ScottG

So not W.E.B.

Revisado: 10-01-23

Horrible dialog, cartoonist reading and unlikable characters. Add in an outlandish story line and you have a book that defies all belief it was written by WEB Griffin.

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Cliché in every aspect

Revisado: 09-10-23

Cops are all lying exaggerators that need lawyers, even patent attorneys, to explain how to do police work. I assume the author (I didn't bother to Google his bio) is either a wannabe lawyer or a functionary attorney (patent, tax, real estate) and writes without much if any understanding of courts, cops, or criminal law and procedure. The protagonist is the hero lawyer they envision themselves to be with no actual concept of reality.
Riddled with virtue signaling and packed requisite character diversity, which might be ok if knowing a characters sexual preference were relevant, the story is, for me, annoying and unbelievable. The main character has some weird obsession with smoking cigarettes and have to endure long and completely irrelevant descriptions of lighting a cigarette, sharing a cigarette... even the color of lighter... for no discernible reason. On the topic of annoying.... if I never again hear the phrases "Easter District of Texas", "EDTex", or "E-D", I'll be very happy. it is mentioned 1000 times if once, as if the normal person refers to their area by Federal Judicial District name.
It took me 3 weeks on and off to finish the book. My eyes needed frequent rest due to constant eye rolls. It hit every cliché check mark you can think of both for a legal thriller and to avoid being canceled in today's marketplace.
Essentially, in my opinion if you are an actual lawyer, cop, or grown adult with an 8th grade education, skip it. You'll just end up using it to level a wobly table.

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Nothing resembling reality

Revisado: 07-20-23

This book, for me, is barely palatable and I am struggling to finish it. I start with the fact that it appears a male author is going out of his way to prove his feminist enlightenment by making ALL the good guys women and sick, lame or lazy cops, male. At one point she gets in an tiff with the lead agent because he arrests the suspect without first checking credit card receipts for evidence of an alibi in the murders. The otherwise competent and thorough agent needs to be told by our hero female prosecutor to check the alibi. Of course he balks because HE is too invested and wants the suspect to be the guy he arrested. She being the level headed woman takes the high ground. This kind of silliness happens repeatedly with persistent references to the struggles of a woman in the boorish male dominated world.
Next I just take issue with the premise of the hero prosecutor. It is more like a lawyer's self-aggrandizing erotic dream than an actual, "Could of Happened" story. Start with the fact that in the beginning the female Federal Prosecutor gets sucked into a murder investigation by an FBI Agent who is the "Lead Agent" in a newly discovered murder. The murders look very similar to ones the prosecutors ex-husband come serial murder committed before he went to jail. How the agent gets involved is a bit sketchy, but he is . From there the timeline gets truly messed up with either test results pouring in, while the prosecutor is visiting a still hot scene, or it's much later and they are discovering witnesses and information someone (local cops, Fed Agents?) didn't pick up on.. She then insinuates herself into the investigation and turns it into a Federal Investigation, which actually CAN NOT happen. Murder is ONLY a Federal Crime under limited circumstances. She talks about Federal Courts being Superior to State Courts and therefore somehow she is confirmed with being able to walk into a local investigation and tell them to stand down. At the same time, having declared it is now a Federal Investigation, uses local resources like a "Strike Forcce" of 5 on duty cops to assist in a warrant execution. There is a lot of lawyer who thinks he knows police work and police culture, but clearly gets his insight for MeTV reruns.
Our Hero prosecutor goes with Investigators on neighborhood canvassing interviews and suspect raids. Which of course is total non-sense. If the prosecutor were to interview witnesses, she then becomes a WITNESS herself, subject to defense subpoena, and barring her from prosecuting. Add in there is NO WAY the ex-wife of the serial killer being "copy cated" would be allowed within 100 miles of the new investigations.
Just in general, it is silly piled on top of bad and written by a guy who wants women to know how enlightened he is. The excessive drama and hand wringing over a teen daughter (who just to put a fine point on it, is WAY too genius for middle school and hooks up with a "bad boy" in her boredom.) So, as I try not to give up, that is my impression. Your experience (and quite a few other people's based on the reviews) could be much better.

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Plodding at times - marginal narration

Revisado: 06-20-23

The story itself was fine and Alex Gerilis is a very good writer. Keep in mind, this is book one of a series which often is less developed than subsequent instalments. But this book at times dragged, while at other times, maybe most times, was very engaging and fast paced.
The narrator however was at times, very annoying and cartoonish. Sometimes, trying to add unique voices and accents is a bad idea. In this case, it was, in my opinion a very bad idea. Now I am sure it is much like an American attempting to read in a British accent, or maybe an American trying to effectuate a German accent. In this case, the narrators American accent was just bad. As soon as it was attempted, the cadence slowed and every word was over pronounced or articulated in order to get the accent "right". For me, it would have been better to just read and go on with the story. Of course, that's me being picky and unable to do better myself. Your experience may be much different.

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Another masterpiece

Revisado: 04-20-23

Harlen Coben is an amazing writer and storyteller. This standalone book had all the twists and turns that literally grab you from the first paragraph.
The narrator was equally perfect, not over-acting or offering too much voice change and accent.
Well done and gripping in every respect.

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Amazing - fast listen.

Revisado: 04-03-23

This is another instantly engaging story from Harlan Coben. It is a modern version of "The Fugitive," or maybe more accurately, a twist on "The Fugitive." But that isn't unusual in storytelling or book writing, so I don't really see that as a problem. it was fast-paced, engrossing, and easy to follow. Great book from an author who never disappoints.

