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)

Considering not finishing the book

I really wanted to get into this book. The publishers summary and other feedback drew me to this story. The summary sounds interesting for the genre, well known reader, interesting locations, buildings, history, detectives, and the possibility of fairy tale underworld.

I have listened to many other books narrated by Jonathan Davis, and did a fine job and trying to bring this story to life.

The story leaves me wanting more than what I have found included with in the book. I'm currently about 1/3 the way through the book and the story has not hooked me yet. I see where the story is going, I'm not sure what the end looks yet, and I'm not sure that I will ever know. At this point I have not been drawn into caring about the characters enough to care how to see how the story will unfold. The descriptions of the historic and beautiful locations have not generated the imagery that I had hoped to draw me into the location and time of the story. Fortunately looking at images of the cities and buildings and reading about their history online can do the job where the author fell short for me.

So for now, I've read a few more reviews and strongly considering skipping the remaining portion of the book and leave the end a mystery.

painful

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

So boring. Nothing else to say. I can't remember anything about it. I became catatonic. I could not get pass second chapter.

Any additional comments?

Don't waste your credits.

Intended audience?

I thought, since one main character was supposed to be a detective, that there should be a mystery in it. It turned out to be just a fantasy, much sounding like it was written for children but having way too much violence, sex, and profanity for any child I'd want to know. That said, I was slow to realize that most of the characters were not real people at all. I thought they just needed medication. They didn't get it, and by the end had all gone off the deep end in the most teenage zombie b-movie way imaginable. Now I have to go kick myself around the block a couple of times for once again, incredibly, being taken in by publisher and apparently friends of the author reviews. That said, there were some points having nothing to do with the story or the performance where I though it could have morphed into a good book, but guess I'll have to use my own imagination for that.

No Connection

I'm not a reader who needs instant gratification. I love a good telling that slowly unfolds with patience and character development. I adore novels that immerse me in the settings so I feel as if I was part of the tale. This novel was none of these things. I understood the format the author used. I could guess the plot was headed somewhere but I cared so little for the people in the story that I was thoroughly frustrated as the novel went on. The story seemed more focused on attempts at being cryptic that it's delivery is cold and hard. When I read, o don't expect to HAVE to make myself sit down and endure. This one was not for me.

Needs Warning

The author should have disclosed the graphic description of the female character engaging in self-fulfillment.

Fantastic Performance from Jonathan Davis

I'll have to be more careful when Audible hypes an audio. The first two audios are very slow and it gradually picks up to be a cross between Silence of the Lambs and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Jonathan Davis is amazing on this reading and allowed me to hang on long enough to get to the last audio, without that I'm not sure I'd have finished this one. It's just not my type of story.

It's a slow story and wanders along without really adding to the story. The up side is a clever plot that reveals itself in the last audio and an impressive performance by Jonathan Davis. I really wish there was more to say.

When is this book going to get interesting?

I hate wasting credits and waste one I did. Boring and predictable characters. Too many loosly conected storylines. Flat ending :oP

Good story turns into utter nonsense.

it took a long while for the plot to develop. The story line, characters, and setting came together well. Then about 3/4 through, the author does some gymnastic plot flip that becomes incomprehensible. I guess if you like angels archangels and demons inhabiting people without them knowing it, fighting some obscure religious battle, then this book might be for you. I didn't finish it.
The performance was outstanding and I will look for more of his work.

Great story to sleep by!

What disappointed you about The Watchers?

I tried to listen to this but I kept falling asleep. Nothing happens to capture my interest. I definitely wasted my money on this one. The concept interested me but it did not deliver.

Darker Than Anticipated.

A running theme in this book is duality; there's the modern day Lausanne that two of the characters spend most of their time living in, and the more old fashioned existence of the third. There's good, and there's evil. And, for me, there was what the book could have been, and what the book was.

The first third of the book is filled with unexplained occurrences, jumps forward and backward in time, and information doled out in a limited and non-linear way. It made me think of watching "Lost"; and the sort of style that only works if the pay-off at the end of the story is worth the confusion. While things did end up being explained, I did not feel there was a good enough twist or revelation to justify the tactics used.

The first half of the book is far darker than I had expected, often becoming crude, graphic, and unappealing. The passages dealing with sex start out uncomfortable, and escalated from there; crossing all the way into rape and a version of human trafficking. Strong language is used throughout the book. There are several gruesome murder scenes graphically described.

The character of Marc is meant to be sweet, unusual, and loveable; and in many ways the author succeeds. In the first half of the book however, the character spends a great deal of time alone; and during this time he is constantly having heated one-sided arguments with animals and inanimate objects. At times I thought these passages would never end. I can't help but feel that in the author's attempt for whimsy, he crossed the line into grating obnoxiousness.

The second half of the book did improve. Marc does less talking to himself, most of the issues of sex are done, and a warm friendship begins to grow between two of the characters that certainly had it's moments of charm. There was little character development however, so I never found myself caring as much about these people as I would have liked to.

The narration was very well done, with great, unique voices for each individual. I was quite impressed, and especially enjoyed listening to the voice assigned to Jay Harper. In the future I would certainly look for this narrator again.

While the ending was a bit underwhelming, I never hold that against books that are intended to be the first of a trilogy, which this is; I expect them to leave you in a place that isn't fully satisfying, and think that's fair. All things considered, I'd say the ending was fine.

The true highlight of the book is the city of Lausanne, and if you're going to read this I encourage you to search out some photos of the city, the cathedral, LP's Bar, etc; it definitely added to my enjoyment of the book. I'd especially search out a photo of the Escalier du Marche, to understand the street Marc is constantly working to climb up and down.

I'll be curious to see how others felt about this one.