Bloodline

Repairman Jack, Book 11

By: F. Paul Wilson

Narrated by: Dick Hill

Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

It starts off simply enough. (Doesn't it always?) Jack has been on hiatus since the tragic events in Harbingers. With his beloved Gia's encouragement he dips his toe back into the fix-it pool.

Christy Pickering's 18-year-old daughter is dating Jerry Bethlehem, a man twice her age. Christy sensed something shady and sinister about him, so she hired a private investigator to look into his past. But the PI isn't returning her calls. Will Jack find out why?

Jack learns there's a very good reason for the unreturned calls: The PI is dead, victim of a bizarre water-torture murder.

As Jack delves into Jerry Bethlehem's past, he finds connections between Bethlehem and the Creighton Institute. The Institute, a government-funded facility, is researching a newly discovered and frightening variation on human DNA. Jack learns that Bethlehem is not the man he pretends to be.

Who - and what - Jerry Bethlehem really is will have a devastating effect on Jack's life and future.

And as the bodies pile up, Jack finds another piece of the puzzle about his own identity and why he's been drafted into a cosmic shadow war.

©2008 F. Paul Wilson (P)2007 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

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Another great book accept for the narrator.

I love this series! The story is masterfully written as always. But why in the blue blazes would you change narrators in the middle of the series and especially to this narrator? He makes Repairman Jack sound like a cheap New York joke.

Narrator

I love the repairman jack series. However, with this book the narrator has changed and I had a very difficult time adjusting to it.

Terrible, awful narrator.

Like all F Paul Wilson books, the story is compelling, gripping... The narrator destroys this particular iteration. He is awful in his inflection, enunciation, and volume control. He clearly knows nothing of the characters.

This was the worst 1940's radio broadcast ever!

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

This was by far the worst thing I have ever heard.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Um Jack of course. He's one of the greatest characters ever written. Too bad it was marred by this Peter Lorre reject.

What didn’t you like about Dick Hill’s performance?

First off Jack does not sound like that. I don't know who the other guy is that portrayed Jack previously but you should probably get him back asap.

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

It made me want to throw it across the room and then I remembered that I was listening on my computer and it wasn't worth the sacrifice.

Any additional comments?

Great book, great story, great character. But 14 1/2 hours of that voice is a lot. I'm sure Dick Hill is normally very good at his job, but this was not the character for him. Bad casting agents! Bad!!

Terrible Narrator

Dick Hill was not the right man for the job.

Bad narration, bad fluctuations in tone, every character sounds like like their in the mob, even Jack sounds like a mobster.
Redo this one with Christopher Price please!

Jack is Bad A$$

I liked this story. Like other reviews here, I do not like that the performer changed in the middle of the series. That being said Dick Hill did ok. Just took a while to get used to the new voices. It's not like it was a deal breaker when you are this far into this series.

Wrong voice

Don't like the change of narrator, he changes the mood of Jack. It's not Jack, Abe or Gia. I need the other guy back.

Narrator was awful!

I love the series but found myself pausing the book just to have a break from the narrator's voice.

Change of narrator, meh

Admittedly it took me a bit to warm up to Price's careful enunciation, but after 8 books his voice became Jack's.
Hill, while probably a better "actor" does a fine job with everyone but our hero, turning him into a snotty, drunk-lipped slob. I started getting more of a chuckle every time I heard him describe how another character was taking in Jack, usually "calculated, cool, quicker than I've ever seen anyone move!" - just to have him speak a line like a guy trying to goad you into a fight by telling you how bad your sister is in bed.
Overall I enjoyed the story, you will too.

Where’s Christopher Price?

Story was ok. Not the best in the series. But what really killed it for me was the narrator. On a different series he would probably be fine. But why switch up narrators after 10 books?

Oye!