Blackout

By: Robison Wells

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Homeland meets Marie Lu's Legend in Blackout, which #1 New York Times bestselling author Ally Condie called ""a thrilling combination of Wells's trademark twists and terror. Fantastic!""

Laura and Alec are highly trained teenage terrorists. Jack and Aubrey are small-town high school students. There was no reason for their paths ever to cross.

But now a mysterious virus is spreading throughout America, infecting teenagers with impossible superpowers—and all teens are being rounded up, dragged to government testing facilities, and drafted into the army to fight terrorism.

Suddenly, Jack, Laura, Aubrey, and Alec find their lives intertwined in a complex web of deception, loyalty, and catastrophic danger—where one wrong choice could trigger an explosion that ends it all.

Wished for more.

I have enjoyed a few non-fiction books narrated by Ray Porter, but his fiction read was definitely lacking. He talks quickly and at times varied the speed of his voice, but it really felt unnatural. His voices are pretty good but the cadence of the speech didn't vary between characters, although it unnaturally varied within each character. The narration got in the way of the book instead of accentuating it.
I was also highly irritated by the mispronunciation of the city names Manti and Ephraim. Perhaps it is the producer's mistake but this could have easily been avoided.

The story itself just needs a better arc. This book is part of a continued story and there was really no good arc in this book that indicates that where this book ended was a good break in that story. Some of the character and group motivations are still completely unknown, and glimpses into that at the very least would have gone a long way.
In summary, the book didn't feel complete and the story wasn't compelling for the same reasons.

It is likely, though, that I will buy the next book, hoping for a better payoff.

amazing story and great reader

I loved the whole thing and the reader was great. really hard to stop listening to it. I can keep going everywhere I go

I did not want to stop listening to it.

I read it before, but forgot some of the story it was just as good listening to it. I could not stop listening and am so excited for the next book