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Bodily functions and Mispronunciations abound

Revisado: 03-14-23

Maybe the most grating on my nerves was the narrator's misreading and mispronouncing even common words. I can't even remember an example because there were so many, I just gave up. I seriously never met an adult who apparently has the vocabulary of 3rd grader, and yet here is one that reads for a living. BUT, other than butchering the English language, his voice, speed, clarity were actually very good, so there is that.
The second most annoying (and distracting at some point) were the persistent descriptions and inclusions of bodily functions. While I understand in war, privacy, illness, and all manner of life functions are made more difficult and imperiled, this author seems to focus on it with something approaching a bathroom fetish. Animal or Human, I would guess that there is barely a chapter where bathroom needs are not mentioned, described, hashed over, and described again.
All of that aside, I enjoyed the story and certainly would have no issue trying another book in the series to see if they improve with time and experience.

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Another EXCELLENT Orphan X series

Revisado: 03-05-23

If you're already a fan, then this will not disappoint. There is a lot more "introspection" for "Evan Smoke" in this book, so if that annoys you, knock off a half star and you still have an excellent story.
If you're new to the series, this is an OK book to start with, you'll understand most of the series concept as it is explained in every Orphan X book. However, like most series, I do recommend at least starting with book 1 before you jump to this book. There is a lot of character development that help explain this book. In short, Orphan X is a government trained assassin that was recruited and trained from childhood. But, his mentor trained him to have a moral compass which he now uses to help ordinary people that find themselves in unwinnable, untenable trouble. He is a cross between Jason Bourne and James Bond.
This book returns MANY of the favorite secondary characters and weaves a great story. Fun and fast paced to the end.

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Just OK - pretty amateurish.

Revisado: 12-23-22

I feel like I should be more charitable with this book, because I finished it and although annoyed, didn't seriously consider abandoning ship. So in the sprit of charity, I will say this story hovers solidly in the 2 to 3 stars, in my opinion.
The story is set in Rehoboth Beach, DE where it seems the author is acquainted but not intimately familiar with. For example, the Chief of Police breaks a collar bone and has to go to the hospital. In the story the hospital is in Georgetown, where in fact, it is in Lewes, just a couple miles from the character's home in Rehoboth. There are any number of those clues and to be honest, 90% of all readers won't know or care about the difference. I merely point out that even in setting, there is a lack of authenticity.
The real drag for me is that this book is more like someone that knows little to nothing about police work, writing a Police Procedural (this is not a mystery/who dun-it by any stretch). And many writers do that, but have someone in the field they are writing about to be gaffers and offer realism. That is woefully missing. For example, the police have DNA from 3 different males left at the scene of the crimes. At some point they strongly suspect an individual, have plenty of probable cause to get a search warrant for DNA, but instead decide to do many other things, including guesswork. DNA is totally overlooked where police would love to have it in the real world. In fact, they give the suspect soda's during the interview and no one thinks to take the can for DNA.
The Chief gets fairly unhappy at one because she interviews "Mrs. Fortunado", the palm reader (yes, the Fortune Teller is named Fortunado... so pedestrian) The fortune Teller tells her that she gave a palm reading to a tall white guy and saw evil and blood in the reading. Because of that, the palm reader decides to get the tag number and gets a PARTIAL Virginia Tag number. The Chief is unhinged because NOW they have a great suspect and lead for the killers. A lead they could have had if young officers had followed up on a tip line call faster. So a PALM READING that show some white guy with a car registered in Virginia was at a Delaware Beach in the middle of beach season... and from that we have a HARD SUSPECT? Sooooo ridiculous I wanted to scream.
Another silly, though unimportant thing is that 2 men have paid child support of $500 per month for 20 years because they both had sex with the child's mother and they don't know which is the father. AGAIN- DNA... the whole thing was negotiated by the men's lawyer and none thought DNA would be a good idea. And all of this for a stash of money the child inherits on the death of his mother... which ends up having nothing to do with the solution.
But maybe my "can't take it" plot error is that the main investigators are worried about leaks but give detailed case briefings, including very significant clues, to the Town Mayor and the Town Council. NEITHER would ever happen. Police do not offer evidentiary briefing to ANYONE that is not directly involved in the investigation (meaning cops and prosecutors). You would certainly NEVER brief politicians, particularly small town politicians. They would get something akin to a private press release.
In my opion, its a good attempt and had some potential for an ok story if only the author had gotten some help with police work and maybe some geography. And if someone had explain better ways to invent character names... OH, And For the LOVE OF GOD, talk to a cop and see how many of them talk in asinine jargon like "Copy That". They DO NOT.... that is an invention of people that are trying to sound like movie tough cops and Top Gun characters. No one really says that.

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Just OK, No great Legal Battles or Mystery

Revisado: 10-27-22

If you are hoping for a great John Grisham of old, pitched battle of legal maneuvering... this isn't it. This is more a drama that follows 2 families in Mississippi from the turn of the century through the 1980's. It follows their diverging paths, one good and one evil. For legal battles it is more a collection of very short, very surface level, mostly common criminal conflicts, rather than a single and deep dive legal war. Think of it as skirmishes on a school yard rather than battles in a war theater.
In general, it was dull and I could have stopped listening at any point and felt none the worse for wear. But I didn't, so there was some interest in continuing.

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