The Watchers

By: Jon Steele

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Length: 21 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Beneath Lausanne Cathedral, in Switzerland, there is a secret buried before time began, something unknown to angels and men, until now....

Marc Rochat watches over the city at night from the belfry of the cathedral. He lives in a world of shadows and "beforetimes" and imaginary beings.

Katherine Taylor, call girl and daydreamer, is about to discover that her real-life fairy tale is too good to be true.

Jay Harper, private detective, wakes up in a crummy hotel room with no memory. When the telephone rings and he's offered a job, he knows he has no choice but to accept.

Three lives, one purpose: save what's left of paradise before all hell breaks loose.

©2012 Jon Steele (P)2012 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“A seductive cosmic thriller stoked by historic fact, an ancient Jewish religious text, and a literary classic... Steele’s lavishly atmospheric, witty, bloody, and swashbuckling tale of age-old struggles for dominion between angels and demons is the propitious first book in an ambitious series.” (Booklist, starred)

“An imaginative metaphysical thriller… Steele keeps his tale tantalizingly ambiguous, casting it with fey characters and skillfully concealing until the climax whether apparent weird events haven’t been manipulated to make them seem so. This solidly plotted tale, the first in a trilogy, will appeal to readers who like a hint of uncanny in their fiction.” (Publishers Weekly)

“A first novel (and first in a series) from Steele, for years a master cameraman for Independent Television News and author of War Junkie, an underground classic; really smart work for serious thriller readers.” (Library Journal)

AMAZING

If there ever was a book that needed to be turned into a movie it would be this one. Under two conditions - nothing may be changed and the narrator, Jonathan Davis, has to be in it! I have listened to the trilogy 5 times now and I’m blown away every time. I hope Jon Steele finds a way to write more books from this story line.

Outstanding!

This story requires thoughtful attention as it develops and carries you through the twists and turns of the lives of the characters. I found myself laughing out loud at times and holding my breath during times of high tension. Truly entertaining.

This is a wonderfully weird book

This book is a trilogy, and “The Watchers” is the best of the three. Jon Steele’s writing, especially before the supernatural breaks in, is brilliant. The first half of this book caused me to fall in love with the characters. I read the whole trilogy because of his initial character development. The characters won my devotion. I couldn’t just turn away when their world became clunky.

The second and third books seem forced like he got a contract for three books but only had Passion for one. He does pull from gnostic ideas to create his spiritual world and does so interestingly. Good and evil do get explored, but in the end, I was left disappointed. Watchers is a hero story, but I could never figure out who the hero was and why Steele didn’t follow the Jungian formula.

I think Steele has the potential to be a great writer. I’ll keep reading his novels to see if his genius ever matures

A new "Hunchback" with a twisted bit of fun

I was uncertain how to categorize this book, and now that I am done, I am even more uncertain. It is not classic lit like Hunchback, and it is not religious, in spite of the references to a forgotten book of the Bible and angels. It is a mystery wrapped in a supernatural snuff film. Weird enough? Wait. High priced/smart alec call girl I really liked, the slow but SOOOOO sweet bell ringer at the church I want to bake cookies for, and an "investigator" who may be a complete hot mess, all chasing angels and dead people killed in truly creative and terrifying ways, and I love them all. Their set-ups are very cliche, but very quickly after meeting them, I didn't care. Maybe I shouldn't love this, maybe this book follows no acceptable method of writing I learned in English class, but I loved it, I still think about the story and the characters, and I have no higher praise for any book.

Fun Fantasy Story. Great Narrator. A Little Long.

Would you listen to The Watchers again? Why?

no. it was a fine story, but there's nothing that i think i missed or need to hear again. i'm not usually one to re-read fantasy stories.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

most interesting: angels, demons, half breeds. very interesting and new type of fantasy story.

least interesting: the way that the author wrote the character of Katherine Taylor. especially her dialogue, and inner monologues. she was a BADLY portrayed female character. it was extremely frustrating to hear her words and thoughts and every interaction she had with every other character annoyed the hell out of me.

Which character – as performed by Jonathan Davis – was your favorite?

Marc Rochat. his character was the redeeming character in this book. he was so well written and imagined. he was brought up to think himself simple minded, but he was the most complex character in this novel. i think Jonathan Davis brought his innocence to life.

Unexpected. Dramatic. Mystical. Really unexpected!

This is one of those books for which you really must be "in the mood" to enjoy. Of course, it's hard to know how that mood can be described, because I THOUGHT the story was about one or two fairly obvious things, but about 10 hours into this 14.5 hour tale, I realized that the book was about something else entirely! I wont give away the story by telling you that the tale is an intersecting story of the lives of 3 sets of people in contemporary Switzerland: an American high-rolling call girl, the mentally simple bell-ringer in a midieval cathederal and a British....what? Spy? Consultant? Posing as a security consultant to the International Olympic Committee. As the tale unfolds, we find who he is, but that's part of the twist. I recommend this book to anyone who likes the juxtaposition of reality and mysticism, and the idea that they just may not be that far apart.

Waste of Time

Would you try another book from Jon Steele and/or Jonathan Davis?

No I would not I have already wasted enough of my time

What was most disappointing about Jon Steele’s story?

The lack of depth of the characters and the amature way the storie flowed

What three words best describe Jonathan Davis’s performance?

Decent, acceptable, Good enough for government work

Did The Watchers inspire you to do anything?

It inspired me to avoid this author, and question how he even got a book deal.

Any additional comments?

Dont waste your time. The Idea for the story is a good one almost original but its execution and presentation are awful. The author spends too much time on details of mundane life and does a poor job explaning the more complex happenings in the book leaving the reader to guess at what is going on or how the characters got from point a to point B.

Excellent read

A beautifully written complex story. Be patient as it is slow to get started. Well written cast of complex and perfectly flawed characters all struggling to find their way.

I loved the author's knowledge of apocryphal books and his use of Latin and French throughout the story.

Loved it!

Wow!

After an odd start and slow beginning, I was amazed how much I liked this book. So glad I kept going with it .

Most original fantasy I've read in a LONG time.

Where does The Watchers rank among all the audiobooks you???ve listened to so far?

I loved this book. I had trouble putting it down, even for little while. The combination for the original story, the beautiful imagery and Jonathan Davis's consummately spectacular performance blend to create something amazing. Read this one, well worth it.