The Hunter

Wyatt Hunt, Book 3

By: John Lescroart

Narrated by: Eric Dawe

Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best seller John Lescroart delivers a dark, intimate thriller about the price we put on family and the terrible costs of seeking the truth.

Raised by loving adoptive parents, San Francisco private investigator Wyatt Hunt never had an interest in finding his birth family - until he gets a chilling text message from an unknown number: "How did ur mother die?"

The answer is murder, and urged on by curiosity and the mysterious texter, Hunt takes on a case he never knew existed, one that has lain unsolved for decades. His family’s dark past unfurls in dead ends. Child Protective Services, who suspected but never could prove that Hunt was being neglected, is uninformed; his birth father, twice tried but never convicted of the murder, is in hiding; Evie, his mother’s drug-addicted religious fanatic of a friend, is untraceable. And who is the texter, and how is this person connected to Hunt?

Yet in the present, time is running out. The texter, who insists the killer is out there, refuses to be identified. The cat-and-mouse game leads Hunt across the country and eventually to places far more exotic - and far more dangerous. As the chase escalates, so does the threat, for the killer has a secret that can only be trusted to the grave. Thriller master John Lescroart weaves a shocking, suspenseful tale about the skeletons inside family closets... and the mortal danger outside the front door.

©2012 John Lescroart (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Dreadful narration spoils this

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Male narrator uses grating falsetto for women's voices. I have listened to hundreds of audiobooks and good narrators of either gender can make the various voices work well, without forcing it. But this guy was awful and spoiled the book for me. The rest of his performance was amateurish also, with some stilted phrasing and a clunky reading style. He was okay only when doing dialogue for male characters. Too bad.

Can this author find an editor?

What disappointed you about The Hunter?

The story was interesting but it DRAGGED in places - would have benefitted from a final edit that cut out some of the unnecessary dialogue.

Has The Hunter turned you off from other books in this genre?

no, just from this author

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Eric Dawe?

ANYONE else - the narration was distracting and comical - confusion of

What character would you cut from The Hunter?

don't have to cut a character, just have them use dialogue that would actually occur - the whole proposal scene at the end of the book for instance

Any additional comments?

fire that narrator!

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

What disappointed you about The Hunter?

The long and boring journey down a road littered with repetition, meaningless characters, and the expectation that a significant event is about to occur....it never does.....

What do you think your next listen will be?

Suspect #1...James Patterson

Would you be willing to try another one of Eric Dawe’s performances?

Yes.............

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Hunter?

The story line is not interesting.......therefore I cannot identify one scene or scenes

Full of Filler!

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Several minutes of diatribe around food, background information, etc., that did not add to the story. I found myself fast forwarding to try and get to the point. I couldn't wait for this book to end so that I could get on to something with more substance. Just really a poor book that felt like it was written to sell a couple of books. Again, it felt often felt like words to fill pages.

If you’ve listened to books by John Lescroart before, how does this one compare?

My first and last.

What didn’t you like about Eric Dawe’s performance?

Often sounded like a digital computer read which I found really distracting. Really poor.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No way, unless several chapters were deleted.

Not His Best

Fans of Lescroart know him for his vivid portrayals of San Francisco and his distinct characters. Unfortunately, fans and new readers won't get that sharply drawn portrait here!

The Hunter reads like his heart wasn't in it. The plot starts off intriguing but it feels like he was "phoning it in" in between high points. The narration is bland, the dialog flat, and his characters are conventional if not stereotypical. Who else wasn't convinced by the blossoming romance between Hunt and...the new object of his affection? I just couldn't see it!

And none of this is helped by Eric Dawe's take on the character's voices. Oh my!
Bad falsettos, stereotypical old guy/old gal voice, and he made Juhle sound ah, well, "challenged."

It's too bad. I was starting to like the Hunt Club after "Treasure Hunt"!

Before He Learned to Write

This must be an early transcript, something from the early days when Lescroart was trying to decide if he had what it takes to be a novelist. Based on this performance, he would not have had the career he has since enjoyed. Thin story (Jim Jones!?!?!), weak character development and the absolute wrong voice to present the material.
Avoid, then fast forward to the Dismas Hardy books.

Mediocre

Would you try another book from John Lescroart and/or Eric Dawe?

I listened to one, liked it a lot. Got this one, didn't like it much.

Has The Hunter turned you off from other books in this genre?

Yes

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Eric Dawe?

Don't know

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Hunter?

Most of it

Any additional comments?

Did not meet my expectations, not as good as "The Ophelia Cut"

Writing Bad, Narration Worse

I usually love this author but this book was so bad, I didn't even finish. Like others, I wonder if this is an early book reissued.