Zenith Man

Inheritance collection

By: Jennifer Haigh

Narrated by: David Colacci

Length: 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Whatever had been going on inside the shuttered old house, the couple who lived there kept it to themselves. Among the locals, there's only chilling speculation.

Neighbors are shocked when Harold Pardee reports his wife dead. No one even knew the eccentric TV repairman was married. Within hours, horrible rumors spread about what that poor woman must have endured for 30 years. Until the Pardees' carefully guarded world is exposed. New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Haigh delivers an endearing short story about our misguided perception of strangers, the nature of love, and the need for secrets.

Jennifer Haigh's Zenith Man is part of Inheritance, a collection of five stories about secrets, unspoken desires, and dangerous revelations between loved ones. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single setting. By yourself, behind closed doors, or shared with someone you trust.

©2019 by Jennifer Haigh. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Really enjoyed this listen

While the story came to a rather sudden and unsatisfying end, I enjoyed every single minute listening to it. I love the writing style of this author, and the narration was absolutely perfect imo. I honestly wished that this story would have gone on a lot longer and had a different, fulfilling ending. This ending kind of felt like no ending at all. I quickly got attached to these characters (regardless of how likable or not they were), and I want more! I will say that I am now intrigued by this author, and I'm looking forward to more of her work. I kind of feel like that was part of the point of this short story. I see that there is one book by her available on Amazon, so I am going to look into that. This was also a free listen which I certainly appreciate.

Poignant

A poignant short story. The author conveyed just enough detail to create a story of marital devotion.

Depressing

Mysterious but lacking in substance for me. Sad overall. Not a bad short story but grim and not what I was hoping for. I did appreciate the element of truth portrayed in life instead of the far-reaching stories I've read recently.

Pretty decent short story mystery

This super short story has got a lot of juice going for a mystery and it was really decent. The outcome was not predicted because it was over before it started but again, it packed a lot of info. Very satisfied with the story.

Awesome 📙

I loved this book. And the reader was awesome too. Give it a try and see if you like it too.

short and nice

very short read and looks like its apart of a series and will be good to hear more of this story.

Not bad!

This was a good little story. A Very short story of one man’s exoneration after an incident occurs for which he appears guilty. I really enjoyed the easy slow pace of the narrator as he recounts the story. A good listen!

Enjoyed

I enjoyed this short story . Whether or not if was bas d on a true story or not , the author wove it into a rich story .

An Original Found Lacking

While I greatly enjoyed experiencing the extraordinarily talented narration by David Colacci, I found the story itself to be lacking in quite a few areas. Zenith Man, in my opinion, was simply too great a tale to be relegated to the confines of the Short Story Form. It was, I felt, a great disservice to not only the narrator's skills, but also the characters and overall potential of the story.

Jennifer Haigh is unquestionably a talented crafter of tales. This was my first experience with her writings, but from what I could ascertain, she possesses all of the traits essential to becoming an "A-List Writer." The believability of the characters, their distinctive differences, the dialogue, the main plot, subplots, etc., were, to a great extent, all wonderfully done. However, I found myself wanting...no, NEEDING more at practically every turn.

As an aspiring author myself, I tend to be "too generous," at times, when rating the efforts of others. I know the great passion and (sometimes greater) pains which are lovingly poured into each sentence, paragraph, and edit. I suppose what I'm trying to come to terms with is the frustratingly stubborn fact that EVERYTHING about this short pointed towards one very clear fact. The presented work, as a whole, was too potentially great to NOT be a COMPLETE, three hundred page plus NOVEL!

So, it was with a reluctantly heavy heart that I rated this story lower than I felt the characters,or the narrating, deserved. If, by chance, Jennifer happens to stumble upon this review, I offer this bit of unsolicited advice...
DO NOT SELL YOURSELF SHORT (no pun intended)!! Your abilities amazed me!! Even after "reading" this short story, and leaving a so-so review, I would, without hesitation, purchase a novel crafted by your hands ON NAME ALONE!

Endnote: Amazon, consider giving the authors of similar original shorts the extra time and resources (as desperately needed) to produce COMPLETE works. These stories should be allowed to progress unrestrained by "Big Business Fears" or bottom line questionings! Put more "resource faith" in the hands of such talented authors, and they WILL produce successful, profitable works which will be MORE than worthy enough to carry the "Amazon Originals" name!!

Witty and Entertaining!

For a short story, this one packed in a lot of goodness into 39 minutes! I love the author's sense of humor and the plot was very unique and quite entertaining.

The narration was done very well so no complaints there!

I highly recommend this story to everyone. It's short so you can't use the "I don't have time" excuse. Hee hee.