Neal Corey Mysteries

A Cool Breeze on the Underground by Don Winslow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Neal Carey Mysteries consist of four novels, plus one novella, totaling approximately 40 hours of listening in unabridged audiobook format. All narrated by Joe Barrett, released from 2008 – 2011 by Blackstone Audio, Inc. This review addresses the entire series. Sequence: 1-A Cool Breeze on the Underground, 2-The Trail to Buddha’s Mirror, 3-Way Down on the High Lonely, 4-A Long Walk Up the Water Slide, and 5-While Drowning in the Desert.

Plot. Neal Carey, a hardened street kid, pick-pockets a wallet from a guy who takes Neal under his wing and teaches him how to become an expert in the art. The mentor is a problem-fixer for a bank with wealthy clients, staying under the radar. Through the series, Neal retrieves the wayward, drug-addicted teenage daughter of a politician running for president, finds a missing scientist with a valuable formula, finds a missing child kidnapped in a custody battle … more. The missions are never simple, and each story has a beginning-middle-end. No cliffhangers.

Liked. The action mixes moments of terror and hilarity that will make you worry for a successful mission as you laugh aloud. The narrator’s timing and overall voicing are terrific.

Not so hot. The narration is a bit slow, so pumped the Audible app up to 1.4 – not really criticism. Not great literature, not intended to be – just good stories.

Recommend!