Beat the Reaper

A Novel

By: Josh Bazell

Narrated by: Robert Petkoff

Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Meet Peter Brown, a young Manhattan emergency room doctor with an unusual past that is just about to catch up with him. His morning begins with the quick disarming of a would-be mugger, followed by a steamy elevator encounter with a sexy young pharmaceutical rep, topped off by a visit with a new patient - and from there Peter's day is going to get a whole lot worse and a whole lot weirder.

Because that patient knows Peter from his other life, when he had a different name and a very different job. The only reason he's a doctor now is thanks to the Witness Protection Program-and even they can't protect him from the long reach of the New Jersey mob. Now he's got to do whatever it takes to keep his patient alive so he can buy some time...and beat the reaper.

Beat the Reaper is not just the only work that will be compared to Quentin Tarantino's films, Grey's Anatomy, and Chuck Palahniuk - it's also the most original and entertaining debut thriller you'll listen to this year.

©2009 Josh Bazell (P)2009 Josh Bazell

Like watching a Tarantino film through your car's speakers

A fun, fast paced, wild, no-brainier action thriller. The narrator is fantastic. The detail to medicine and martial arts made a so-so mob story come to life.

Crazy good!

Plenty of crazy violence and crazy medicine. Oh, and funny too. Loved this book.

Loved book. Hated sound effects

NOTE TO AUDIBLE. I listen to a lot of audio books in French and the most insanely irritating thing about them is their attempt to make it more engrossing (I guess) by adding highly distracting sound effects and music. (In one book there was a phone ringing in the book while the guy is searching a house - they had a phone clanging in the background for a solid 5 minutes of the book. I was ready to scream.) This is the first English-speaking book (by a single narrator) where there has been music and pitiful attempts at sound effects. I gave the overall score as a 3 because of this, despite giving the story and narration a 5.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE AUDIBLE, don’t start doing this to our books. I have almost given up on the French ones because of this.

About the book itself. I enjoyed it very much. Loved the narration and the story was just different enough to be interesting. It took you to a lot of unexpected places - in other words, not predictable.

Good Escape Book

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I have recommended this audiobook to friends and they've enjoyed it also - fun listen - pure escapism

Any additional comments?

If you're looking for a good listen without any compelling message - try this one . . . I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Exciting, humorous and tough to put down.

If you could sum up Beat the Reaper in three words, what would they be?

exciting, humorous, gory

Who was your favorite character and why?

The main character's mentor. He seems to know what to do in any situation.

Which scene was your favorite?

The girl with the bleeding knee.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The 'knife' fight at the end was a bit over the top and gory. Left me and my fiance, listening while driving, saying AAHHHH! and OOOO .

Any additional comments?

This story kept you listening and really enjoying it. The narrator of this story is one of the best I have heard to date. He was able to read the sarcasm in a way that just made you appreciate the tone of the character and the humor with it.
Loved the story, maybe a little to graphic in the gore department.
I think I will be looking for author and narrator in the future

Nail Bitingly Exciting!!!

Where does Beat the Reaper rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

At first I thought this was another brash, fowl-mouthed story. But the more I listening the more intense the story got. I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next. The main character is avery flawed but lovable character who you couldn't help but root for. The cliff hangers in this very fast paced story will have you at the edge of your seat from beginning to end.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Beat the Reaper?

A memorable moment of the book is when the main character seems to have exhausted all possible avenues to safe himself and is backed into a corner with no ray of hope.

Which scene was your favorite?

My favorite scene is when the Main Character finds out about who his grandparents really were and when he realized that he had be lied to his whole life.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

A Race Against Time

great story

This was an enjoyable book. Most definitely a book for adults only, due to intense language and graphic descriptive violence. But the author seemed intelligent, and planned out the book well. I liked it. The narrator wasn't cheesy, and had a nice voice.

A fantastic production, fast moving story-line

What did you love best about Beat the Reaper?

From the first sentence it had me laughing and interested to see where it would take me.

What did you like best about this story?

It could have easily been cliched because of the mob aspect but the author pulled it off by laughing at character and his predicament.

Have you listened to any of Robert Petkoff’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Never heard of him before, but will be looking him up now.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No. Not extreme reaction, but laughed out loud several times.

Any additional comments?

Cool book, I was impressed.

Fun intense interesting read.

Great story voice with fun details and descriptions throughout. Edge of your seat action from start to finish.

Thrills and chills

I didn’t think I could get through the first chapter of this book because it’s so violent. However, the story grew on me. If you don’t mind graphic violence and like a really pounding thriller, it’s a good story and great read.