Audiobook Review: Oracle by Andrew Pyper
Title: Oracle
Author: Andrew Pyper
Narrated by: Joshua Jackson
Release date: August 18th, 2021
It should come as no surprise to ANYONE reading/seeing this review, that the second this was announced I jumped all over it and devoured it ASAP.
Now, obviously you are aware of my fanatical devotion to all things Pyper. But – to be honest – I was very worried about this one. Not that I didn’t think I wouldn’t like it. No, that I wouldn’t even be able to enjoy it. I’ve never done a single audio book before. I’m a very methodical reader and have a schedule and like to stay with it. I also don’t like distractions and enjoy being able to go back and re-read sentences, passages etc and digest sections.
Don’t get me wrong – if you love audio books, all the power to you – but for me, it’s always been tough to consider. I don’t have the time to sit and listen. That’s my reality.
But for this – I knew I’d need to force myself out of my comfort zone and attempt it.
A few things before we dive deeper into what makes ‘Oracle’ tick.
The first – I actually really enjoyed listening to this. It took me maybe three or four chapters to find a groove and to figure out the speed at which I found it to be most enjoyable (1.4x for me).
The second – Joshua Jackson absolutely NAILS this narration. I have no experience with anyone else, but his was picture perfect for narrating the story, for the characters and his delivery specifically for The Bone Man was phenomenal. I’d have to imagine he’s already under contract for the sequel drama ‘Oracle: The Dreamland Murders.’
Lastly – even with this being read by someone else and me not reading this – this is 1000000% an Andrew Pyper book. From the way sentences are crafted, characters dialogue, setting and environment as a character. Time and time again, you know you’re in Pyper’s masterful hands.
What I liked: Nate Russo is a haunted man. Suffering from an ability to connect with people and see events and horrible moments through touch, he’s not only running from his childhood, but also running from the feeling he somehow failed his family.
Pyper takes a simple man and a simple story and infuses it with all of the best bits from his previous work. This is crime-fiction, psychological thriller and haunted house all done to the nth degree. We get the dread of ‘The Guardians’ the hunt of ‘The Demonologist’ and the never ending fear of ‘The Killing Circle.’
But at the heart of this story, we get Nate Russo (who is a full on blend of Bartholomew Crane/Patrick Rush/Danny Orchard/David Ullman) who knows the thing that haunted him in his childhood home, the thing he called The Bone Man, is ultimately responsible for not only Russo’s gift, but also the mysterious disappearances Nate is now involved in solving.
Pyper weaves a fast-paced-who-done-it narrative, while using the small town aspect to make everyone a possible suspect and keeping the reader (listener) guessing with deflections and landmines all over the place. I would estimate that over a dozen times I said to myself ‘ah ha! it’s this character or that character’ and each and every single time I was wrong.
With The Bone Man, Andrew has finally delivered a true ‘monster’ story. The only other book he’s released with anything close to this would be ‘The Damned’ with Ash trying desperately to lure her brother Danny to the underworld. Here, we get a real/imagined, flesh-and-blood boogeyman which made me almost shout with joy when I realized that we were being given this type of story from an author as deft as Pyper. And guess what? He nails that character.
The Bone Man was absolutely terrifying. Every single time Jackson would slip into that voice, that timber and deliver the lines of The Bone Man, it felt like it was right beside me, as Nate did himself. And the beauty of The Bone Man character was that not only did we get a horrific and truly awful back story, but we had a WHY. A why to this man, this creature doing what it was doing and ultimately why he choose these innocent kids over and over again.
The secondary characters were great, Fernandes (I hope I spelled that correctly) and Tillman making for great cohorts to both work with Nate but also to keep him in check when he goes off the rails.
And I’ve often mentioned how Pyper utilizes setting so well. Here, the absolute best set piece was Russo’s childhood home, a place of darkened floor boards and wallpaper peeling from the walls. The descriptions of this place were so well done, so lush and vivid that you could picture it and smell it as though you were there.
*As a side note – I know some of you were thrown off when Joshua Jackson was announced as the narrator. For me, I smiled from ear to ear. Just ask my wife. A few years back I wrote an essay on how Andrew Pyper and The Tragically Hip made me a better writer. Within I reference one of my all-time favorite movies – One Week. Starring? That’s right – Joshua Jackson. You know who has a cameo in it? Gord Downie. The circle/cycle continues. Amazing.
What I didn’t like: It is hard to actually discuss what I didn’t like here – as I need to stay spoiler free – but this is the best I can do: the person ultimately responsible for the main events in this story – I wish we had a bit more of them earlier on and a bit more of their involvement. I can’t describe more of that, but when you listen to this and want to discuss it more later, feel free to DM me.
Why you should buy this: I’ll state this here and now (even though I’ve been practically begging for this since it was announced!) but this really does need to be released as a novel. Not only for those unable to hear or listen to audiobooks, but I think Andrew’s once again delivered a masterclass in story telling and how to phenomenally lay out your beginning, middle and ending. If you’re an Andrew fan, you’re already excited to get on this, but for those who haven’t experienced Pyper’s work yet – this showcases why he’s a master at crime fiction/dark fiction/psychological thrillers and emotional horror. He has a way of weaving words around and having them gnaw at your soul.
Another prime example of why Andrew Pyper is my favorite author. Now, I sit back and await the next novel.
5/5
