The Bartender Always Dies Last

De: Gene Penny

Narrado por: Kirsten Leigh

Roger Westhoven is minutes from receiving a court verdict that will forever change his destiny. Roger's crime? He refuses to rejoin the outside world if it means living without the love of his life. His appeal for a public trial rejected, Roger is given one final opportunity to tell his side of the story. This is the quirky retelling of man who finds love, loses love, finds love again only to lose love once more...and the demon possessed cabinet that brought them all together.

©2012 Eugene Penny (P)2017 Eugene Penny

A fun romp through a series of cliches

Grade B horror fans rejoice. Welcome to a cast of stereotypes. College town, middle aged stoner losers, hot exchange student, hot bar tender, creepy old lady next door with her little dog, demon possessed book shelf, occult murders, small town cover up. With a serious great couple of twists that will leave you stunned. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Weird but okay story

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would, maybe. It was weird and different from most in a very mixed genre of mystery, romance, horror and I don't know what else.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Roger. Trying to figure out what his play is going to be with all this craziness going on around him.

What about Kirsten Leigh’s performance did you like?

She did a great job with all the different characters and voices. It was very weird to have a female read a story from the males point of view. Give it a try in the sample and see if its okay with you first but I would say after a while you get accustomed to it.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not really.

Any additional comments?

This book was okay, from other reviews I guess I expected something more but overall it was just okay. The length is perfect if you're looking for something quick to pass the time with. It didn't engage me all the way throughout the story and the ending was not out of left field as I thought but more of a quick and easy way to tie up loose ends, well some of them at least. "I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review via Audiobook Boom."

More fun than scary

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was my first book by Gene Penny, but it will probably not be my last! I experienced this book in Audiobook form narrated by Kirsten Leigh.

I will be honest and say up front that I was not sure if I would enjoy this story as it was described as horror. I decided to give it a try because it also was described as humor and it was short (148 pages or 3 hrs and 58 mins listening time). I decided that I would step out of my comfort bubble and give it a shot, and I was glad that I did.

The general plot of the book is about Roger - an aging stoner who lives in a college town with his stoner roommate. Roger and his Roommate take a bookshelf off the hands of a distressed neighbor who claims the bookshelf is possessed by a demon, who soon demands sacrifice. The rest of the story has a lot of the typical horror staples: College town, Coeds, hot girls, creepy neighbors, demons, mysterious murders that happen every seven years. You get the picture. Though once you get into the story it is hard to fit it into the single genre of horror. You have to throw in bits of supernatural, sci-fi, romance, mystery, and of course lots of comedy. If you are uncomfortable with bad language and crude humor this book may not be for you. I, however, love it.

Narration: At first I was thrown off a little bit by the fact that a female narrator was narrating a story told primarily from a male perspective, and his voice is roughly 40-50% of the narration. I was quickly relieved however as Kirsten Leigh did a fantastic job with all of the voices, the comedic delivery and even the tension and suspense. I would love to listen to another book narrated by her. Looking briefly through her works however it seems it is mostly romance which, again, is not my usual cup of tea.

* I was provided a copy of this book by the author, narrator or publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

A Strangely Enjoyable Short Story.

I enjoyed “The Bartender Always Dies Last.” It’s a strange story that gets you thinking in one direction then offers up a twist at the end that doesn’t fit within the story the author gives us. There is no foundation laid for it. With that being said, I still enjoyed the story and I think you will too.

Finally, this audio book was provided by the author at no cost in exchange for an honest review, courtesy of Audio Book Boom.

Not completely sure what that was, but I liked it!

It's a tad hard to pinpoint the genre of this book going into it. Horror? Mystery? Supernatural/Scifi? I'd say it's a little of all of the above, with some romance thrown in. Now don't groan just yet; the romance, while sort of the driving force behind this story, definitely isn't your typical mushy rom-com stuff that most folks I know shudder at. In fact, this story is more "Dude, where's my car?" meets hot chick in supernatural trouble.

For those who hate the sort of "dude, where's my car" type of thing, just grin and bear it. There's a few patches (especially early on) where it's poured on a little thick with corny jokes and potty humor, but it does add to the characters and it's worth enduring to experience the whole story.

Ah, the story. Right. So, basically, a guy falls in love with a bartender, but then discovers some crazy occult-like plot to kill off the town's bartender every 7 years or so. He, and his ragtag band of mary-jane-toking friends try to figure out how to stop this. Along the way though, the mystery unravels, turns sideways, re-spools itself and begins dishing out yarn instead of ribbon. What? Exactly. You'll just need to go along for the ride yourself. That said though, there were a few times the twists felt far too long-stretched for my liking, and my mind didn't immediately follow the characters to the next logical (to them, anyway) jump.

When I started listening, I was initially confused because the narrator was female, while the protagonist (and antagonists) was male. Once I got over that, I was perfectly fine with Kirsten's narration. The guy to gal speech time was split roughly 50/50, and she did a great job with both sexes. I expected it to be a bit distracting, but thankfully it wasn't. Kudos to her.

I did get this book from the author free of charge in exchange for my review. Nevertheless, my thoughts are my own and were in no way influenced by this fact.