green_earth

Solid Thriller, Expertly Written. No more for me

Revisado: 01-23-25

A slick, professionally crafted (and performed) piece of literature and skill. I do admire the talent of the author, and of course in this case, the vocal performances all around.

This book and its characters have in spades the very thing I can't tolerate more than one book's worth of listening to or reading. That being a total lack of an ethical, moral, or spiritual compass in ANY of the principle characters of this novel. The blind and corrupt leading the clueless, and whispering doubt and confusion to those who have any sense of right and wrong.

If the religion of being a 'good person' or 'caring for people' is all you need to fuel your interest in character development and stories, then dive in further. Note that I'm not saying actions matter, no. It's just the espousal of the now-vacuous words 'good' or 'caring' as the only valid metric of decency or worthiness of respect. The real world is plenty bad and disappointing enough for me; I don't need apathy and agnosticism ratcheted up to new heights, where determining who the good and bad guys are feels like spinning the wheel of fortune with every chapter.

I'm no novice at listening to thrillers. Even the ones with characters who's sense of right and wrong is constantly at odds with their actions does not leave me scratching my head like this one did. In this world of corporate finance, espionage, and secretive agencies there is no black and white because everything is painted medium gray.

It can and did keep my interest in this case due to the pacing, story development, and skill of the voice actors. But the sticky, gritty film left on my brain has no taste and no form. Only time will wash it out. I know you're a good guy, Travis Devine, I'm glad that in the end, you came away with the knowledge that everyone around you was just a reprehensible as you worry you are.

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The niggles of suspense are all that kept me

Revisado: 09-27-21

First, there was enough here to keep me working on my home projects without too much irritation. I listen to a lot of audio books (only audible knows...) primarily when it's time to focus on a physical project normally at my home and normally when I don't anticipate disruption. I often work and listen late into weekend nights. Most of my listens are head candy and again, I work while I listen.

I'm no stickler for consistency in characters or plot, so far as I am sufficiently entertained and there's no heavy handed social messaging going on. Also, I can't abide constant profanity or sexual storytelling particularly when it's totally amoral or serves no purpose other than the writer's obvious play at a movie script or simple shock value. Thankfully, this story dances around Americana and wholesome small town goodness sufficient to neither offend or mollify anyone.

And here you go...the males are all, to a man, one track acts of singular ignorance coupled with such decisive actions that their DNA must be controlling them right down to their thoughts.

The women are likewise perfectly consistent, but seemingly adept at mind reading - and especially good at correctly interpreting our heroin's feelings and needs.

The pedigreed boyfriend/fiance - a successful surgeon no less - is so unbelievably idiotic I tried to switch off all internal character analysis 2/3's of the way through.

Finally, consider this fellow readers - have you ever known or heard of a human being capable of setting and keeping such lofty and intellectually difficult goals that they could reach a medical residency in surgery... and in the space if a few challenging days be willing to turn course on their life's direction? Sure, people change course all the time. But, the mental and emotional confusion exhibited by the main character would make you think she'd left home at 16, gone to a year of cosmetology school, and was not sure about her career path going forward.

But at least her "medical training" kicks in every now and then because she "knows human anatomy", can check for a pulse, read medical charts, and think that her father who's recovering from a massive heart attack should become a vegetarian. I point this out because her intellectual training sure doesn't. And, I mean, never.

Oh wait, she drives a Nissan Leaf. Never mind.

I'm being overly harsh, because there is certainly some skill involved here from the author, and the suspense is decent. Narration is great for the females, pretty horrible for the males.

I was disappointed at the abrupt ending, and will stop at this first book in the series.

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Great narration. wonderful story for long trips

Revisado: 07-10-19

My kids and i loved this story. And Tyler Whitesides was such an entertaining narrator. His voices were so fun. My kids would say, "Hey, that sounds like Darth Vader!" or "Yoda" We also heard Sean Connery and Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon. Super fun.

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Into the minds of sociopaths

Revisado: 10-27-16

If you could sum up The Kind Worth Killing in three words, what would they be?

captivating, engrossing, disturbing

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I've never listened to these narrators before that I'm aware of (I'm new to audible and audio-books in general), but the were fantastic. Some reviewers have had issues - but for me, they were each great. Particularly the narrators who portrayed Ted and Lily. Fantastic.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

To avoid spoilers, I stick with the timely insertion of humor - the pace and twists kept me absolutely riveted to this book.

Any additional comments?

Hold on to something - this is going to pull you in. Each of the characters is flawed - in massive ways. And yet, here I am telling you this is a great book. How did the author pull that off? I'm still wondering how I found myself actually rooting in the back of my mind for Lily. What? We're dealing with sociopaths here, honest and true. No morals, no character, no redemption. But wow, what an amazing pace and story to pull me moment to moment. I went into this without any knowledge of the book except the stars, and decided this many good reviews can't be too off. I'm glad I did, but also am a bit disturbed by the whole experience. The author's skill is matched by the effortless and effective narration, which delivers the story in an almost emotionless tone, that matches the lack of human empathy of the main characters. This is entertainment and escape, that delivers its twists in an alarmingly believable way - that made me forget how disturbing each of these main characters are. In the end, I hope their influence is the kind worth forgetting ;-).

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