Crystal

A real treat, this newest of John Sandford, and I've listened to them all. Full of twists and surprises. I finished and immediately replayed it, to listen for clues and connections I missed the first time around (many!). The narrator doesn't have Richard Ferrone's gravelly voice, but has an effective tone and pace of his own that I got used to within a few minutes. Appropriately, he sounds just like midwesterners I've known, so his characters are convincing and the narration is enjoyable. Yup, a real treat!

I thought folks in earlier reviews may have been overly-sensitive to Ferrone's female voices. I've listened to entire series of work read by Ferrone and never heard a glimmer of what they complained about.

Now that I've dragged myself through this painfully awkward story, I agree entirely with their opinions. Fairey's character was like Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars I--an annoying character that dragged a 3-star story down to 1-star.

Note that I LOVE Sandford's stories. I've read or listened to everything he's written. Some, like Rules of Prey, more than 6 or 7 times...some, like Heat Lightning and Broken Prey, I replayed as soon as I'd finished to see if they were as good as I thought---and they were.

So if you want to try Sandford for the first time, skip this one. It doesn't do justice to Sandford or Ferrone. If you've enjoyed other audible's by the duo, re-listen to something you already have or find something else by them. Pretend that this one never happened.

Yup, this was a very descriptive book, with lots of detail about the world of 'racetracking', and if you're a Dick Francis fan it's interesting to hear about horse racing from an American groom's perspective instead of the British jockey's. The story had some surprising twists, and the slower paced story suits the nature of the protagonist for the duration. While not as 'book-y' as the others, it was enjoyable, though I enjoyed the others more. This one gets 4 stars because I gave his other books 5 stars.