Double Hockey Sticks

Hellbender, Book 2

By: Frank J. Fleming

Narrated by: Austin Rising

Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

This is the sequel to the novel Hellbender.

I’m not sure what to do here. If you listened and enjoyed the first one, I don’t feel like I need to sell you very hard on this one. The characters you love from Hellbender—Doug, Bryce, Lulu, and Charlene—get into further misadventures, while I also expand on the lore from the first one. Are the people in charge really demons? What happened in the Last War? Well, there are more answers and more questions in the sequel—you know how it works.

If you haven’t listened to the first one, it seems like I should just point you to the blurb for that novel. I mean, I made my best attempt at explaining the story in that one. It’s a post-apocalyptic comedy. There’s a mercenary gang of loveable losers (called Hellbender) in constant conflict with more powerful forces out to destroy or oppress them. And Satan—or a guy who says he is Satan—is involved. It’s intriguing, and it's funny.

In this one, Hellbender faces an indescribable horror, a terrorist group that just enjoys terror and makes no demands, and a bunch of nuclear weapons. The gang is in way over its head again, and it’s going to be fun. I am excited for you. You know what? If you haven’t listened to the first one, just go ahead and jump into this one and listen to the first one later—consider it a prequel. You can call this book Hellbender and the previous one Hellbender: Origins.

©2022 Frank J. Fleming (P)2023 Frank J. Fleming

It's ridiculous, but it's supposed to be!

I first heard of Frank Fleming through his connection with the Babylon Bee (we miss you and Ethan). So if you were reading the Bee a few years ago, you will recognize the style instantly. It's not a novel so much as a crazy romp through Weirdistan, in which Satan keeps showing up to cause trouble, and no one seems to be able to recognize him, even though he keeps telling them who he is and what he's doing. I would say chaos ensues, but ensuing implies that there is some scene in the book that isn't chaos to ensue from. Nope, not here.
This is a sequel, just in case you missed the first. There isn't a lot of exposition to catch up new readers, but it's not too hard to figure out the backstory. And because it's Frank Fleming, it's a comedy involving cataclysmic genocide, and somehow that works. Also, Cataclysmic Genocide would be a great name for a band.
Not super impressed with the reader. His voice and voices all came out fine, but his pacing is a bit slow, which is hard when comedy is all about...........timing. I turned the speed up to 1.2x, to give it more of the screwball rhythm it deserves.

Audiobook only - See Amazon for my story review

I'm a newbie to audiobooks. I was pleasantly surprised by the voice talent guy. He pulled off tons of unique voices, which made it easier to follow the story. I had already read the print version, and did not think an individual could do it justice. I was wrong.
If you are waivering about picking it up, go for it! Hellbender 2: Double Hockey Sticks is a hoot.

Funny, action packed, with an excellent ending.

Hellbender 2 is wonderful, offering endearing characters in an engaging story, humor mixed with action, plus intrigue and world building thrown in, getting even better as it goes.
I particularly enjoyed the epigraphs opening each chapter.

Austin Rising’s narration is a delight, providing a variety of voices while remaining clear and easy to understand.

Give it a listen. And the first Hellbender if you haven’t already. On second thought it’s probably best to just listen to everything Frank has written.

Great sequel

I really enjoyed the story, great addition. The almost sociopathic humor parts got me cracking up a couple times. It took some getting used to the char voicing changes, but I think they worked well in distinguishing them.

why change character voices?

I loved the first one, but was thrown off a bit with this one because the narrator changed how he voiced some characters. I did not like the way Bryce was voiced in this story it was much harder to differentiate his character, and I felt the voice from the previous book was more fitting.

That being said, it is still a GREAT listen.

The most I’ve used the rewind button…

I really enjoyed the story, narration and there were so many funny, quotable lines. I used the rewind button more than usual just to write some lines down so I can use them as my own, which means I will not recommend this audiobook to my circle but definitely recommend it to everyone else. Congratulations, Mr. Fleming!

Wacky fun!

If you like witty workplace comedies, post-apocalyptic epics, and fast-paced action films, you're going to love Hellbender 2: Double Hockey Sticks. The gang from book 1 are all back, once again making hilariously bad decisions that lead them ever deeper into violent conflict with seemingly every armed group on earth-- plus some baddies from other dimensions. It's a great ride, full of surprises, laughs, and katanas. More, please!

NOTE: Can the narrator please go back to using the same voices for the characters as he did for book 1? I miss Cool Bryce.