David

Okay, the book was pretty good. A man is fighting to keep his family safe from people who want to kill anyone who did not see the lights in the sky. (Read the book to find out about that.) Lots of action. I was never bored. Regarding the story, however, I would have liked to see more of a description about what caused the madness in the first place. Instead, the book starts out with action, but no explanation. But overall, this was a fair story.

The narration, on the other hand, was sub-par. The voices he used for the characters was horrible. The main character sounded like someone trying to do an impression of a constipated Batman from the old TV series. The main character's wife was whiny. Just not good overall. My wife listened to this after I did, and she thought the narration was very bad as well. I know Phil Gigante is a popular narrator. I'm not sure if I have listened to him before, but his performance in this book was not good.

I was out of credits, but put this one on the credit card because I enjoyed "Plum Island" so much.

Although I kind of liked "Plum Island" better, this was a good, solid thriller. I love DeMille's character in John Corey. No political correctness here. Cynical--actually hilarious in his cynicism. I found myself actually laughing at his wit; it takes a lot to make me laugh. This author tells a story very well. Long book, but well worth it. DeMille may have spent a tad too much time describing the terrorist's tracking down of his targets, but this is only a minor criticism.

Too much vulgarity for my tastes, but, oh well, what can I do about that? Have to put up with it to enjoy the story.

Scott Brick: One of the best, if not THE best of narrators. He's my favorite right now anyway. This is one of his "straight-laced" performances. Although I prefer his more emotive works, he's still solid five stars when he narrates in this fashion.

I definitely don't regret the credit card charge for this one. Kept my interest. Very entertaining.

No one tells a story as good as Stephen King, in my opinion. This is a 45-hour book, but I never got tired of it.

Can't say that there was one great memorable moment. King weaves the story and the lives of the characters wonderfully.

Steven Weber is an excellent narrator. One of the best, if this book is any indication. His tone, inflection, voices for different characters were all spot on.

Lots of bad language and a few scenes that go too far. I've heard worse from King, though. It's pretty typical Stephen King regarding the language.

In the past, I've had very good luck picking out books to listen to. Almost all of them have been excellent. However, this was the first book that I really came close to quitting more than once. I don't know why I decided to endure to the end. Maybe I'm a masochist.

Oh, man, where do I start? You should know that I really like this genre. I enjoy zombie/apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic books, and have listened to quite a few great ones. The genre is not the problem. The book is written in first person journal entries. That's not the problem, either. The main problems, as I see it, are the annoyances all throughout the novel. Some are little, and some are big. They add up, though, and by the end I felt weighed down with them. The book is replete with cliches, over-the-top melodrama, and needless repetitions, not to mention the times when he states suppositions as fact.

These may not be exact quotes, but I got awfully tired of hearing things like:
"Things were really bad, but they were just about to get much worse."
"The situation couldn't be any bleaker."
"The situation was much more chaotic than we'd foreseen."
Or how he would start journal entries by saying, "I'm still alive ..."

One example of how he stated conjecture as fact was when they were in the city and found a vehicle whose ante-apocalypse driver had left the key turned and the door opened. Here's the quote: "The driver had stopped the car so abruptly, he'd left the motor running. It idled for weeks, until it ran out of gas and died."

Okay, anyone see the issues with that statement? How does he know the circumstance of the driver? How did he know it idled for weeks before it ran out of gas? Maybe the tank was low and it idled for two hours before it died, or for two days.

That wasn't the only part like that, either. You may think I'm nitpicking, but things like that bug me, especially with everything else this author did. It all added up to the point that I was about to explode.

I know, I know. Just turn the Audible player off, and quit listening to the stupid book already, right? Well, to repeat myself, for some reason, I chose to endure to the end. I wanted to beat myself over the head with my phone, but I listened to every bit of it.

Oh, and here's this: At one point (thankfully near the end of the book) he said that because of an oncoming fire, the smoke in the air had reduced the visibility to 1/8 of a mile. Then, like two sentences later, he said that he could "clearly see the flames moving over the hills." He goes on to describe in detail how the fire was consuming everything in its path, and he stated that the fire was moving extremely fast because of the wind. The next thing the author said is that in 15 minutes the fire would be at his location. So, if visibility is so low, how can the character see these details so clearly, when the fire--which is moving very fast--is still fifteen minutes away? Argh!

And what's his problem with using the word "zombie"? He referred to them as just about every name possible except for "zombie." What's up with that?

Just to throw this in: The ending was unsatisfactory as well, in my opinion. To be honest, I was satisfied that it finally ended, but I was unsatisfied with how it ended.

Okay, I'm going to quit bashing, and move on to some slightly redeeming qualities of the book. There was one area of the book where it was interesting enough that I either ignored the aforementioned issues, or they really weren't there to hear. I don't know which. Without giving too much away, I'll just say that it involves the scenes where the main character and his friend make it back from their mission to the ship. If you've read the book, then you know what I'm talking about. If you are planning to read the book (poor soul), then you will know when you get to it.

I will steer clear of this author in the future. Lesson learned.

The narrator, IMHO, got dragged down with the book. This is the first time I've listened to him, and I am willing to give him another try. As I've heard, you can't turn poo-poo into honey. I don't think any narrator could overcome the inherent obstacles of this book and end up smelling pretty.

If you really like the genre and are starving for something to read/listen to, then go ahead and give it a try. (Yeah, like you need my permission.) But you have been forewarned. And maybe keep a baseball bat handy. You may need it.

