The Dirty Streets of Heaven

Volume One of Bobby Dollar

By: Tad Williams

Narrated by: George Newbern

Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Bobby Dollar is an angel - a real one. He knows a lot about sin, and not just in his professional capacity as an advocate for souls caught between Heaven and Hell. Bobby’s wrestling with a few deadly sins of his own - pride, anger, even lust.

But his problems aren’t all his fault. Bobby can’t entirely trust his heavenly superiors, and he’s not too sure about any of his fellow earthbound angels either, especially the new kid that Heaven has dropped into their midst, a trainee angel who asks too many questions. And he sure as hell doesn’t trust the achingly gorgeous Countess of Cold Hands, a mysterious she-demon who seems to be the only one willing to tell him the truth.

When the souls of the recently departed start disappearing, catching both Heaven and Hell by surprise, things get bad very quickly for Bobby D. End-of-the-world bad. Beast of Revelations bad. Caught between the angry forces of Hell, the dangerous strategies of his own side, and a monstrous undead avenger that wants to rip his head off and suck out his soul, Bobby’s going to need all the friends he can get - in Heaven, on Earth, or anywhere else he can find them.

You’ve never met an angel like Bobby Dollar. And you’ve never read anything like The Dirty Streets of Heaven.

Brace yourself - the afterlife is weirder than you ever believed.

©2012 Tad Williams (P)2012 Penguin Audiobooks

Fans of Harry Dresden, give Bobby Dollar a try!

Bobby Dollar's voice and sense of humor is reminiscent of Harry Dresden's, giving this book a similar "feel", but the storyline is purely original. Here we have angels and demons (as opposed to wizards, vampires, fae and other paranormal creatures found in the Harry Dresden books). This is the first book in the series and is a great start. Bobby gets caught up in all kinds of craziness, including the search for missing souls and an investigation into the murder of a demon all while trying to stay alive himself. There is a lot going on and Bobby tells his story with a very entertaining narrative voice.

Narrator George Newbern is fantastic! He does a wonderful array of voices and his cadence and tone are perfect. Well worth the audible credit!

Fun, Fantastic!!

What a wonderful treat this book has been in all aspects, the story, the narration, everything about it. I look forward to listening to the next story in the series.

Great Performance

The book was a real enjoyment to listen too, despite the fact it is not the best story of Tad Williams I have read.Sure it is entertaining and the characters are well written, it is too predictable after the novelty of the judgement concept has worn off. Nevertheless I think I will give the second book a chance, if it is read by the same performer and to mindless enjoy the rash actions of Bobby Dollar.

Really Promising First Book and a Great Reading

Where does The Dirty Streets of Heaven rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Right in line with some of the top. Newbern's reading reminded me a lot of James Marster's Dresden Files narration, with both humor and seriousness when needed. A great new addition to the Urban Fantasy genre.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The Countess of Cold Hands, I really liked how the demoness filled the almost classic jaded female companion to Bobby Dollars gumshoe.

What does George Newbern bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Newbern brought a depth to the characters that while present in the book, really popped out in his narration.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

While I laughed out loud several times during the book, my most extreme reaction came from the sex scenes which were quite hot.

Any additional comments?

This series is now on my must read list and I will be checking out more narrations by George Newbern in the future. I was very impressed.

Great audiobook, but nothing groundbreaking

I agree with those saying this series is like Dresden. The main character is scrappy and resilient, stubborn, snarky, has a dark and mysterious past, and has an interesting cast of quirky supporting characters. If you've read the Dresden files, you probably won't be able to help comparing the two. In my head, I kept hearing how James Marsters would have delivered some of the lines.

I think the order you read them (Dollar first or Dresden first) will affect your opinion. Bobby seemed a little too quippy, and the romance aspect made me roll my eyes multiple times. After seeing the plot description for the second book, I'm skipping to the third.

