Wild Thing: A Novel

Get rid of the Scooby Doo plot and overt political opinions. The violent, morally ambivalent Pietro from Beat the Reaper was way more interesting than the main character (allegedly the same guy) of this book. The rural setting was wrong. Pietro is an urban hero.

Them or Us by David Moody

The performance was good.

The banter was occasionally amusing.

Hopefully just a poor sophomore attempt.

It is a trite cliche, but comparing Wild Thing to cotton candy is very fitting: it is so tasty, it melts in your mouth, but you know its not good for you and when its gone, it has left you with nothing. I loved "Beat the Reaper" - without doubt, one of the best audio books I have listened to. I couldn't wait for the sequel. Wild Thing has some things in common - the main character, of course, but also the snappy dialog and fast pace that keeps things moving. Even though it is immediately apparent that this is the stupidest plot/story line imaginable, I dove in and thoroughly enjoyed myself - right up to the end. By the end, however, the story is so stupid and implausible, I felt like I had just eaten cotton candy again - knowing all along I would regret it.

This is a fun listen and will keep you engaged - especially if you have already listened to Beat the Reaper. If you have not listened to Beat the Reaper, do not like gratuitous violence, lots of vulgarity, or attacks on Republicans, do not listen to this book. If you still want to try it, be sure you have listened to Beat the Reaper first. Not only is it a far superior story, it will allow you to follow all of the references that pepper this story.

The narration is very good - hence the performance gets 4 stars.

That must be it, because we know what Josh Bazell can do. He can write the most kickass thriller ever with the most kickass, anti-hero protagonist ever (See “Beat the Reaper”). This book is not that book. At all. Not even close. (Robert Petkoff, You are not responsible for this. You are a great narrator. You did the best you could with what you had.) There’s a weak lake monster subplot along with a useless love interest, and it’s all wrapped up with the most Scooby-Doo of endings.

It’s clear throughout that Bazell used this book as a pulpit to forward his views on politics and religion. You can agree or disagree with him, but you’ll have a hard time speaking clearly because he’s been beating you over the head with it. Unnecessary.

This novels takes some dangerous, impressive twists and turns, winding up with a political diatribe which was fascinating and factual, but oddly placed. It's clear that after the success of his insane wordfest "Beat the Reaper" (my favorite book in the last 5 years), Josh Bazell felt comfortable enough to start forcing political statements into his novel. I personally agree with him 100%, or more, but I can see others being repelled or confused by the insertion.

The story is extremely strange, not nearly as cohesive as the first book, and I would strongly advise against reading the second without reading the first. Bazell isn't cautious at all about revealing many plot points from BTR, and there are spoilers galore in this second in the series.

The performances are flawless.I kept waiting for Stephanie Wolfe's voice to jump in, but it isn't until the afterword, which is where the amazing passion and intellect of Josh Bazell comes to a full boil.

For me, it was a great, fun book with Carl Hiassen-like assaults on the Right, the 1% and their disregard for - well, anybody but themselves. There are a lot of laugh-out-loud and gotta-write-that-down moments, and as with BTR, I also bought the Kindle version and will be listening to this audiobook again.

Let me start by saying that Josh Bazell's first book, Beat The Reaper, is one of the most enjoyable audio books I have ever listened to. Great story, very well acted, incredible action and surprisingly funny in many spots. Essentially, everything that this second work was not.

The story is slow and ponderous with only a tiny fraction of the incredible action sequences that made Beat The Reaper such a dynamic listen. In fact, the main character seems to be an entirely different person, more involved with voicing flights of sexual and romantic frustration than driving the plot in any meaningful way. He might not be completely to blame however since 'the plot' consists of little more than a reed-thin stage from which Bazell spouts his political, environmental, and evolutionary beliefs, up to and including some sort of progressive/liberal/enviro-whacko laundry list monologue at the conclusion of the story.

Overally, a complete and utter let-down. If you're a fan of Bazell, don't waste your time on this one.

I really enjoyed Beat the Reaper so I gave this a listen but to my dismay, this book wasn't nearly as good as the first part, which was much more clever and thought out. The sequel was definitely missing that creative format, which was so present in Beat the Reaper. With that said, Wild Thing isn't bad, just not as good and I will say this, Josh Bazell is clearly a really smart guy and some of the subjects discussed in the book such as evolution and science and communism are right on the money. TAlso to note: the narrator also does a very good job too.

I really enjoyed "Beat the Reaper." Rushed to download this one...and found it idiotic. Were it not for the reader, who is terrific, I probably would not have finished it. Yes, the first novel was crazy and did not even attempt to be believable -- but it was FUN. This one was not.

I loved Bazell's first novel, Beat the Reaper. It was wry, funny, unpredictable and gritty. Wild Thing is an attempt to continue the series, but not a very good one. It feels like he wrote it for Movie executives. I hope he'll be back with better stuff.

The production and narration were very good. It was the story that bugged me.

The first book in this series, Beat the Reaper is one of my favorites. this is not as good, but close. I am not one who enjoys listening to the F-word over and over, and frankly this book would be shortened considerably if you took it out. That, the obsessive sexual thoughts of the main character and some rathervisious politics are the down sides to this otherwise very enjoyable. book.It is a unique story line with crazy characters.The arguments were very entertaining. and scientific discussions interesting. It is Non Stop from start to finish. I will immediatly grab any book by this author.

This book is very,loudly, viciously political. Since I am an independant, with leanings to the republican side, I was at times uncomfortable with the vitriol especially against a currently living person who may or may not deserve it.Just to top it off this author ends this book with a diatribe on how the republicans have systematicly destroyed, our environment, monetary system, corrupted world governments, and will bring about world starvation perhaps in our lifetime all for individual political gain. I did not listen to it all. I just don't believe that the bad guys are all on one side in this world. I chose to ignore all of this and enjoy an otherwise entertaining book.

The previous novel of Bazell although not great was okay. This supposed sequel alternates being flat boring with being exasperatingly ridiculous.
This is obviously a contract driven book, the author has no story to tell.