Samyann's Blog, page 57

Plum Island by Nelson DeMille – Review

Love long books. The longer the audiobook, the better. Plum Island is twenty hours and fits the bill. Also, love Scott Brick, the narrator of Plum Island.  Scott does a terrific job, especially with the lead character, John Corey, homicide investigator. After listening to well over half of the book, however, I can’t hang in there anticipating a story to develop. The artful dialogue of John Corey’s sarcasm is brilliantly conveyed, not only in the writing, but especially in the narration. But, nobody is that obnoxious, lending credibility to the character is impossible. The flippant sexual snipes are insulting, and in some circumstances would result in the ass getting himself and his police department sued. It is not often that I can’t continue listening to a novel, but I’ve punished myself enough with this one. There are no characters to care about, in my opinion. The mystery of a diabolical plague or other act of terror has not yet risen to the surface in this book, and I’ve suffered through over ten hours. I’m done.

The Innocent by David Baldacci – Review

The imagination needs to stretch a lot to wrap your brain around a very absurd story. The CIA superman protagonist is much in the character of Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp or Brad Thor’s Scott Harvath. Will Robie blows bad guys away with impunity, but when confronted with an assignment that involves killing a woman he finds sheltering her young son, alarm bells ring in his conscience; something is not right. Thus begins a wild ride and an extremely convoluted plot involving his unlikely partnership with Julie, a twelve year old street-wise girl. Julie is running for her life, literally, having witnessed the murder of her parents. It’s a page turning story, but the plot so far fetched, you’ll roll your eyes. Sort of amazing that Baldacci moves from this scenario to a White House dining room assassination attempt. Personally, I enjoy the who-done-it espionage genre, but prefer story lines with more credibility. Audiobook review, about a dozen hours.

 

Dragon Tears by Dean Koontz – Review

Audiobook. Suspend reality to follow this race between good and evil. A pair of police officers battle with the unworldly abilities of a deranged psychopath. Dragon Tears, read by Jay O. Sanders, is in the vein of Stephen King, rife with the bizarre. Of note is the character of a dog, absolutely wonderful writing by Koontz. Sanders’ voice interpretation is a treat, giving life and personality to the animal.

Just over a dozen hours, Dragon Tears brings together the cops, a few homeless people, and the dog, all with common experiences involving the devious acts of an evil doer. The listening hours may have you up too late .

Wm. Tecumseh Sherman insane?

That before William Tecumseh Sherman became a great Union general, he was demoted for apparent insanity? Yup, Sherman’s March to the Sea…that Sherman.

Hunting Season by P. T. Deutermann – Review

Audiobook, read by Dick Hill. Over 17 hours of listening. The death of his son during the Waco, Texas disaster is the catalyst for an anti-government fanatic to take revenge. There is a completely unrelated parallel plot involving a former CIA operative and China. Thus is the thrust of the story of Hunting Season. An alphabet soup of government agencies, i.e., FBI, CIA, ATF, etc., are all represented. There must be bad guys to create a fictional story and it seems any arm of the United States government is an easy target. Some tense moments, enjoyable.

Dick Hill is fun to listen to, but it is, on occasion, a bit taxing to hear his representation of the female voice.

 

Get this…

Everything east of the “Magnificent Mile”, Michigan Avenue, is landfill from The Great Chicago Fire. Even today, The Great Chicago Fire reveals relics of Chicago’s past when this land is excavated for construction of a new building.

Contact by Carl Sagan – Review

Audiobook, read by Laurel Lefkow, 14 plus hours of listening. If you are interested in reading a book that reflects the well known movie starring Jodie Foster, this won’t work for you. The characters are there, i.e., Ellie Arroway, Parker Joss, David Drumlin, but the rolls are entirely different. Bill Clinton is not the president. In fact, the United States president is a woman. David Drumlin dies in an attack on one of the machines, but he saves Ellie’s life in the process. There are several machines, not only two. She does not have an affair with Parker Joss. The story is much more political in flavor and there is a considerable unloading of Sagan’s mind regarding these issues in addition to religion and faith. The actual science of the Vega communique is definitely the catalyst of the story, but it is heavily surrounded by the political and religious ramifications of the event. The version presented by hollywood does not have the depth of the written story, no surprise there … but, the book created by Carl Sagan is an entirely different message than that of the screenplay, which he did not write. Carl Sagan died before the movie was produced; it would have been better had he lived.

Lefkow does a great job in narration, nice listen.

Shiloh

At the Battle of Shiloh in 1862, there were 23,700 Union and Confederate casualties.

Bull Run

At the Battle of First Bull Run or Manassas, between 8,000 and 10,000 bullets were fired for every man killed or wounded.

Silent Snow by Steve Thayer – Review

Audiobook read by David Birney, a 10 plus hour listen. The story is about the modern day kidnapping of a baby with a paralell to the Lindbergh case of 1932. The author mixes fact with fiction, creating a historical scenario of wild speculation. If you’re looking for factual detail regarding the Lindbergh case, please don’t depend on this book. Some of it is true, most is not and is a fictionalized version of actual events. If you take historical fiction seriously, you may take a pass on Silent Snow, there really is no detail about the world as it was in 1932, only fictionally created characters.  If your interest is simply a good mystery, the book is well worth a purchase. It may take time to get into the voice and rhythm of the reader, David Birney, as a few characters sound a little too decrepit.