i_rage

The Book of Murder

Revisado: 10-05-24

I had developed a great respect for Matt Murphy as a prosecutor after learning about the horrific and haunting murders the Hawks. I knew he had other notorious cases that he won and was thrilled to learn he decided to write a book about his experiences as a prosecutor.
This book isn’t just about his time as a prosecutor. He also mixes in some of his personal life and how he prioritized work over a social life.
That Matt Murphy does the narration adds to the book greatly. There is no false inflection in his voice at any time. He is revealing exactly how he experienced some horrific examples of other people’s inhumanity along with a deep compassion for the victim’s loved ones. His retelling is genuine.
The cases he reviewed are all ones I was familiar with to varying degrees but hearing his perspective of each was like hearing it all fresh. I found it hard to pause the audio book as the stories being told are captivating.
Matt Murphy’s book is a fantastic listen and I truly hope he does a second book!

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Halo—First Strike

Revisado: 03-18-23

I purchased 3 of the Halo series books with the naïve hope I would be immersed in a futuristic saga filled with details of incredible technologies employed by humans as they defended their existence against well described variations of extraterrestrial antagonists. What soon became apparent was a redundant series of battles that, I believe at least, were poorly disguised fictional propaganda. I felt as if the heroes were based on Hollywood WWII heroes whose bravery and cunning always bested their NAZI antagonists despite overwhelming odds.
The 3 books I read became one long (LONG) battle wherein the characters blended into one as any character building was minimal and uninteresting.
I found myself mocking the narrator as the storylines and characters fused into one never ending battle with predictable dialog. The narrator tried their best to give the characters some individuality via tonal fluctuations and this only heightened my need to mock the dialogue further.
I was sorely disappointed by these 3 books. That trip into a future filled with amazing technology, incredible beings from throughout the universe and humans who had evolved into higher functioning and thinking beings just never happened.

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Cibola and Burn

Revisado: 05-26-21

While not my favorite in the series, it is still a great listen. Love the consistency of the narration between the books thus far! Looking forward to book 5 now

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Leviathan Wakes—The Expanse book 1

Revisado: 03-29-21

I watched the Amazon Prime series first which I absolutely loved but wasn’t satisfied after watching the series, from season one through five, 3 times. I knew the books would be long and wondered if I find the time to get through all the books to date. This was not the case! I found the time!
I just finished the first book and it was fantastic!
The narrator did an excellent job with altering his voice just enough for each character’s voice. It was not overdone, ridiculous and cartoonish impressions of how each character might actually speak. While that may seem a trivial point to some, those very things have absolutely ruined the narrative of several audio books for me.
The story was a superb dip into the personas and experiences of 5 main characters. Through their very separate beginnings to their coming together in the plot, each remained a unique and well described character.
The plot itself is so very well thought out! There are tiny seemingly insignificant details that maybe didn’t need to be stated yet by being included added just that more for the reader to visualize.
The science described was entirely believable and engrossing.
I am just starting the second book in the series which includes Prax. In the TV series, I had little empathy for him and fast forwarded the show in some parts he was included in. I found him boring and a weak and pathetic father in the TV series honestly. So far, his character in the book, while still a pretty weak example of a man, is more interesting to me. I won’t likely fast forward his book presence lol!
What a great book in all ways!!

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Horror Stories. Terrifyingly real stories of true horror and crime

Revisado: 12-01-20

This book did exactly as I intended for it: I listened to a story about a crime while driving. The stories were interesting and short enough to hear the whole story without a lot of time invested into characters and plot lines.
The stories were entertaining but I already knew about 1/2 of them prior to this book.
If you are looking for decent short stories to entertain your commute times, this is a pretty good choice.

