Amber LeClaire

It's no "Spite House", that's for sure

Reviewed: 11-21-24

I have to start by saying I absolutely loved Compton's first book, "Spite House." PHENOMENAL. I could not wait for his second book to come out and I even pre-ordered it.
After the first few chapters of "Devils Kill Devils", I knew we were in trouble. I found my mind wandering as I was listening to the book. By chapter 10 or 11 I was struggling to even finish it. The lumbering backstory is just TOO MUCH. By Chapter 30, with only two hours left to go, I was fast forwarding through parts so I wouldn't doze off.
The book is light in character development (I never grew to care what happened to any of these characters) and way too heavy on sprawling exposition. And while the narrator has a lovely voice, it added to the lulling quality that this book did not need.
I'm not giving up on Johnny Compton. "Spite House" could not have been a fluke. But this book was a solidly disappointing follow-up.

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Enjoyed the story, the narration was subpar

Reviewed: 09-10-24

I think I could have loved this story. But the narrator, Jim Hempel, whose voice I actually really like, was not a good narrator. The story itself has a lot going for it. It's engaging and well-paced. But it was hard to follow because the narrator voiced all characters very similarly. Men, women, children...everyone sounded SO similar that it was difficult to tell who was who in conversation. A good narrator can improve a mediocre story, but a lackluster narrator can ruin a good one. Narrators like Jim Dale, Jane Oppenheimer, Seth Nummerich and other high caliber narrators give PERFORMANCES of books they narrate. Hempel just gave us a reading. So performance gets an average grade from me, but the story was pretty engaging.

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Tense and gripping thriller!

Reviewed: 05-10-24

Horror/Supernatural is usually my go-to genre. But based on reviews, I decided to give Frieda McFadden's "Housemaid" a go. And am I glad I did! When I say it kept me guessing, I mean it. I would think about this book when I wasn't even listening to it. "Just WHAT is happening here..." The book flows SO well and even tho I couldn't wait to know how it ended, I was sorry that it did. But I'm simply moving on to the SECOND Housemaid book as this author has me hooked. Lauryn Allman's narration is perfection!

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Enjoyable S.K. Venture

Reviewed: 02-01-23

I read just about everything Stephen King puts out. This one was better than I expected going in (I say this because I am a fan of supernatural horror and this book is NOT that). But I find that Stephen King is a brilliant writer and shouldn't be pigeon-holed into one genre. This book proves that. Billy is an interesting character, but not extraordinary. And that's the charm of this story. He's a good man (he'd beg to differ) who kills bad people. But this story is so very much more than that. The narrator is TOP NOTCH and does a magnificent job of bringing these characters to life. Give it a listen.

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Insightful Revelations w/ Masterful Storytelling

Reviewed: 11-28-22

I remember the first time I heard U2 when I was 16 years old. "War". My neighbor came running over and said, "You've GOT to listen to this." I did and became one of the thousands of "U2's Number One Fan." That was 42 years ago. Since then, I've been to hundreds of concerts, read every book, have a library of bootleg albums and have flown to Ireland just to visit U2's history. I. Am. A. FAN to be reckoned with.
To hear Bono delve into the depths of U2's history...of HIS own personal history...was positively captivating. We all know the man is a story teller. But his delivery (complete with some pretty impressive impersonations) is beyond entertaining. He treats us to snippets of old lyrics with new deliveries and new lyrics that sound like they could've been on "Boy". He manages to bring us into the room with himself and the likes of Condaleeza Rice, Nelson Mandela, Frank Sinatra, Barack Obama, et al. without braggadocio or hints of elitism. We are just seated at the other end of the table, listening in on the conversation.
He lays open the wounds of his past so we have a greater insight into how he became the musician, the husband, the father, the bandmate and the man he is today. He owns up to his embarrassing foibles and missteps he's made along the way...honestly sharing the alienation suffered by his bandmates, Ali, his friends and family and sometimes, even us, his fans.
Considering he's had a life so completely filled to the top with activism, super stardom, leadership and 1/4 partnership in a marriage of four men (I'm perhaps unfairly excluding Paul McGuinness here) in one of the most successful bands in history...I never felt short-changed in the telling of his stories.
I learned SO MUCH about the band and the man I thought I knew so well...some moments in the book left me gasping out loud. (The story about playing the stadium in Tempe, Arizona and Adam Clayton's extraordinarily moving act of courage had me in a puddle of tears.)
There is a LOT here. And none of it is dull or sleepy...it is indeed Wide Awake. So even if you've READ the book, LISTEN to the book. You'll get so much more out of it. I have a little more than 2 hours left and I know I'm going to miss hearing stories from whom seems like one of my oldest friends. What an extraordinary man, telling it all (well, a LOT of it anyway) in the equally extraordinary book.

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Wonderful story, outstanding narration

Reviewed: 10-23-22

Not your “typical “ Stephen King fare, but all of his outstanding writing is! I enjoyed every second of this “not your father’s fairy tale”. And if Seth Numrich’s narrative performance doesn’t earn him an Audie for best performance then he will have been robbed. Simply perfect in every level.

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By far, my least favorite Koontz novel so far

Reviewed: 07-11-22

I'm surprised by the positive reviews of this book. I'm a Dean Koontz fan, but this book lacked in soooo many ways. The story was slow and meandering. The narrator didn't help with his lackluster performance. I suppose I keep looking for another book as great as Watchers, but maybe that is hoping for too much. Still, I expected MUCH better than I received in this drab story featuring characters so underdeveloped, I simply didn't care what happened to them in the end.

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2 people found this helpful