But just because this book is similar to another series doesn't make it less entertaining, just less novel. The narration was great, the world and characters were enjoyable, and I'm definitely interested in reading more - just not about the amazingly beautiful mesmerizingly perfect demon lady.

Fantastic

If you could sum up The Dirty Streets of Heaven in three words, what would they be?

Entertaining, fast-paced, and fun.

Which character – as performed by George Newbern – was your favorite?

The reader, George Newbern, was excellent.

Any additional comments?

This is the first Tad Williams novel that I've read since the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series. That series and this book are worth your time. Can't wait for the next installment in the series.

Lacking creativity

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

Yes, I'd recommend a book to a friend that likes angels vs. demons stories, mysteries, and is more concerned about having something fun to read, rather then something that would amuse or surprise him.

Would you recommend The Dirty Streets of Heaven to your friends? Why or why not?

I guess I answered that on my first response.

What about George Newbern’s performance did you like?

Yes. George Newbern does a very good performance. He gives a lot of personallity to Mr.Bobby Dollar, as well as some of the other characters. I mean, you can not only identify the character by the way he reads, but you can also get a feeling on its mood and intentions. Well executed!

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

You know what? Yes, I would! Although I was a bit disappointed with it as a book, I think it would make a very nice thriller on the big screen.

Any additional comments?

I was disappointed by the lack of creativity of the story - too many clichês for my taste. It felt like Mr Tad Williams (which is a terrific writer) was being pressed by his publisher to deliver a book faster than he'd like, and his solution was to come up with this fast and easy to read story, but that lacks on much of the depth of his other works.

Great story, great writing, phenomenal narrator.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Definitely. Absolutely phenomenal narration to a great book.

What did you like best about this story?

the narrator and the humor

Which character – as performed by George Newbern – was your favorite?

Bobby's humor was great but Fox and the wanna-be had me rolling with laughter.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. At sixteen hours I'd probably go into some sort of fantastical coma. No. I'm good with spreading it out over a week.

Any additional comments?

Great stuff. On par with Peter Grant series, Dresden, and Matthew Swift.

Angels as gritty investigators...I like it.

I came into this book with little expectations, I have read some of Tad Williams other novels and had mixed reactions to them. Some I liked a great deal, others...not so much. But I was looking for something a little different from my usual fare, and the title of this novel intrigued me. The base world of this novel is contemporary Earth, near San Francisco but in this world angels and devils/demons walk among us every day. You see, they all have day jobs in the employ of Heaven and Hell as part of the eternal struggle of Heaven and Hell for the souls of the living. At our deaths we are put on trial, a literal trial..complete with Judge (an angel) an advocate (basically an angelic public defender assigned by the court) and a demonic prosecutor assigned by hell. The prosecutor and the advocate present arguments why the soul should be damned or a saved. I will admit, at first I was not liking this novel, I am not much for overtly religious rhetoric and feared that this novel would devolve into a treatise on the pros and cons of Judeao-Christian-Islamic religious dogma. Luckily it did not, Mr. Williams keeps clear of endorsing or refuting any particular religious dogma and presents his world largely outside the constraints of established contemporary religious thought. He sticks to the story and the characters instead. The lead character of this novel can be described as a slightly dis-enchanted advocate of Heaven. A kind of gritty angelic Colombo character, and he is very entertaining. I enjoyed the character self-deprecation and infinite compassion. All the characters in the novel were well conceived, and explored. Completely believable albeit in a "film noir" way. The novel was light, funny, and at times poignant. I highly recommend this novel for those of you who like a "gum-shoe" type tale with a supernatural twist, and especially for those of you who have never read a "gritty PI"-style novel but are a bit curious about one.

Angelic Gumshoe

Interesting story, well written. Dislike the narrator, especially when he tries to do accents. There ought to be a rule that if the narrator can't pull off an accent he isn't allowed to do them. Characters can be differentiated without resorting to bad Scottish, Australian and Hispanic accents, especially when the characters are angels and have no country of origin. If bad accents don't bother you, give it a try. If they do, read the physical version.