Bruce

Interesting storyline

Revisado: 01-06-25

I like the ending, and I know that you needed the beginning before you could figure out the ending, but I thought the beginning was a little weird.

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Entertaining

Revisado: 04-04-22

I enjoyed it. I thought the performance was excellent. I particularly liked the voice for Bpsch. I thought it was a good story. It shows the difficulties of today's world with the complexity of policing and at the same time having to take into account the politics of it all. Plus, the risk law enforcement has to take sometimes to do their job well. It kept my interest. I liked this better than some others of Connelly's novels.

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Interesting

Revisado: 04-25-20

Not exactly what I thought went I bought the Audible title. I was thinking it would be more of the entire story of the underland of our world. Instead, it was the story of a portion of our underworld, the part that can be directly investigated by man. And it is basically the story of one man’s exploration of certain underworld areas that can be accessed, although not by someone with any deep knowledge, just someone who is observing what he sees below ground. But, even so, it was interesting. The most interesting parts to me were (1) the fungus moving underground, apparently as a part of tree root system, giving support to different types of trees growing together. (2) the thought given to burying nuclear waste deep in the ground and the messaging that could be left to warn occupants of planet earth hundreds of thousands of years in the future, and (3) the many experts in the world that spend their lives with matters underground. I was pretty amazed at the last point, and surprised that people devote their lives to these things and basically are unafraid to enter dark and unknown areas, sometimes leading to death by getting stuck and can’t get out. Overall, I thought the book was fine for what it is about and I didn’t have any problems with the story or the performance.

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Another Serial Murder Story

Revisado: 10-23-19

Okay, it was interesting to listen to, but so what? I'm kind of tired of and will henceforth try and steer clear of the plethora of serial murder mysteries that are out there. This one, as many of them do, had way too many killings. The killer is always so smart and strong and intelligent and the victims are always stupid and dumb and allow themselves to get killed. Some of the murders are just plain gratuitous, apparently just for the sake of it. I listened to the end, though, just so I could say I did. The courtroom scenes were pretty interesting to listen to, , although not realistic in some areas - for example, the judge letting the defense firm withdraw from the case right at the commencement of the trial, after jury selection. I don't think that would ever happen. And, of course, our hero steps in with only a day's notice, and proceeds ahead without asking for a continuance, and tries the case as if fully prepared? A lot of holes, when you think about it. And the ending? Sorry, way too predictable. I'll pass on the author's next novel.

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I Liked It But....

Revisado: 01-13-19

I don't know how many times I have taken up The Odyssey to read it in one translation or another. I always started off with good intentions and sometimes I made it quite a way in (although never half way), but, alas, I had never finished it prior to listening to this translation as narrated by Claire Danes. I bought it because of Claire Danes, and she does a superb job. I know I should give it 5 stars because it is a classic after all. But, I just found myself being a little bit disappointed. I even started having heretical thoughts. Such as, maybe this whole story of Odysseus was cooked up to justify his murder of many innocent men and women in his village and household. It seemed to be more a story of trying to justify how bad the suitors were rather than dwelling on the travels and escapades of Odysseus. Yes, he was wily and all that, but he was also bloodthirsty and mean. The involvement of the gods in his life, and the life of others, could just as easily be attributed to his good luck. It would be interesting to know how and over what period of time The Odyssey was created and written down. But overall, I enjoyed the reading. Claire Danes was great. And now I know the story of The Odyssey from start to finish.

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Superb Telling of an Important Story

Revisado: 11-25-18

I thought the performance of the reading of this book was superb. Although it may have got off to a slow start, it became very compelling to listen to. Although I have read a lot about World War II, and probably had read that the Indianapolis was torpedoed and sunk toward the end of the war, it just didn't dawn on me what that meant. Although not tied directly to the sinking of the ship, the story of Indianapolis being the ship that delivered the first atomic bond to the island of Tinian is a nice touch and gives good background for the ship and its crew.

The actual sinking of the ship and especially the tale of survival in being 5 days adrift in the Philippine Sea was just almost too hard to listen to. It was very compelling, but you wanted rescue to come and it just got delayed for so long, and through a lot of bad decisions by people that could have brought the rescue there sooner and saved a lot of lives. Anyway, although extremely difficult to listen to, you couldn't just turn it off. You were compelled to stay with it to see what happened and when, and determine who survived. That was the hardest part of the book to listen to, but also an indispensable part to this being a 5 star story.

