Agnes and the Hitman

De: Jennifer Crusie, Bob Mayer

Narrado por: Sandra Burr

Duración: 12 h y 6 m

Resumen del Editor

Take one food writer named Cranky Agnes, add a hitman named Shane, mix them together with a Southern mob wedding, a missing necklace, two annoyed flamingos, and a dog named Rhett, and you've got a recipe for a sexy, hilarious novel about the disastrous side of true love...

Agnes Crandall's life goes awry when a dognapper invades her kitchen one night, seriously hampering her attempts to put on a wedding that she's staked her entire net worth on. Then a hero climbs through her bedroom window. His name is Shane - no last name, just Shane - and he has his own problems: He's got a big hit scheduled, a rival trying to take him out, and an ex-mobster uncle asking him to protect some little kid named Agnes. When he finds out that Agnes isn't so little, that his uncle has forgotten to mention a missing five million bucks he might have lost in Agnes' house, and that his last hit was a miss, Shane's life isn't looking so good, either. Then a bunch of lowlifes come looking for the money, a string of hitmen show up for Agnes, and some wedding guests gather with the intent to throw more than rice. Agnes and Shane have their hands full with greed, florists, treachery, flamingos, mayhem, mothers of the bride, and - most dangerous of all - each other.

©2007 Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (P)2007 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Ditzy Agnes?

I've recently become a fan of Jennifer Crusie and I think the "Hitman" book is a nice addition to her list of titles. The book itself seems to be a lot of fun; the characters are a little stereotypical but it's fitting for the genre and entertaining nonetheless. My biggest problem with the book was the narrator. The Cranky Agnes character could be a lot of fun for a narrator to read and this could have been one of those books that enhances the writing with a great narration. But to me it sounded like the narrator was going for a Marilyn Monroe-esque voice for Agnes that, in my opinion, did not fit with the descriptions, dialogue or character. The other characters talked at times about their fear of Agnes when she is angry, but the little breathy Marilyn voice just didn't strike fear into my heart. I didn't hear Cranky Agnes, I heard Ditzy Agnes.

I agree with other reviewers that the echo chamber effect used when characters are thinking is annoying and unnecessary, plus very difficult to hear. A good narrator is generally able to distinguish thinking from dialogue with vocal inflections and I have almost never found myself confused as to what is a thought versus dialogue in other audiobooks. It's still a good book, and it's still a fun listen, but I think it could have been a lot more with some different choices on the part of the narrator and producer.

Total Enjoyment

What I have found to be typical Jennifer Crusie! Fun with great twists and turns. This is book you enjoy reading so much that you wish it could go on and on. Enjoy this book and all of its intriguing characters.

Took a bit getting use to

The narrator is distracting, and takes away from the story, but the story itself if fun. I enjoyed the characters. It definitely took me a while to get into the story, because of the narrator.

agnes and the hitman

what a terrific read! light, funny, a bundle of laughs. It was a great read, I will look for more from Jennifer Cruise

Laughter, suspense, intrigue, giggles & sex

This is the 2nd Crusie book I read. The pairing with Mayer really makes it sing. The narrator makes it perfect. This has a perfect combination of outrageous humor, spine tingling intrigue and, I never thought I'd say this, explicit sex. Somehow it works. I had read the printed book and passed it around friends and relatives, then heard the sample of the Audible version and got it. The narrator does an outstanding performance, all the voices, characters come alive, right off the page. Somehow she does male, female, accents, the characters performances, all of it. Amazing!

Wish I had sight-read this one

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would definitely recommend this book because it was fun and creative but I am sorry to say I can???t recommend the audiobook. The performance of the narrator was good but what the editing did to her performance was annoying. When Burr was reading something that was being though by a character, they edited her voice to sound like it was in a cave. It was very distracting and I did not like it at all.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I usually identify with the female characters because I???m female and I did enjoy Agnus??? character, but I also loved what the author did for Shane. He entered the story with not much pomp and took several turns as you discovered more about him. I like the way the story about him was told.

How could the performance have been better?

Golly ! take out the annoying echo thingie when characters were thinking. I think they picked a female narrator because the main character was female. She did a good job of voices for each character though many were from the same family and had very similar male voices, she did a good, not excellent, but good job. Maybe a male narrator would have been a better choice.

Awesome!!

I love this book!! At first, the reader's southern accent threw me, but then it grew on me and made the story even more awesome.

loved it

whei I listened the first time, I ejoied it, but now after 4 times I love it. It's light, fun and has just enough romance.

Love Jennifer Crusie But

The story was fun and enjoyable EXCEPT that there are many times the characters are thinking, and the narration is in an echo chamber. It is very hard to understand what they are saying (thinking) I have hearing problems and it was even hard with my noise canceling head phones. If you are going to make a character think, try a whisper, not an echo chamber. I know I missed a lot because of this, that is why only 3 stars. It wasn't the narrators it was the production.

Pure Crusie and Mayer magic!

Been a fan of Jennifer Crusie for decades, love her zany characters and zippy storytelling, I’m slow to try out new authors. Nevertheless I was wanting to read a new JC book and decided to give “Wild Ride” a try. Boy was I happy that I did! The JC magic was there and Mayer provided an additional layer in terms of the male character’s voice and background (Mayer is former military) and it made a wonderful story. Agnes and the Hitman did not disappoint. Perhaps to some the career choice of Shane is off-putting, but come on people it’s fiction! To me Agnes did not come across as whiny as some reviewers said, I believe being abandoned by her parents and subsequent failed relationships made her feel insecure in between bouts of anger. I really enjoyed reading these two people, who at the beginning feel abandoned and lost, come together and find each other, and together with their crazy family members find love and belonging and contentment.

As for the narration - I LOVED Sandra Burr’s interpretation of the character’s voices. She was able to inject unique nuances and tones with each character - quite a feat when JC and BM tends to have many characters! As for the thought bubbles or echo tunnel voices, it was a bit strange in the beginning but I got used to it really quick and appreciated it because you can clearly hear when the characters are thinking, rather than speaking. It was part of the charm. I did not find Burr’s depiction of Agnes to be ditzy, she didn’t come across breathing the words, but I can see those familiar with JC’s previous female characters are usually quite ballsy, and perhaps the nickname “Cranky Agnes” prejudiced some people’s perception of how Agnes should have come a crossed.

Bottom line, I love the story, love the narration and am enjoying playing it again and again because it is so entertaining.