Memory Man

By: David Baldacci

Narrated by: Ron McLarty, Orlagh Cassidy

With over 110 million copies of his novels in print, David Baldacci is one of the most widely read storytellers in the world. Now he introduces a startling, original new character: a man with perfect memory who must solve his own family's murder.

MEMORY MAN

Amos Decker's life changed forever - twice.

The first time was on the gridiron. A big, towering athlete, he was the only person from his hometown of Burlington ever to go pro. But his career ended before it had a chance to begin. On his very first play, a violent helmet-to-helmet collision knocked him off the field for good and left him with an improbable side effect - he can never forget anything.

The second time was at home nearly two decades later. Now a police detective, Decker returned from a stakeout one evening and entered a nightmare - his wife, young daughter, and brother-in-law had been murdered.

His family destroyed, their killer's identity as mysterious as the motive behind the crime, and unable to forget a single detail from that horrible night, Decker finds his world collapsing around him. He leaves the police force, loses his home, and winds up on the street, taking piecemeal jobs as a private investigator when he can.

But over a year later, a man turns himself in to the police and confesses to the murders. At the same time a horrific event nearly brings Burlington to its knees, and Decker is called back in to help with this investigation. Decker also seizes his chance to learn what really happened to his family that night. To uncover the stunning truth, he must use his remarkable gifts and confront the burdens that go along with them. He must endure the memories he would much rather forget. And he may have to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Memory Man will stay with you long after the turn of the final tick.

©2015 David Baldacci (P)2015 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"The successful pairing of the narrators, with both voices being equally engaging, ensures that the dual narration works.... Both McLarty and Cassidy demonstrate a natural talent for characterization and pacing, which make this investigative thriller especially engrossing." ( AudioFile)

Big Fan. Bad Narration. Frustrating Repetition.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I love Baldacci and have read or listened to every book and will continue to do so. However, I was irritated enough by this book that I felt the need to comment. This is the worst narration of a book I have ever heard. The background/tone of the voice changed far too much. Like it was recorded in different places at different times. Very distracting. I have listened to several books narrated by McLarty and usually enjoy them. But this one was hard. Every voice sounded the same. My second frustration is with the repetition. The basic facts were repeated over and over and over and over. I will continue to read every Baldacci book that comes out but I hope for better next time.

David Baldacci..can't he write something new??

I keep trying and returning Baldacci's offerings. When will I learn??

They all seem the same, after Camel Club, he hasn't been that inspired.

I did appreciate the voices of McLarty and Cassidy but NOT the editing..where the conversations were stilted..Attention Hachette: You need to have better producers do the work..And the sound effects..trite and silly.

Again it's going back.. I can't seem to find good book for anything lately!

BALDACCI DOES IT AGAIN

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

Memory Man is every bit as interesting and mysterious as all his books. David Baldacci can't seem to write a story that is interesting and spine tingling to the end.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Neither Ron McLarty nor Orlagh Cassidy seem to be able to effectuate a different character but Baldacci's stories and dialogue carry the day.

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

MEMORY MAN

Okay Time Sink

The story was okay. The author used too much dialogue for narrative. It could hve been tied together better. I still enjoyed it.

The audio was of a low quality with poor editing splices throughout the text.

science fiction or murder mystery?

Story line too incredible to be realistic and, really dragged with way too many meaningless mine-numing details. Plus a few mistakes not caught by editor...reminded me of watching an old cowboy western and seeing jet vapor trails in the sky. Not the authors best work...

I see a new series!

The book is good. I hope to more of Amos Decker! I enjoy most everything this author writes and I was not disappointed.

Good read.

Excellent story. Good performance. Overall good read. David Baldacci never fails to tie up all loose ends and explain why things happened the way they did. This makes his work satisfying. I think the performance would have been better with only one narrator. However, both narrators did a good job.

Not the best studio production on this one.

Any additional comments?

First, let me say I'm a huge Baldacci fan. I have listened to every audio book he has put out and am equally impressed with Ron Mclarty and Orlagh Cassidy. They both have great range and talent. What I NOT a fan of are sound effects. My imagination works fine. I don't need to hear gunfire to know guns are being fired. I don't need to hear the sounds of cars crashing or people running and screaming. I can imagine that quite well on my own, so Hachette Audio... let's leave the sound effects to Road Runner cartoons.

I know the narrators are not sitting there and reading the entire book with a break, but it's never been so obvious before this. Every bathroom break; dinner break; come back to work tomorrow break was audible in this book. Every time the tape was edited, it was evident... to the point of distraction. Edits are made mid-paragraph and the effect was for me to think I missed something. The voice changes were so distinctive I started thinking I was listening to someone take over for McLarty mid-sentence. Very poor editing. I had never heard it quite like this before. Normally the edits are seamless... to the point where you don't even think about the fact the narrators and the production crew have to take a break once in a while.... that they will stop it an come back to it at some point.

That being said, it was, as usual with Baldacci, a clever story line and and an equally clever plot twist. Hope the production on the next one is better.

Recording was distracting

It would have gotten 5 starts across the board however, the production was terrible. You could tell that it was a bunch of readings stitched together. The inconsistency in background noise and acoustics, and recording devices was distracting. The book was and performances were top notch.

loved it as I always do David stories. Moving on to the next book in the series with much anticipation.