Preview
  • Hit the Beach

  • By: Len Levinson
  • Narrated by: Ray Porter
  • Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (77 ratings)

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Hit the Beach

By: Len Levinson
Narrated by: Ray Porter
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Publisher's summary

They love to fight and live to kill!

Start with an insane sergeant with a genius for leadership and a lust for blood. Add a bank robber. A racketeer. A guy who goes berserk on the battlefield. A gun-happy Texan. A silent Apache. A movie stuntman who swings from trees. Put them all together and you have the killing machine known as… the Rat Bastards.

©1983 Len Levinson (P)2012 Audible, Inc.
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Editorial reviews

Question: How can a soldier fighting in the Battle of Guadalcanal, the first major Allied offensive against Japan in World War Two, keep a cigarette between his lips, his gun firing, and his mouth running a stream of profanities all at the same? Answer: He’s a Rat Bastard.

The Rat Bastards are the invention of Len Levinson, a story slinger with over 60 novels to his name, and Hit the Beach is the first installment in the Bastards series. For those who prefer action to contemplation, Hit the Beach is a nonstop party of mud, blood, and over-sized soldiers. Performed in a spirited and gruff but crystal-clear voice by American Shakespearean Ray Porter, Hit the Beach is a pulpy war thriller for the ear.

What listeners say about Hit the Beach

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not my usual genre. I was pleasantly surprised!

I went into this with low expectations. Simply because I favor Fantasy and Sci-fi. Now I am about to buy Book 2 and looking forward to it. The narrator killed it. Really great job.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gritty, violent, profane…GREAT FUN.

Perfect narration. Porter is unparalleled in his ability to create different voices for different characters.

Story is profane, violent, and exciting. EXCELLENT PULP!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Ray Porter delivers

You can find this full review and all of my other reviews at audiobookreviewer dot com

I expected nothing less than another great performance from Ray Porter and again he delivers a jaw dropping heart pumping narration. He was a perfect voice because of all of the character vocalization he accomplishes with seemingly little effort. Porter is a master of keeping the rhythm of the story moving the way I would think the author would want. I was thoroughly entertained by some of the voices he choose to use and some sounded familiar from other book he has narrated, not a bad thing at all. Ray Porter will continue to be one of my go to narrators, trusting that he can make a story more interesting than it might really be.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

HIT THE BEACH? HIT THIS BOOK!

The action in this book NEVER stops! The book is over before you know it.
I have to admit that I could probably listen to Ray Porter read the phone book. Ray Porter has to be one of my favorite narrators out there. Keep in mind that this is not 'Helmet for My Pillow' by Robert Leckie. There is a little bit of fact wrapped up with a lot of action packed fiction. With 600 audio books under my belt, this series is on my short list.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

action packed from beginning

This book hits the ground running and never looks back. Ray Porter is fastly becoming one of my favorite Narrators. If you like gritty war stories this is a must listen

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Action filled book, but unbelievable at times.

I purchased this book out because i wanted to listen to more from the Narrator Ray Porter, the narrator of excellent book 14 by Peter Clines. Ray Porter did not disappoint once again top class narration.

As for the story its a fast paced action packed roller coaster. I think the character development was a bit on the shallow side however.

Where this book disappoints is sections of the action seem totally absurd. Its not at all clear why the Japanese soldiers are not using their rifles and shooting down the heros of the story, how on earth is the sergeant of the platoon able to kill multiple charging Japanese soldiers with an axe over and over again. It may have been more plausible if the author provided some excuse of as to why the Japanese were not able to use their rifles.

Despite my misgivings I liked the book and will give book 2 a try.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding!

The story and performance were top-notch - I had trouble putting it down. The story moved at a fast pace and the characters were believable. The performance was great - the narrator really worked well with the story. I am looking forward to the next in the series. My only complaint and why I rated it 4/5 overall was the production itself. Chapter 6 ends in mid-sentence. I have to find one of the paperbacks to see what happened.

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