I think it is clear that there were many people at fault that led to the sinking of the Indianapolis. It certainly should not have been limited just to Captain McVeigh. The lion's share of the blame lay elsewhere, as pointed out clearly by the book. However, I can't help but feel that McVeigh should have done more to save his ship. As the ship was his responsibility (and it was a huge responsibility) maybe he should have demanded an escort. It was a time of war. Maybe he should have been more diligent in investigating the possible presence of enemy ships. Wandering a long alone without submarine detection gear in the Philippine Sea during a time of war just sounds by itself very chancy. Japan was not yet defeated. Much all out war was still at that time very much anticipated. But I don't think he should have been courtmartialed and certainly at a time when the evidence was still being gathered. I thought it was very telling, though, that the survivors of the sinking all stood by their captain and wanted to see him exonerated. It is a great story and I am glad it was told, and in such a compelling way.

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A Little Far Fetched

Revisado: 10-14-18

I hadn't read (or listened to) a John Grisham novel for quire awhile. I read his first 2 or 3 novels, but then I got bogged down with him and didn't have strong desire to read him anymore. But, since I needed a book to listen to, I thought I would give him another try. I thought the performance was very well done, although the story left a little to be desired. It was also a little inconsistent. In the first part of the book you are impressed about how competent and quick the FBI is in running down the perpetrators of the heist of the original manuscripts of Fitzgerald's novels from Princeton. But at the end of the book you are shaking your head about the incompetency of the FBI, which can't even do basic detective work or follow up on simple leads.

The overall impact of the book is that it is not very believable. However, for a quick beach read or listen, it is probably okay. I am stretching in giving it 3 stars. But it was kind of enjoyable to listen to, and I did listen to it to the end. I am trying to think of any redeeming characters, but I just don't think the characters of Mercer, Bruce Cable or his "wife" are all that memorable. And there were really no other primary characters in the book. So, pretty average, but at the same time, an okay listen.

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Some Body Did It

Revisado: 06-29-18

Basically, it was enjoyable to listen to the presentation. It kept your interest. Someone murdered Sophie La Plantier, that is certain. What is less certain is who did it, although one can form an opinion listening to the podcast. I think I have a good idea of who it was, but I would just be speculating. Each person can form their own opinion. I don't know as the podcast solved any of the issues, but it did a good job of laying out what facts we do know - or think we know.

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Enjoyable Listen

Revisado: 05-01-18

I like Nelson DeMille and I like Scott Brick as the narrator of his novels. It was fun to listen to, although the story was a little light. I agree with the reviewer that said it is a slow going novel. But my view is that Scott Brick made it interesting, although I kept waiting for things to happen. When things did begin to happen, however, the pace was pretty quick from there to the end, although, for me, the result of the action was fairly predictable. Overall, however, I enjoyed it, and will probably tune in to the next Nelson DeMille novel, so long as it is narrated by Scott Brick.

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The Philosophical Runner

Revisado: 01-24-18

Haruki Murakami is one of my favorite authors. Normally I read his books, but this one I listened to. This is an introspective look at his life of running, al least up to about 10 years ago. But not only does he talk about running, and his thoughts while running and training to run, he also philosophies on his life, the kind of person he is. I liked how he set goals for himself, not in relation to others, but personal goals as to what he wanted to accomplish from the races he ran - the time he wanted to do it in, to not only finish the race but doing so while running and never walking even part way, etc.

He also equates his thoughts on running to his life as an author. This is not only a book about running, but it is also about his life as a writer. This is a short book and is mostly about running so I am sure he has a lot more he could say about his life of writing, but he does deal with his writing life along with his running life. I am not a runner myself, but I am a walker. Even though I walk and don't run, I still could identify with a lot of what he said in my own life. He readily admits that what is true for him may not be true for others - he is just writing about what is true for him and the way he is. But it did cause me to do some introspection of my own, to think of my own life and what is true for me.

I enjoyed the performance very much and found the entire book to be very interesting and worthwhile.

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