Chris D

This was probably the most poorly done of the series so far. The announcer at the beginning of each section kept saying "Chloe Steele" instead of Amanda Phillipson. Chloe is the characters name, not the actress. Which brings me to the annoyance of having to listen to it end and begin each section with an announcer and music. There seeems to be a lot of wasted time with inserted music considering each chapter is about twenty minutes long, five is wasted with music. This is a complaint about the whole series, not just this one book. I chose to write it here because of how extra annoying this one was with the mistakes.

It has a slow start, middle and kooky ending, but believe it or not, between them it a good story that moves along well. I'd give it a higher rating, but felt the ending was a let down.

I've read Koontz for a very long time, and although the narration quality is excellent, the book itself is lacking. I'm wondering if the publisher got greedy and split the book with another one coming soon. Lots of unanswered questions and it leaves you hanging. With under an hour left, it just wraps up so quick it is tough to believe. The first Odd Thomas is the best, the second was okay and this one is lacking.

I give four stars to the book and one to the reader. This is why there are professionals who read books. The author has a lisp that made me wince every time he would get to CIA (or thee eye a). Someone really should have talked him into getting Scott Brick or the like to handle this long book. Subject matter was great otherwise.

I'm a big Hiassen fan, but this book seemed lacking from his other work. Maybe it was the absense of Skink :) but the characters didn't seem to gel and the story ran along without much happening. Hopefully his next book will get back on track.

It's a hard lesson learned, but this is why some write and others read. This book was unlistenable at parts. Yet, I enjoyed the historical aspects of the book, but couldn't care less about the characters. I haven't seen the movie, but can't even begin to think how they put this into a script. It was plodding, long and the narrative just never ended. A tree description could take minutes...actual minutes.

The ongoing and unprofessional bickering between two of the characters was so laughable, it stole from the story. I agree that this seemed to be not up to par with Da Vinci, et al. The narrator (Richard Poe) is the most problematic. I've had other books with him, not thinking to look at books by reader, and it becomes very hard to listen to him swallow endless amounts of spit through this book. Anyone else hear this? Swallow, gulp, pause, slurp. It's like listening to someone swallow endlessly. Very grating.

If you don't read this book, I'll kill one duck a day (goose) until there are no more ducks (geese).:) Really funny. I loved it and will listen to it again.

I have to say I'm surprised by others bad reviews, but that's what makes us all different I guess.:) I loved this book. Much more than Empire Falls (which earned him a Pulitzer). His character development and caring for them was brilliant. That fact that Sully doesn't change is what makes it wonderful. Things changed around Sully. No Disney ending here, with I've been wrong, now I'm better off for it stuff. Just plain, simple life. And I love his explanation of the "stupid streak" coming on. You know it's wrong, you know it's going to screw things up, but you just can't help yourself sometimes.:)

This was easily one of the best audio books I've heard to date. In fact, I think it works even better as an audio book vs written text. The acting was subperb! I think he should have stopped with Vietnam but that's just a personal opinion. The WWII letters were absolutely gripping and even brought a few tears to my eyes hearing the fear in their written words. Fantastic!