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Streets of Laredo

Revisado: 03-08-20

I listened to Lonesome Dove, narrated by Lee Horsley, before choosing this book. That was a mistake! Where Lonesome Dove gives you welcome, intelligent insight into each character. The Streets of Laredo goes on (and on) about some of the insignificant characters and assumes you have read or watched Lonesome Dove and gives very little insight to some of the major characters.
The spillover of characters from LD to this story is ill planned too., such as the pairing of Pea with Laurena. The Pea from LD is a wholly different person than the one presented here and I just could not picture this scenario as being possible.
Captain Call is done no respect at all in this book. The ending wherein a man who could not allow himself to have normal human emotions and relationships is transformed into a sad, humbled man who finds himself wanting to be a guardian to a blind Mexican orphan. He could barely even smile at Newt in LD!
That brings up my next huge disappointment. Beloved main characters from LD are just done away with as descriptions of their demise or living situations in just an uninteresting line or two. Not even very creatively either.
Then there is the villan and his unapparent motives for his rage, cruelty and killing spree. If motives for his abuse towards his siblings were ever offered, they were lost to me as my thoughts drifted away once again from this book in boredom. I didn't like or sympathize at all with the villain but I did not like or sympathize with his family nor victims either.
I found myself asking why the narrator felt it necessary to include absolutely ridiculously bad Mexican accents when dictating the speech of some characters. I found it insulting to anyone who actually has a Mexican accent as it was more like mocking the accent than trying to affect it.
I constantly asked myself how it was that the same person who wrote such a masterpiece as Lonesome Dove could have written this book. I knew that LD was not going to be bested, but certainly had Hope's it would be a book that I would enjoy.
Ultimately, I did not even finish the book. I did not care what happened to any of the characters. I didn't want to hear anymore of that insanely poor attempt at Mexican accents. I just found I really did not enjoy this book on any level.

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True Grit--superb book with superb narration

Revisado: 03-08-20

I absolutely loved this book and the narrator made the story all the more intriguing for me. I listened to this after the absolute best western ever written, Lonesome Dove, so this book had one tough act to follow! I was delighted and thoroughly enjoyed it. The narration couldn't have been better or more appropriate. I highly recommend it!

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Believe--A Buck Brannaman sales pitch book

Revisado: 11-22-19

This book was not as I expected. There were individual stories from his customers who declare their undying gratitude and love for Buck Brannaman for the things he showed them with their horses. They expound on how these lessons impacted their lives, not just with their horses, but with all aspects.
After the 4th or 5th chapter of these stories, I stopped listening to the book. Each story was detailing a problem that the person had with the horse (and in their lives in general) and only that Mr. Brannaman gave some incredible advice that fixed the issue(s) and improved their lives forever. Never does it detail what that information was. There is nothing said as to what exactly it was he told them that produced this miraculous change in their lives. Instead, there is gushing of gratitude and appreciation and not so subtle sales pitches for the reader/listener to go to a Brannaman clinic and find their own bit of Buck Magic.
If this was the intent of the author, they did a great job in sales pitching. However, my hope in getting this book was to hear some advice in the handling/training of my horses. Being in the midwest, those clinic sales pitches will likely never push me to one of his clinics as he is rarely in my area and I cannot afford to either drive nor fly myself and my horse a few states away to attend on of his clinics (they are not inexpensive either). So basically, I got very little from this book other than Mr. Brannaman has changed people's lives for the better but I was not told how or why. I gleaned zero information in handling any issue I might have with my horses as well.

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Strange Creatures from Time and Space--John Keel

Revisado: 06-27-18

My mother bought this book when it first came out and it was my introduction to Cryptozoology. This book, while it may seem a bit dated now, was unique for it's time and I believe outstanding in it's presentation of stories and evidence of 'strange creatures'. It was this book that introduced the infamous Moth Man to most of the world. His detailed chronology of events that led to the collapse of the Silver bridge and his journaling of witnesses experiences with Bigfoot chilled me to the bone when i first read them.
I looked for years to find a physical copy of this book and when I finally did find some copies, they were always extremely expensive and rarely in good enough shape to warrant the purchase. When I saw that Audible finally added this fantastic book to their selections, I was just delighted!
If you are a lover of Cryptozoology, UFOs and other legendary 'bumps in the night' you need this book to add to your collection. This is the primer for all the Cryptozoology books that followed it!

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