The Grail

Area 51, Book 5

By: Robert Doherty, Bob Mayer

Narrated by: Martin Gollery

Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

The Grail is another knockout from New York Times best-selling author Bob Mayer writing as Robert Doherty.

The Holy Grail - is it the key to a miracle...or a terrifying truth? The Great Wall of China, the immense carvings on Easter Island, Egypt's pyramids, UFOs: What is the chilling connection? The answer, unearthed by an elite band of soldiers and scientists based at Area 51, is rewriting human history - to include the aliens who shaped it!

Now, in this heart-pounding novel, Area 51 personnel embark on a top-secret search for the Holy Grail, a glittering artifact with the power to save the world...or lead to its destruction.

Special Forces officer Mike Turcotte has paid his dues in battle and in blood. Now assigned to Area 51, he fights the toughest enemy of his career: the alien race who arrived on Earth millennia ago and have returned to claim the planet.

Mike has dodged bullets and faced weapons of mass destruction to give humanity another day of reprieve. But when his lover, scientist Lisa Duncan, falls into evil hands, Mike must decide which prize means the most to him - the woman he loves or the legendary Grail. It's a decision that could damn him...or damn us all.

©2012 Bob Mayer (P)2012 Bob Mayer

What was this, Baby's First Narration?

What would have made The Grail better?

A different narrator. Or at least a narrator that pronounced the names in the story correctly. Editing of the narration when mistakes were made, instead of catching the mistake and restating. I couldn't believe the poor quality.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

By being the narrator. He was terrible.

Worst narration ever

It says a lot about an audiobook when one decides that the narration takes centre stage of one's book review. While I enjoyed the story, the narration simply was not enjoyable. I am hesitant to become personal, but Martin Gollery sounded like a singing robot most of the time. I even started thinking of him as a poor man's John Malkovich. It detracted from an otherwise enjoyable story.

This book was better than the others in the series so far. There were a couple of great scenes, such as the battle at Easter Island. The editing seemed tighter, and as a whole, the story wasn't as disjointed as some of the previous books.

All in all, a good book but for the narration. Otherwise, I would have easily scored it 4 stars.

This Narrator must be stopped!

Would you try another book from Robert Doherty and Bob Mayer and/or Martin Gollery?

I have listened to all 5 of the Area 51 books before this one and enjoyed them all. And I plan on listening to the rest of the series. As for Martin Gollery I hope I never have to listen to another book narrated by him.

What did you like best about this story?

The way the author blends history with fiction,

How did the narrator detract from the book?

His voice was a monotone. It did not change from character to character, You could not even tell if it was a woman or man, And no matter if it was an action or calm section his voice remained in that same dull tone. I have listened to a lot of audiobooks and this was by far the worst narrator I have ever heard. Anybody who is considering using him on one of their books should just listen to the first chapter of this book (getting past that will be enough torture) before making their decision. If I had not listened to the first four books I would not have finished this book. But wanting to hear more of the story I struggled through this terrible narrator.

Do you think The Grail needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Yes, yes, yes! I need to know what happens next. And after putting up with this narrator I am hoping the next book will be read by anybody but him.

Any additional comments?

Ban Martin Gollery from ever narrating another book.

read by a non professional?

there were a lot of hangups where the narrator had to restart a sentence not what I would have expected. he often missed the flow of the sentence missed fullstops and so on I thought all those books here are narrated by professionals?

Nonexistent audio editing

This is the worst edited audiobook I have ever heard. When the narrator stumbled and made mistakes and then corrected them they were not edited out in the final - very disappointing And ruined the presentation of this book

Good story, narration leaves a lot to be desired

Fifth book in the series, good story, worth the time. The bad side. The narration was not nearly as good as the last 4 books. In all prior books, you know who is speaking by the way their voices are portrayed. In this one, it is the same voice, nothing special. The second problem I ran into is the production. The editing on this book was amateurish at best. Lots of repeating of words - ex. "They walked into the into the building." Will continue through the series, but this one should be reproduced.

Get the eBook or paperback

If you like the Area 51 series and have listened to any of the previous books, I would recommend skipping this audio and getting the eBook or printed copy. The performance of this read is far below other audible books that I’m surprised it is available as it is. At times character names are pronounced differently by the same story character that it sounds like a new character is being introduced and there are a number of misreads that stop abruptly and restart the sentence. For a time I thought there was a problem with my reader. If that weren’t enough to dissuade, the majority of the book is read in a very monotone way that it sounds like a poor church sermon. The story itself is in line with the previous books.

Bad narrator

The narrator was horrible. It took all my patience to listen to the book. Hoping they don’t use him again.

good story, absolutely horrible narration.

this is my second or third time going through the area 51 series, but the first time in an audiobook. the story is great, I still I'm Amazed by how many Legends myths and other stories that are woven into this alien world. However this narrator should not be allowed to even read a book to himself as bad as he was. I had to speed up the narration to get through it, the only reason I didn't simply return this book is because I wanted to get through this story knowing that this was the only one this narrator read. there are many times he pronounced the same word with different pronunciations, he started sentences over many times, his voices were inconsistent, and it would be very easy for this to put you to sleep. I will stay away from any book read by Martin gollery.

Bad narrator

Narrator on this book changed from previous in series. He has a good voice but bad at narrating and voices. There must not be any editing on this narrative because every time he clears his throat or mid reads and then rereads it is there. Not edited out.