing to try another book from Don Donaldson? Why or why not?

Not sure. Though the story kept my interest, there were some parts I found implausible. One thing that made me wonder was the inconsistency of technology. With the lack of cell phones I thought the setting was maybe early 1990s but clearly the bits about the hacker character negated that notion. I chose the book because I like medical mysteries and it mostly satisfied that requirement.

What three words best describe Peter Jacobson’s performance?

Subdued, non-dramatic, very competently read.

Was The Blood Betrayal worth the listening time?

Yes

Any additional comments?

I liked being read to rather than being "acted to." Too many readers try to effect a different voice for different characters and I especially hate it when men try to modulate their voices when portraying a female character. Peter Jacobson was down to earth and very easy to listen to with no errors in inflection and he used the same voicing throughout the book which I really appreciated. I do enjoy a good reader who is also a good actor but in general most readers are not such great actors.

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Reader is fabulous

Revisado: 08-30-16

As always Lisette Lecat does a masterful job bringing these characters and stories to life. The story took a while to grab our interest this time but it eventually grabbed us thanks to Lecat's great talent.

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Terrific narrator

Revisado: 08-29-16

Her voices, interpretations, and accents were better than almost every other narrator I have ever listened to in Audible and before that, on Books on Tape. Kudos to her!

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Hard time listening to the narrator

Revisado: 09-22-15

Would you try another book from Michael Palmer and Daniel Palmer and/or Xe Sands?

I find the vocal fry of the narrator extremely irritating so no, I probably wouldn't try another Palmer book with Xe Sands as the narrator. Every time I start to listen to the book -- I listen on my 2+ mile dog walks every day -- I have to tamp down my irritation level with the sound of her voice in order to continue listening. It is particularly annoying when she is portraying men. It is a technique that bothers me when men employ it, as well. I understand the need to differentiate in some way to signal the listener that there is a different person speaking but when men lift their voices or women lower theirs it sounds so phony. And especially with this narrator. I listen to a lot of books and I am usually fairly tolerant of different styles of narration but I had to comment on this problem for this narrator. That said, I do think this narrator is good at inflection and in her interpretation in general.

What do you think your next listen will be?

I don't know

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Xe Sands?

I don't really have a list of preferred narrators and my feeling is that narrators should not be obvious characters themselves. This detracts from the story. This narrator does not have that problem. It is merely the scratchy quality mostly in her portrayals of male characters I find so off-putting.

What character would you cut from Trauma?

I'm not far enough into the book yet to decide any of this. Besides, does Audible really do that? Isn't that the province of the author? I guess for your abridged versions you do some editing but, wow, taking a character out of a book, that seems wrong, somehow.

Any additional comments?

I wanted to comment before I finished the book so my"overall" and "story" ratings are inaccurate. I may very well decide I like the story and therefore give higher ratings to both of these things. In fact, I may even forgive the narrator by the end. It is just that at this time (chapter 22) I am having a hard time listening to her.

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Good story, well read by narrator.

Revisado: 08-27-12

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this book because it is well-written and centered in the African American community which is a perspective not covered enough.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

The plot was unpredictable and engaging, keeping us interested and eager to hear what came next. It was more violent than we expected and seemed more realistic in some ways, not your usual "turn the bad guys in to the authorities" ending.

What about Michael Boatman’s performance did you like?

Good dialect work. Easy to listen to.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

We listen as we drive across country so we listen to one or two books in each direction from California to Illinois. We definitely wanted to return to the book when we were comfortably on our way.

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Dd♠

Revisado: 09-05-09

I did not find the narrator monotonous or the book overlong. I often find the male narrators who read women's voices irritatingly affected so it was a welcome change to hear the opposite done well. One quibble: her pronunciation of Hu?, (Vietnam) was laughable (Hugh!) -- clearly she is under 40. It took me a while to figure it out. Doesn't anyone "proof-hear" these narrations? BTW, web-weaver, something is wrong with this form because I did not title this review "Dd&#9824" and I could not alter it.

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