Mike

A fascinating view into the world of what has to be the most extreme of extreme sports, deep wreck diving. Kurson conveys a treasure chest of historical and technical information, all wrapped in a gripping high-tension narrative. What is most fantastic is the fact that it?s true-every word.

The story invites comparison to works such as ?The Perfect Storm? and ?Touching the Void?; but it transcends those works and others of the genre by allowing the story to stand on its own. Knudson conveys what drives these men through the sheer power of description and story. He doesn?t interject himself or attempt to process the information for us. His meticulous research and winning prose style render that unnecessary.
Listeners will be treated to an education in wreck diving as well as a slice of history. The fear and excitement is palpable in every dive. This is a one of a kind story.

In Rain Gods, Burke takes the same narrative style found in his Dave Robicheaux series and transplants it to Southern Texas. We have a new assortment of, as Dave would say, "moral imbeciles" pursuing and being pursued by the novel's protagonist, Hackberry Holland, an aging lawman. It's "No Country For Old Men", but with Burke's special brand of dialogue and narration as opposed to the lean, stripped down style of McCarthy. Will Patton, as always, does a great job of telling the story but not getting in the way of it. Once again Burke does a great job of exploring the darker side of humanity and the road to redemption. However, Hackberry's sidekick, Pam Tills, is a poor substitute for Clete Purcell.