Black

Book One, The Birth of Evil

By: Ted Dekker

Narrated by: Rob Lamont

Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Fleeing assailants through alleyways in Denver late one night, Thomas Hunter narrowly escapes to the roof of an industrial building. Then a silent bullet from the night clips his head and his world goes black. When he awakes, he finds himself in an entirely different reality, a green forest that seems more real than where he was. Every time he tries to sleep, he wakes up in the other world, and soon he truly no longer knows which reality is real. Slowly he realizes that each reality dramatically impacts the other. In each world unspeakable evil is unleashed and millions of lives hang in the balance. The fate of two worlds depends on the actions of one man: Thomas Hunter.

Don't miss any of Ted Dekker's Circle Trilogy. Also, listen to this free interview with the author.

©2004 Ted Dekker (P)2004 Oasis Audio LLC

Should be Section One, not Book One

I'm a sucker for a sequel to a good story, that's probably why I picked this one. The Book One subtitle infers that if I like this one, I can try the next.
Totally misleading. This title just stops, with a contrived cliff-hanger. Not a complete Book, One or otherwise.
On the plus side, the story is engaging and actually very original, which only contributes to the frustration at the end.
I have to admit, I'm intrigued, not only to find out what happens next, but to find out how this can be only one-third of the story, it seems so close to completion...
Some other reviews have mentioned the veiled Christian dogma, but unless it is coming in later volumes, so far so good. Or should I say, Good and Evil?

Fun read during Covid-19

In the second public year of the Covid-19 virus, this 2005 story made very interesting reading. Now, onward to Red (book two in the series).

I’d like to hear more differentiation between the female and male voices.

Needs a different narrator, but great story!

Any additional comments?

I listened to Green first (Book zero) and was interested in the story and have the entire series in paperback at home and have been meaning to read it. I started Black in paperback at home before I started listening to the series. Then after I got my credits I download Green and listened to it and then started on Black and this Narrator is way to fast and doesn't change their voice at all with the different characters and completely ignores any periods or commas it seems. The narrator really takes away from the story sometimes because you have to figure out who is saying what at times. I tend to listen to these while I am working and it becomes distracting at times because of having to concentrate on listening so you know when there are two different people talking. To me, it seems like he is reading long run-on sentences very fast rather than a conversation between people at times. Unfortunately Black, Red, & White are all read by the same narrator and I'm not really looking forward to listening to the rest of them like this. I am really glad that I can get my credits back because of the narrator. I'll gladly read the rest of them at home in paperback to get the rest of the story. Overall though the story is excellent and very interesting.

Edge of your seat adventure

Ted Dekker has a way of writing that draws you in. He writes about worthy characters and how they move through turmoil and become better. This series is keeping me on the edge of my seat! I was going to wait for my next àudible credit to get the next book, but I couldn't the wait. I got the second in the series the very next day. Anxious for the story to continue. Thank you Audible and Ted Dekker!

incredible story.

I loved the book. I couldn't stop reading. it was exciting and heart pounding.awesome.narrator did great.

1st book of the series I read

If you could sum up Black in three words, what would they be?

intriguing

Who was your favorite character and why?

Thomas

What about Rob Lamont’s performance did you like?

Not everything. Sometimes he sounds a little condescending. Like he's reading to children.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, but I don't do that as a rule.

Any additional comments?

I like listening to audio books and the person reading is what I want to hear not music or sound effects.

captivating

a co-worker recommended this boom to me. We had been talking about different authors and such mostly about JRR tolken. Then my co-worker mentioned Ted Dekker. At first i read the sample that you get for viewing a book online. It was that sample that grabbed my imagination and threw me into this book. I am by no means a fast reader it takes me along time to read books to be perfectlt honest. But this book grabbed me and sucked me in. Not only did i buy rhe series but i downloaded the first book on audible so that I can listen to the book when im at work driving. I while reading and listening to the book could visualize what was happening. the amount of detail Mr.Dekker brings to this series is breathtaking. I can not wait to start the second book.

Narrator speaks at double speed without pauses…

Would you try another book from Ted Dekker and/or Rob Lamont?

Uncertain.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Black?

Still trying to get through the story.

Would you be willing to try another one of Rob Lamont’s performances?

Doubtful. The narrator read clearly enough, but did not pause at all between sentences with various characters talking. Conversations sound like one big run--on-sentance that is difficult to tell who is talking. This is so frustrating, that I find it hard to believe the book was produced this way at all.

This is perhaps the 30th or so audio book I have listened to from Audible, and I never imagined this style of reading was out there. I will have to listen to the previews for every book now just to make sure I don't get another poor reader like this again.

Decent Book, but the Narrator Drove Me Crazy!

The book was interesting, but the narrator seemed to make lots of mistakes. One thing was his accents...many times he had the American protagonist talking in either a French accent when talking with the French characters, or the sort of Middle Eastern/Spanish sounding accent of the inhabitants of the "alternate world." Sometimes this was more than distracting...It actually made the dialog confusing. In addition, the fast and breathless pace of the narration just started wearing on me. This is one I think I would enjoy more reading.

Horrible narration

I read this novel years ago and enjoyed the story. This audio version is awful. It is very difficult to distinguish which character is speaking during conversation. The chapter breaks do not match the actual book chapters. There is some sort of musical sound between chapters which is very annoying, especially when listening while falling asleep.