Two things disappointed me. My first problem with this book is that all throughout the author has no qualms about foul-mouthed characters and using the Lord's name in vain, over and over again. Okay, a little cussing I can deal with, but this was too much times a hundred.The second part that I didn't like is that the ending was definitely not satisfactory. I'm not going to be a spoiler here, so I'll just say that it seems as if the author is either setting up for a sequel, or just needed to hurry and find a way to end the book. He left too much of the book unanswered. I didn't like that.

I've never listened to Keene's books.

I think Eric Medler did an excellent job with the narration. His narration definitely helped bring the voices to life. I've never heard him before. I will check out and see what else he's narrated.

I didn't like the high school punk. I'm not sure, but I think they called him "T." I was hoping his character would die soon.

The book only cost me a buck.99, so, well, at least there's that. The story was interesting, but the bad language annoyed me all the way through, and the ending stunk.

I loved the first book in the Joe Ledger series, "Patient Zero." This one is just not as good. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I used a credit to get this, but, I don't know, it's probably just a taste thing. I like weird, but perhaps "The Dragon Factory" is just a little too weird in the wrong way for me. Maybe I just liked the zombie plot of the first book better. Again, a taste thing.

However, I will definitely listen to the rest of the series, and am looking forward to doing so.

Ray Porter again does a masterful narration. He's definitely in the top echelon of storytellers.

This is my first time to *read* a book by Jonathan Maberry or listen to one narrated by Ray Porter, and I am truly impressed.

It was a very good, solid book in its plot and direction, and quite different from other apocalyptic zombie books. Instead of starting with apocalypse and a handful of people struggling to survive, we get a chance to see how the particular form of zombieism portrayed in this book develops from the ground floor, and how a secret government agency is attempting to stop it before it spirals out of control. Although I quite like the other type of zombie books (fighting to stay alive against all odds), this was a refreshing take on the story. Having said that, the plot, direction, and refreshing take would mean very little if not crafted and written well by the author. Maberry commands the written word and, to me, sits in the upper echelon of writers (if this single book is any indication). The next link is the storyteller. If the narrator is subpar, the masterful writing would almost go to waste on an audiobook. No fear hear. Porter, too, is one of the best. I rank him up in the top three or four narrators that I've had the pleasure to hear. His range is pure gold. He has such a seemingly natural grasp on every character and every situation. You are never wondering who in the book is supposed to be speaking, as Porter has all the voices, all the accents down to a tee.

My favorite genres are mystery and suspense, thrillers, some sci-fi and horror, and I like books with a touch of the supernatural. My favorite authors are Steven King and Dean Koontz. On this recent zombie kick I've been on, I've listened to WWZ, the Zombie Fallout series, Day by Day Armageddon, and now I'm starting the Joe Ledger series. I very seldom give a book three sets of five stars, but this one truly deserves it.

I just really like the Odd Thomas series. I listened to the first four books in the series back to back to back to back, and finished them about three months ago. It was cool to see Koontz release a new one.

If you liked the previous books in the series, you will probably like this one as well. It was very similar to the others in the fact that you have the same unassuming Odd Thomas, with his wit and humility and determination, facing up against evil people and preternatural circumstances. (Bonus points for using one of Koontz's pet words.) You'll hear Odd in near-death situations that he somehow manages to escape in the last moment--a familiar theme in the series.

You know, it's just a good book within a good series. I didn't give it five stars just because I reserve that for books that rise to another level of awesomeness. However, I thoroughly enjoyed Odd Apocalypse, and would definitely recommend it to anyone who liked the other Odd books.

The only negative I can think of is that I got tired of Odd explaining so many things from the previous books. (Things about Stormy Llewellyn, his grandmother, his psychic magnetism, the fortune-telling machine that spit out a card that said, "You are destined to be together forever," just to name a few. I understand that it needed to be done, especially for readers who may have read the other Odd books a long time ago, and needed to be refreshed, but it was a bit tedious to me when it occurred in the book so many times.

One of the best things about this audio book was the narrator. I can't imagine anyone doing a better job of capturing every essence of Odd Thomas than David Aaron Baker. His performance definitely deserves five stars. Outstanding.

No. Other books to hear. Plus, I'm the kind of person who, once I read a book or see a movie, I don't want to do it again, at least not until enough time has passed that I have forgotten all or most of the details of the story. (As I get older (47 now), that seems to happen more quickly now, though, than when I was younger.)

I don't guess I have a favorite. I just took it all in. If pushed for names, I would say Barbara or Andie (sp) or Thurston. On the evil side, I really liked Junior and Jim, mainly because of the narrator's superb characterizations in bringing them to life.

I have not listened to Raul Esparza's other performances. I did really enjoy his performance, though. Loved it. I especially liked the life he breathed into Junior Rennie, and the haunting way Rennie said,

Not really. The book was particularly engrossing all the way through.

When I saw this book, and the premise it was based on, I couldn't wait to get my ears on it. It definitely did not disappoint. Story was great, King's character development was awesome, and the narration was truly amazing. It was hard to take those earbuds out of my ears. I fell asleep many nights with them still in my ears, woke up, and turned off the audio. The next mornings, I had to back up the story to my last waking memory. (I had several bizarre dreams as well.)

Book is long--like 34 hours--but that was good. Very riveting story, told very well.

If I could give the story 4.5 stars instead of 5, I would, because a couple of things really bugged me.

The first was the repeated, tired old characterizations of Christians. The ones who proclaimed themselves to be Christians were the evil ones or had a predominate dark side, while the ones who weren't Christians were the good guys. The female minister who was one of the