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Engaging story and great narration

Revisado: 11-27-19

My kids and I are loving this story! It's perfect for holiday travel! We especially love the variety of characters and the mystery. Recommend!

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Emotional torture. (In a good way.)

Revisado: 11-17-15

If you could sum up Twisted in three words, what would they be?

Gripping, hopeful, and PAINFUL.

What other book might you compare Twisted to and why?

The Haunted, also by Collings. I can't go into too much detail without spoilering it, but the themes of the haunted house and the family-centered story, plus the plot twists, all reminded me of THE HAUNTING.

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

I haven't, at least not that I know of, but this was a stellar performance.

If you could take any character from Twisted out to dinner, who would it be and why?

I would take that entire family, plus the courier, and RUN LIKE FREAKING HELL. We could eat when we were on the other side of the continent.

Any additional comments?

As much as I like Collings' skill as a plot-maker, I enjoy his ability to get inside heads even more. His characters were thick and rich and wonderful, which is why watching them suffer undeservedly hurt so much. I really think I'd like Collings no matter what genre he wrote because his people are always so real.Be aware, though, Collings is sometimes very merciful to his readers . . . and sometimes not.

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A Fun, Light Christmas Listen for the Holiday Mood

Revisado: 11-24-14

What did you love best about Sing We Now of Christmas?

The variety in the stories--the scenes, the settings, the genres. It's a really fun mashup.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. I like advent-type books, so I enjoyed spreading out the listens.

Any additional comments?

This is such a fun, bright listen. The stories are varied and delightful, ranging from tender to quirky, and the genres run the gamut, including (for example) romance, women's fiction, sci-fi, and tall tale. This book is family-friendly in that it's clean, but younger children won't get some of the stories or jokes, so this might not be your nightly family listen. Better to sit and sip a cup of something while unwinding under the Christmas lights.

A very solid holiday read. Definitely recommend.

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More Horror than Collings Other Books--A Good Read

Revisado: 06-27-14

Any additional comments?

I'm a huge MbC fan. I particularly love his supsense/supernatural/action stuff. I'm not as big a fan of classic gorey-horror, which this leans more towards.

What I loved about this book:
The symbolism. Like all horror, this is a morality tale. I loved the literary symbolism in the various train cars and their occupants' deaths.
The twists. Of course, you know that what you see is not what you get in a book like this, but even though I was second-guessing everything, there were lots of surprises.

What I didn't love as much:
The gore. It was pretty hard for me to keep listening through that. A lot of others would enjoy it, though, and it's a valid artistic decision for the genre and morality lesson of the book.

Overall, I'd recommend it to fans of classic horror. This is definitely not horror-lite, so be prepared if you decide to dive in.

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esto le resultó útil a 7 personas

A Mixed Box

Revisado: 05-05-14

Any additional comments?

It's hard to rate a mixed bag of stories, since some of them will likely be more to one's liking than others. Such is the case with this book.

Some of the stories are delightfully clever with happy, triumphant endings. Some of them are humorous, almost like long jokes with unexpected punchlines. Some of them are deeply haunting and socially insightful, and some of them stick with you because they are horrible and ugly, like skunk stink. You wish you could scrub them out of your brain, but you will never be able to. Alas, these are the risks we take when we read new authors.

Overall, will you like this book? Parts of it. If you're a cozy mystery fan, this book is probably not for you. These mysteries are not cozy. If you're a noir-fan, you'll like this a bit more. If you're up for a fair bit of mind-twisting, then plunge right in.

Content warning for those who care: Various stories in this book contain extreme profanity, adult content, and troubling themes.

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Not into hard SF, but this book hooked me.

Revisado: 05-05-14

Any additional comments?

I'm not a hard SF fan, but this book was recommended by Howard Tayler, a cartoonist whose literary taste I really respect. Upon looking it up, I saw that it had 4.6 stars. Sold!

What carries this book is the voice. The MC is lovably proactive, incredibly resourceful, and fundamentally--almost pathologically--happy. A few people on Goodreads found his attitude unrealistic, but the fact that he's an astronaut who was selected specifically for his psychological resilience makes his voice very believable to me.

