The Sixth Man

I'm not even 20 minutes into the book and I'm already fighting to continue. What on earth was wrong with Ron McLarty's solo work on David Baldacci's previous novels? Why ruin it with the horribly executed female character narration and not even mention said failed attempt before I paid for the audio book? I am disappointed. The only reason this gets three stars is because the story has me intrigued, however it looks like I'm going to have to wait to see if the local library's CD set is also ruined by this... this "experiment."

As far as the book goes, it is quite intriguing and worth a read... just not with this narration.

I usually always love David Baldacci books and this was one of my favorites. The only problem I had was the female narration of Michelle Maxwell's character. To me, she sounded like a whining, southern grandmother not the tough as nails charachter Michelle seems to be. I am not sure I ever got over the narration of her charachter (usually bad narration kills a book for me) but the story was good enough to get over this hurdle. I do, however, think they should look for someone with a more "crisp" no-nonsense voice.

It seems that good narration is hard to find. Ron McLarty is great here, but this is really co-narrated with Orlagh Cassidy, who seems to be more interested in 'pronouncing' than in speaking. The overly affected dialects are very distracting and even jarring. It sounds more like an 'acting practice, vocal rehearsal, over-emphasize the vowels' session than a telling of a story. It's too bad that it couldn't be just McLarty reading. Sigh. One more credit wasted.

The female narrator on this recording makes it almost impossible to listen to. She imparts a weird Southern accent to Michelle that is completely wrong for her character.

I'm a big Baldacci fan, and not even halfway through part 1 of this book, I am struggling to try to like the story, which I can't even comprehend. The reason being the narration, particularly with the female reader. Every character she interprets comes across as ridiculous and snarky and unlikeable. I found myself hoping someone would just shoot Michelle and put us out of her misery! Unfortunately, as she's one of the main protagonists, I assume that sadly it won't happen. I'm really trying to like this story, I'm really trying to FINISH this book, but at this point, it's not looking good.
I have listened to many audiobooks, and the multiple reader format in general doesn't work well. It takes you out of the flow of the listen. And this one in particular is horrible!! Just as I get into the story, SHE pops up and it's like nails on a chalkboard.
If narration is important in your listening experience, consider this a huge warning. Don't waste your credits. I only hope maybe they will release another version of this book with a single reader. And they should offer it free to those of us who've so sadly wasted this credit!
I consider the one-star rating a reflection on the narration. Sadly, I can't give the writing a star rating as the narration makes it impossible to judge the writing on its merits.

Ugh, I don't know where to begin with how bad this book is. Yes, as others have said, the female narrator just sounds wrong for the characters. Also, the stupid music is intrusive and ridiculous, as are the other sound effects. I just want to hear the dang book read to me! But most of all, this was just a bad book. Baldacci is getting lazy, the story is over the top, so melodramatic this should be a soap opera. The characters are flat and stereotypical, the supposedly smart people act very stupid, we are reminded how rich certain characters are over and over. I did finish listening to this awful book, but only because I'm stubborn and hate wasting a credit. It was one of those books that I find myself yelling to "Oh, come on," and finally just wishing for it to be over.

The story and writing were weak compared to prior Baldacci books. The mail narration was good, the female narration was bad. I think it was the female voice that almost ruined the book for me. All of her characters had the same horrible "southern" accent. It was so wrong that I almost started laughing every time I heard it. It improves a bit if you play it on "fast" because her parts are shorter. Apparently whoever picked her for the female voice never heard her speak. Really really bad. I will make sure to remember her name so I never download a title she is narrating.

I'm sure the story will turn out to be fine, but Ron McLarty is one of my favorite narrators! What were they thinking by adding another narrator to one of his books??? and a horrible female voice too. Yikes. It was bad enough the last book when they added all the squealing tires and gun shot sound effects (hated those) but this is a slap in the face. Mr. McLarty you don't deserve this. Hachette! wake up and quit ruining good books. There are a few great narrators around. Ron McLarty is one of them (others are Davinia Porter, Simon Prebble, Scott Brick, Simon Winchester, Barbara Rosenblatt, C J Critt, just to name a few) Quit trying to gimmick your audio books! We're sold already, leave good enough alone... and get rid of all the music and sound effects. Whatever 20something who decided to screw this up should be sacked... even though they are probably a very nice person. Sheesh.

I love audible books and I love David Baldacci. I cannot listen to this book as Orlagh Cassidy has a very dry voice, without any emotion! It bothered me so badly that I could not get past it to hear the story. This is one that I will not be listening to and WILL be adding to my nook! Don't waste your time or $

I found that the Ron McLarty was asleep whe he read this book. Orlagh Cassidy was not much better. I have an IPOD, I set it on faster to get through most of the book. Then I gave up. Poor book and very poor readers.