The Night Monster

A Novel of Suspense

By: James Swain

Narrated by: Peter Jay Fernandez

Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Tough-as-nails abduction specialist Jack Carpenter is not easily spooked. But when he witnesses his daughter's college basketball teammate being violently abducted, Jack cannot suppress his horror.

The kidnapper's face is one Jack recognizes from an unsolved case early in his career on the police force. With a deadly clock ticking, Jack is determined to rescue the abducted girl before it's too late.

In this skillfully written, immensely satisfying novel, best-selling author James Swain shocks and thrills from first page to last.

©2009 James Swain (P)2009 BBC Audio

A direct review that doesn't side quest

I have two hours left and I am jumping the gun with this review but I am struggling to move through this but I am no quitter. For whatever reason, this book has quite a few (a lot) of reviews that give it five stars and claim it's flawless and gripping story telling.

It honestly just makes me want to dip back into the Kolchak papers or watch a Humphrey Bogart noir, both are detective stories that this story so desperately wants to be. While the over arching story is the main character Jack trying to uncover a serial abductor case, that narrative takes frequent stops as many chapters are just this ex-detective solving every crime but the one that at first, has no legal grounds to investigate till he is hired and paid to do the job.

The writing here is, I will admit, very well crafted. But fantastic writing can still build weak stories. Writers are always told to "write what you know" and as this story goes into topics of law enforcement, mental health, and being in Florida in general; I have doubts.

I must admit as 2022 listening to a book of 2009, it doesn't age well on how it views cops and other hot topics of today.

I think the thing that bugs me is Jack is flawless. He is perfect in his world that wishes to make him not perfect, but in real life, Jack is a pompous @$$hole. His actions would be a legal nightmare for law enforcement. All these chapters dedicated to him not working on the main case with all these side quests of child molestation, robbery, casino gambling, and I am sure I am missing something cause of all the fluff in this story, it irks me how these cases were "tough to crack" but Jack shows up and he makes assumptions like he is a god and solves it all so neatly. There is no peril in Jack's story cause he is so sure of himself this Florida he inhabits doesn't let him believe he can or is capable of mistakes. For a detective who assaulted a suspect, it seems like folks are very welcome to still work with him.

It should be noted that all the "criminals" of this novel are just Looney Toons. They are not people. Just criminals. I kept thinking of the gangsters from Bugs Bunny with our main two threats of Lonnie and Mouse.

And as someone who is autistic, the opening of this story made me uncomfortable.

It is beyond me why my Audible found this book a "must read" but for you wondering if it's worth the listen.

It's not. But if you got nothing else, I guess you can do this. Hesitant to explore other books of this writer, but I might dabble cause it seems to even his fan this is one of his weaker books.

Oh and apparently this book is a crossover? Who knew.

Real life

love it real life happening all around the world, storyline had me glued to literally can't stop listening.

I like the author!

This is a good read. Very well worth the cost or credit. Swain's character, Jack Carpenter, kind of grows on you like Grippando's Jack Swytech, or Patterson's Alex Cross. This story is well crafted and keeps you wondering.

Good Read

I drive 105 miles roundtrip to work 5 days a week. This was one of the best I have heard in a long time. I could not turn it off.

Well.....

I have read better by Mr. Swain, so I was a bit disappointed. Although still a nice read. it will not be the first of his books I recommend.

Jack Carpenter meets Tony Valentine: Yay!

"The Night Monster" is the third -- and, as of this writing, the most recent -- entry in Swain's Jack Carpenter series. However, I do not think that Swain will let the series end here; because in this novel our hero -- Jack Carpenter -- meets and works with Swain's previous protagonist, Tony Valentine (whom I miss, and gladly welcomed back). In case you have not yet listened to any of the Jack Carpenter audiobooks -- or any of the Tony Valentine audiobooks, for that matter -- I would suggest backtracking a bit before you start "The Night Monster," and listen to some of Swain's previous entries in both series. Swain started off with the captivating Tony Valentine series, which followed the adventures of a P.I. specializing in catching gambling cheaters. The Tony Valentine series had seven fascinating entries, running through 2006, and ranging all over the U.S. map -- wherever gambling casinos can be found. Then Swain began the Jack Carpenter series (with only three episodes, so far), following a South Florida P.I. with an entirely different specialty: locating missing children. Then, in 2012, Swain entered the burgeoning supernatural detective genre with his wonderfully entertaining Peter Warlock series, taking place in New York City. Is this author versatile, or what? He not only has versatility, he also possesses 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙩: in both the writing and plotting departments. Plus, he keeps getting better. I have not regretted for a moment having invested in Swain's entire audiobook o𝙚𝒖𝙫𝙧𝙚. However -- recognizing that you may not want to make such a large investment sight unseen -- I would suggest listening to "Sucker Bet" before starting "The Night Monster," just so you can first meet Tony Valentine in approximately the same environment where you will re-encounter him here.

I like narrator Peter J. Fernandez' voice and acting skills just fine in "The Night Monster." I appreciate that he reads slowly and enunciates clearly; however, I suspect that his slow delivery may irritate some listeners. I would suggest listening to the sample that Audible provides, before purchasing "The Night Monster," if you think that slow narration may turn you off. Otherwise, I recommend this audiobook to anyone who enjoys mystery-thrillers with ingenious, complex plots.

Good story line with unexpected twists and turns

It was a great story line and the ending was nothing like I expected. The reader was a little bit slow however I just sped it up a little bit and that was enough to make it enjoyable. My biggest concern is when the author wrote about people with autism and disabilities. The verbage was a bit offensive. As a special education teacher, I was always taught to speak and write using person first language. Otherwise it becomes a label. Rather than saying an autistic child it should be referred to as a child with autism. During the beginning of the story, this was said multiple times. Other than that, it was a good book.

Good Read

Surprisingly, this was a pretty good read, however, the narrator was absolutely horrible. His reading was flat, no characterization; I felt he did not do justice to the book at all, which is a shame because the author's writing was tight and believable.

Didn’t put down

My first criteria for rating a book is if it kept my attention throughout. I didn’t put this book down. Characters in the book are really aggressive towards the main character which gets annoying, and the story gets kind of silly near the end (the townspeople) but overall I really liked this book. The reader was a little annoying (Weird inflections and I hate mouth noises) but overall he was ok.

just ok

This was just ok,i didnt care for the reader at all,the story was ok though... it kept me interested.