The ingenuity of the author is the other thing that carries this book. With each setback, I thought, "How in the WORLD is Whatney going to get out of this?" and then somehow--some BELIEVABLE how--he actually did. It was quite impressive. To me, the ingenuity of the problem solving is one of the real pleasures of this book.

I don't know if I would have enjoyed this book as much in print format. I think some of the scientific explanations would have bored me had I not been able to listen to the lively narrator's voice meditating on them. As it was, however, I was like, "Yeah. Okay. I'm with you. LET'S DO THIS MATH!"

The two things that almost knocked this book down a star for me were the profanity and the (I felt) curtailed ending. I like cussing to be selective and warranted. I can totally get behind, "I'm stranded on Mars! @#%%!" But I felt that "Those mother$%^#ing rocks were heavy!" was excessive. Also, I would have liked to see more of the ending. The author made a different artistic choice, which I respect even though I think I would have enjoyed a more prolonged denouement. In the end, however, neither of these differences in taste brought my enjoyment of the book below "I loved it," so it gets five stars from me.

Definitely recommend to those who a) enjoy hard SF or b) enjoy a strong protag voice and c) can stomach a bit of excessive profanity if the story is good enough.

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A Compelling Start to a Series

Revisado: 05-05-14

Any additional comments?

I'm a sucker for small-town mysteries and multiple POVs, so this book was right up my alley. Tons of different characters---which the narrator and author do a good job of distinguishing from each other--and several small mysteries that undergird the overarching story. I'm not a huge fan of buying serial installments because they generally end up costing more than a couple of full-length books, so I can't comment on the rest of the series. I'm eagerly waiting for this book to be released as a single unit. It promises to be a great read! If you're interested in a quick, interesting hook and you don't mind being cliff-hung (or you're willing to spend the money in the serial components), start here!

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Gripping, fast, moving

Revisado: 03-06-14

Any additional comments?

Basically, I want an audiobook to sweep me away. The more it engages me, the less I think about the boring drive I'm making, the room I'm cleaning, the makeup I'm putting on. Colony SO delivered. There were no dead spots, no slow introspection. Just bam. End of the world. Then bam. Action and adventure. Then bam. Suspense. I loved it.

The characters are likable and hopeful. Mysterious and secretive and a little weird, certainly, but decent. Sometimes you read post-Apocalpytic fiction, and you think, "Humans are the worst. Why have we not already died en masse like the wretched swarm of cockroaches that we are?" But this book shows humans at their best, or at least at their most decent. I appreciated that. The zombies are freaky-weird (I need to grab the second one and find out wth is going on with this whole uber-bizarre zombie situation), but the humans are still acting like humans, not monsters.

All in all, if you're looking for a quick-paced, high-action, zombie read that won't make you despair of all hope for mankind, this is the one for you. Or even if you don't mind despairing of all hope for mankind and you just want a good zombie read, this is the one for you as well.

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esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

Taut, quick, it carried me away.

Revisado: 02-27-14

Any additional comments?

I follow and sometimes chat with Collings online, and I see him at conferences and conventions sometimes. When an author is this accessible, you sometimes forget that in addition to being an all-around nice guy, he is also a damn fine writer. I was reminded of that as I listened to "Strangers." Strangers has a literary--but not pretentious--writing style: visceral descriptions, deep character penetration, rich verbs that clench the scene. I loved how insightful the descriptions and narrative were--they added a whole other level of depth to the novel.

The characterization was fabulous. I felt like I really was inside the head of a tired, desperate, lonely, forty-something man. That sounds depressing, but it really wasn't. The character's voice is authentic and active, and even when he's exhausted and terrified, he's fighting, It was easy to follow along with the ride.

And the pacing was perfect. It grabbed me, it held me. The slow amping of tension as the family grows more desperate. The increased revelation of secrets. The twists on the classic horror tropes. lt was all great. Plus, it had the possibility of a sequel, which would be nice.

All in all, if you're looking for something to sweep you away while you put miles on the car or treadmill or load the dishwasher or fix the car or put on your makeup for the umpteenth time, this is a good pick! I'm thrilled that Collings has an Audible presence now and I and look forward to scooping up his other works.

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