C. Vincent

No. I found myself wishing the book would JUST end. It was interminable. When the book got to nearing the end of the first part, at that point I wasn't able to conceive how it would continue another 7 or so hours. Unlikeable characters, truly ridiculous story. Just when the author makes one think it's solved, he throws in another wrench and I found myself saying, "Just stop." I can suspend some disbelief, but this book went way beyond that. Semi-SPOILER: So really, an entire town is corrupt and evil? No one in the town has a conscience or moral compass? And is the reader really supposed to believe that the crimes were all forgotten and that the numerous people involved all kept these secrets for 11 years?

"14" by Peter Clines

He really was wonderful and if it hadn't been for him I wouldn't have finished it at all.

Not read/listen to, another book by this author.

I guess just this is a case of "to each his own." Obviously many, many people enjoyed this book, but I'm not one of them. I enjoy Michael Connelly, Lee Child (not A Wanted Man), John Connolly, Don Winslow, Lincoln Child and John Sanford - maybe if you're reading this and you love those authors too, you will feel the same about this book as I do.

I've read numerous (9? 10? 12?) Harlan Coben books - Myron Bolitar tales as well as the suspense fiction novels Coben's known for. Like many of his suspense novels I can envision this being made into a movie - and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Fully-developed characters, excellent, driving storyline and as I've already said twice - suspenseful. The fact that I was pretty sure of the outcome (turned out I was right) several chapters from the end, did nothing to detract from my enjoyment of the story. The author is very good at looking into the human condition and giving his characters, often-times, fatal flaws. One of the things I liked about this story is that in my "listen to Audible for days on end, then not listen to Audible for days on end" fashion, I was able to listen to this irregularly and be engaged right away and I didn't need to go back a chapter or 2 for a refresher because of a convoluted tale. This book was just as I expected from the author and that's a good thing. On occasion he has let me down, but this wasn't one of those times. The 2 main "evil-doers" are horrid and I was tempted to skip past a few sections involving them and their "interviewing" techniques, but didn't. I think in many instances it was more what wasn't said, than what was, and unfortunately my imagination went into overdrive. There are some cliched sections, but again, this didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book. I could easily have given this 5 stars overall based on my expectations from Coben and his type of story, but decided to go with 4 since I prefer to use 5 for mostly perfect ones. I'll just leave it at "this is the best for this genre." Scott Brick as narrator - excellent job, simply put. He does it just right. Not over-the-top and doesn't try to do female voices (I really hate that). This would have been a great beach listen (at least for me).

I may try another by Reynolds and definitely would listen to another read by Lee if it was material I liked.

The story was relatively easy to follow, but I didn't feel there was much of a pay off in the end. This book was very highly rated so I was disappointed. Initially it grabbed me with the intrigue and antagonists in "Paris" but once the story moved away from Paris I felt it slowed considerably. I didn't find it credible that one of the main characters so easily swallowed the main premise of the plot with barely any shock or dismay. Sort of a SEMI -SPOILER (well, at least until you get a little ways into the book, I'm not giving away a major twist or anything) : I also had an issue with the female protagonist espousing views about the "humans" on earth not really being human so why should it matter if they are killed since they don't really "exist" anyway, and later in the book she has a problem with one of the antagonists stating the exact thing - ?? So I guess I would have heightened the suspense towards the ends and changed her views on what I just mentioned (totally contradictory). I really was interested through most of the book, but I just consider it light entertainment, not riveting (but did find it to be so for about the first 4 hours).

no.

Nope to both. I listened to Dick Hill do Jack Reacher with a busted nose in "A Wanted Man" and thought that was torture. This narration too, is really no exception. He might be decent doing a non-fiction nature book or something, but his voice just grates, I can't differentiate between the characters and his voice is too old for this. This is another book I made the mistake of getting based on the overall stars as opposed to reading individual reviews. Both books (this and Monster Hunters International) I bought around the same time, so I've learned my lesson. When this book first started I thought it would be a fun, fast-paced action read, especially when Natan said something like "I'm reading to kick some ass..", but then he said it again a few chapters later and turns out I was wrong on all counts. I have yet to discern much of a plot, okay there is one, but it seems like it's filler, just so Nathan can go kick ass. Trite and tiresome. I'm not into the whole torture for tortures sake and that's what this is all about. I will admit it's another that I have not finished (3 1/2 hours in) and have no plans to do so - I don't see the bad writing somehow becoming good. From a former Marine.

Take some writing classes.

Too old, too ponderous

Nope

Guns, guns and guns. I was in the Marines for 8.5 years, but come on. The kind of gun, the ammo, the damage the ammo does, how fast it can be fired and reloaded, the look, the color, the size..... Methinks the author is compensating for something. Cliched characters - tiresome. I didn't find it remotely (okay, maybe remotely) funny and I know the author thought much of his "witty" dialogue was humorous, but I didn't think so. I bought it strictly on the stars, neglecting to look at individual reviews - Big mistake. Tonight, I decided to look at reviews to figure out how it was rated so high. I looked several of the lower rated reviews over and decided that I blew it and should have read them thoroughly before - it would have saved me several hours of my life. Totally in agreement with the reviewers commenting on all the rightwing and libertarian slant - it didn't mesh and didn't fit - seemed to be tossed in so the author can make his hard driving point. I also don't find myself attached to, or caring about, the main character Nate. I don't even care if he dies (I'm sure he won't). I enjoyed the first chapter or so and then to me it just sailed off into boredom shortly after the werewolf episode. I just don't care.

Undecided between serious "The Lieutenants" and escapist "Stay Close."

Some of the voices were pretty decent, but unfortunately I found Nate's voice to be irritating/grating. It always seemed a little too much... too much drama, too much of a chuckle in the tone, just too much.

Boredom. So poorly written that I thought I missed a section and went back and forth on my iPod and realized, I hadn't missed anything - just a disjointed, dull, book.

Spoiler - I didn't finish and don't plan on it anytime soon. I just don't care. Not scary enough or funny enough to interest me. This comes from a Buffy and Evil Dead lover - those were done right, this wasn't. I also enjoy Michael Connelly, Don Winslow, John Connolly (mostly), Laura Lippman and Robert Crais - to name but a few.

Yes. Long, involved story that was not too difficult to follow and kept me very interested. Fully-developed characters with a fallible, believable protagonist. No one in the book did anything so stupid that I wanted to throw up my hands in disgust - reactions seemed genuine. Very suspenseful.

The overall twists and turns in the plot.

Enhanced, but did not overwhelm the overall story. Just the right amount of emphasis for my taste without being bland.

The Snowman brings death, who will be next?

Absolutely. Intricate, detailed story that unfolds nicely as the book progresses. The characters and their actions and reactions are authentic. I enjoy it when characters seem genuine and his were pretty well-fleshed out. If I had been reading this book it would have been "one I couldn't put down." The narration by Joe Barrett was spot-on. I can envision him doing Jack Reacher. There weren't too many characters that made it difficult to remember who was who, but there was plenty going on to keep me very interested. The book was fast-paced and didn't have unnecessary details as filler. If you enjoy Michael Connelly, Lee Child (except for his latest), etc. you will enjoy Trigger City.

The protagonist, Ray, of course. Fallible, genuine and fully-developed.

No.

Can the real secret be uncovered before the next person dies?