LGG803

Another winner from Koontz; highly recommended

Revisado: 07-08-21

So very glad I discovered the Jane Hawk series! I have long been a Dean Koontz fan, and the premise on which this story is built is fascinating. I didn’t want the book to end, and when it (suddenly) did, my disappointment faded quickly when I discovered the story picks right up where it left off in the 2nd book of the series.

It bothers me, as it does with the portrayal of many female professionals on television shows, that the eponymous Jane Hawk is a mere 27 years old, yet is already at the top of her field and apparently The Best FBI Agent Ever. And do I even need to mention that she is also drop dead gorgeous and sexy and turns heads everywhere she goes? ‘Cause it is certainly mentioned over and over and over and over and over.

My only other issue is, again, volume control, or lack thereof. The narrator uses a demure, almost hushed tone for Ms. Hawk, while many of the other characters are shrill or just plain way too loud in comparison. Even at my car radio’s maximum volume setting, I am unable to hear the Jane parts over competing interstate highway noise, especially if it’s raining, and then I am deafened when the narrator switches to one of the other characters.

However, fantastic story!

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It’s a NO from me.

Revisado: 06-23-21

I have a very hard time understanding heavily accented English, so I knew I was in trouble when both narrators were British, made worse by the male narrator’s thick Cockney accent. Add to that the huge disparity between the volume of the male reader and the volume of the female — a nightmare when trying to listen over the road noise of an interstate commute. When the book switches from the loud male narrator to the very soft female, I would sometimes miss several paragraphs before I could get the volume cranked up, and my car has no controls for rewinding the narration, so I usually just had to let it go.

Aside from my narration woes, the story takes too long to get anywhere (if it ever does). I was led to believe this was a thriller, but nothing thrilling happened in the first 2 hours. Way too much mention of some mysterious “Game,” but zero clues about what this game might be, and by the 2-hour mark, already disliking the main characters, I no longer cared.

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Forgettable

Revisado: 06-17-21

Not my favorite Prey. Basically just a long, long, ooh-we-were-THIS-close cross-country fugitive chase. POV switches between Lucas and his prey, with time switching forward and backward when the POV changes, which makes it difficult to remember where you were if you only listen while commuting.

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I wanted to like this way more than I did

Revisado: 06-07-21

Lauren Hough can write; make no mistake about it. She is a fantastic wordsmith with a great sense of humor. But two things kept this from being a great listen for me:

1) The narration: The book starts with a deep, well-modulated women's voice, perfectly enunciated, American accent, and by Chapter 2, I am wishing this "Lauren Hough" would narrate everything I ever listen to, because this narration is the most soothing and easy-to-understand aural balm I have ever come across. But then, a chapter or so later, I'm assailed by this monotonous narration with a bit of a twang, and it sounds like the reader is talking out of just one side of her mouth (literally) - hard to describe, but something is a bit off about the narration. And I quickly realize that THIS must be Lauren Hough, which means the first narrator was....Cate Blanchett? But where is her lovely accent? Odd choice to me, but in summary, Amercan Cate should have narrated the whole thing.

2) The subject matter: It's raw, sad, political; and that's all OK, but much of it started to feel like op-ed rather than memoir. I expected more of a rising out of the ashes of my upbringing story, and frankly, more about her cult upbringing, hence, my disappointment.

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Interesting and twisty

Revisado: 06-07-21

Another fantastic story by Karin Slaughter! Wish the ending had been fleshed out a little more - just wanted a few more details!

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Confusing Cacophony

Revisado: 06-07-21

I didn't make it too far with this one; it starts off with multiple loud voices talking rapid-fire with absolutely zero context to latch onto, and 20 minutes in I had no idea who was whom nor what the hell was going on. I even tried starting over, and I still couldn't tell what was what.

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Chock full of idiots!

Revisado: 06-07-21

I enjoyed the mystery enough to want to know how it ends, but good grief: not a single one of the characters in the book is likeable. Not a one!

The lead character is a whiny idiot - her endless stream of inner thoughts and her stupid decisions are annoying. How does she even get herself in out of the rain? She overthinks everything, but NEVER stops to consider just telling everyone what they need to hear. And obviously, this choice was made by the author because without it, the entire book ceases to exist.

I found the daughter (Tessa) super-irritating, and was hoping the killer would, well, KILL HER, way before that point in the book is reached.

The ladies on the beach - same deal. Who stands there and insists - "won't take NO for answer" - that someone they basically just met drink alcohol, and that someone (who is Camden, and is, remember, an idiot) takes the drink despite the fact she is A) an alcoholic, and B) pregnant? She didn't drink it, but that's not the point. Your listeners don't accept your excuse that you can't tell anyone because you haven't told your hubby yet, and you can't tell him because -- no good reason AT ALL.

And the fact that there is not just one, but TWO psychics in this book? Psychics who separately and independently come to be engaged by the police to work on this serial murder case without one ounce of skepticism, one moment of hesitation -- in basically a we-don't-need-investigators-or-evidence-we-have psychics! situation. *Face palm*

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Missed opportunities

Revisado: 06-07-21

This story could have been SO much better. The relationship between Anna and Leif starts out (very) slowly, and takes plenty of time to develop. Anna, who wants the world to understand how "grown-ass" she is, can't stop talking about her "lady parts" (she uses other not adorable euphemisms, too - and similar nonsense when she talks about Leif.) Super annoying.

My biggest beef with the performance is that the narrator reads in such a way that the listener can never tell whether Anna is thinking some of this stuff to herself, or actually saying it out loud. Sometimes it is discernible from the context, but usually not. The stuff she says, or thinks, or whatever, is often cringe-worthy.

Beyond all that - the ending of the book seems awfully rushed, like the author had to fit all the words into a certain length, and couldn't make herself cut any of Anna's tripe, or the building relationship story, so she found herself with only 3 pages left to wrap up the mystery.

SPOILERS AHEAD

What if the driver of the 3rd car hadn't shown up at the house at the very end, then *poof* vanished so everyone could live happily ever after? What if the mystery had instead built ALONG with the relationship of Anna and Leif, and, I don't know - maybe Anna's husband hired him, and Leif was an unintended target. Like I said, I don't know, but the ending as written is awful.

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Vapid characters and a story I couldn't connect to

Revisado: 06-07-21

Well, I gave it 56 minutes, and wish I had those minutes back. Clearly made for a much younger audience. The characters made me want to slap them.

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Weird Little Tale

Revisado: 06-07-21

This is a good listen if you make it past the very slow start - Betty Buckley is great, and the story is interesting.

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