Atacama Red

A Pablo Nelson Mystery

By: William Graham

Narrated by: Dan Carroll

Length: 2 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Set in the mysterious and other-worldly landscape of Chile's Atacama Desert, this fast-paced and captivating mystery novel revolves around Pablo Nelson - an American by birth but with Chilean roots - who has resigned from being a detective in a small town in Vermont to open a hotel in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. But soon after starting his new life, he finds himself drawn in to helping a Chilean detective solve a series of gruesome murders occurring in a remote desert village. In the process of the investigations, Nelson must confront his greatest fears and doubts about himself.

©2017 William Graham (P)2017 William Graham

Fantastic listened – why all the negative reviews?

Atacama: a Pablo Nelson mystery

William Graham weaves a masterful plot with wonderful characters in a beautiful setting (excepting the descriptions of victims final "resting places.")

Pablo Nelson feels irrevocably damaged after failing to find a missing boy. He decides that he needs a fresh start and follows his mother's roots to Chile. Once he arrives, he buys a small hotel and goes through the motions of life.

Each character that checks into Pablo's hotel adds another layer to the mystery (cue up "Hotel California" *wink*.) Then as the plot thickens those layers are peeled away from a different angle and deeper.

Will the mystery of the murders wet Pablo's interest in life as a detective once again or will he find defeat in another unsolvable case? Will he find the desire to live on a more personal level? A combination of both or neither?

I thoroughly enjoyed it – the entire, too short, 2 1/2 hours.

*I received this book for my unbiased review.

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Too Tough a Task

If you could sum up Atacama Red in three words, what would they be?

Needed more time. This is a two and one half hour audio book, from a one hundred and nineteen page book. The author had to introduce characters, establish explanations for their actions, introduce a mystery with multiple bodies and include the "chase". There is an exotic location, a reasonably likeable protagonist. The work just wasn't long enough to accomplish all of the elements of a good mystery. Some of the motivations and actions by the characters seem to be just thrown out there and not reasonable.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Telegraphed. Which is what I meant that the work needed to be longer for that aspect to develop.

What about Dan Carroll’s performance did you like?

Dan Carroll has a pleasant voice. Easily understood.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Please stand back from the geyser!

Any additional comments?

I appreciate the opportunity to listen to and review this work.

I would like to see the work lengthened and developed a bit more. It's on the right track!

A review copy was gifted to me at no charge. In return, I am happy to provide an honest review. Also at no charge.

Pablo Nelson finds you cant always leave it behind

Atacama Red by William Graham was a pretty good listen. Pablo Nelson as he resigned from a detective job in Vermont feeling burned out and ready for a change. He decides to open a hotel in a small town in Chili with the hope of getting away from his old life. Fate has other things in store for him as finds himself helping Chilean detectives as they investigate some gruesome murders.
This is a good story not a great story but it is a relaxing listen and the twists and turns will keep you involved until the end.
I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher

the story does have some good ideas

Pablo Nelson is a small town detective who retires after failing to uncover the brutal murder of a child.  Haunted by his failure, he moves to his deceased mother’s home town of Atacama in the Chilean desert.  A series of mysterious murders draw him out of his self-imposed exile to help the local detective.

The bodies pile up as the mystery deepens.  Everything points to drug lords and their strange connection to a local observatory and two astronomers who may not be who they seem.  But Pablo doesn’t buy it and digs deeper, each time finding more reasons to be suspicious of the obvious.

The setting in the Chilean desert is intriguing and the landscape is described with compelling detail.  Unfortunately, the characters feel unrealistic and forced.  An astronomer dealing drugs?  A Chilean detective immediately sharing her findings with an inn-keeper from America?  The listener wants to like this mystery but the connections seem too far-fetched to stay involved.  Many mystery lovers want to try to guess who-done-it. This one just doesn’t give you that opportunity.

Dan Carroll performs the story.  While he has a good voice and is pleasant to listen to, he has a strange way of dragging a sentence and pausing before the last word.  He sometimes stumbles over words and pronounces the many Spanish words poorly.  A native speaker would have been a better choice for this performance.  As with all audiobooks, listen to a sample first to see if Mr. Carroll’s performance is right for you.

While the story does have some good ideas, there is little left to the imagination.  There are so many mystery novels.  This one doesn’t really bring anything new to the genre but may be a pleasant listen for some.  See if the sample gets your attention before you commit.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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Nice short mystery

This is the seventh book I’ve read/listened to by this author and I have enjoyed every book so far. I really like his Mars series.
This book is another detective mystery. I don’t tend to listen to this genre, but I liked it. It is short so a lot has to be fit in.

This is the first book I’ve listened to by this narrator ( Dan Carroll ). His style was stilted and had emphasis placed on parts of sentences that are more common when someone’s reading, but not when speaking. He did have different accents for each character and did okay with the female voices. His expression for each character was the same. However, it was not to the point I felt I wanted to stop listening.

There are no explicit sex scenes, excessive violence or swearing.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and voluntarily left this unbiased review.
Please feel free to comment on whether you found my review helpful.

Not very interesting.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

No, written at a grade 6 level

Would you be willing to try another book from William Graham? Why or why not?

No, very boring story.

What didn’t you like about Dan Carroll’s performance?

Voice inflection poor, monotone at times.

Did Atacama Red inspire you to do anything?

No.

Any additional comments?

"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review”.

More dry then the Atacama desert.

What did you like best about Atacama Red? What did you like least?

The Location is a unique idea for a mystery.It takes great skill to develop such a story in the short time available but the story really is very limited.

Would you be willing to try another book from William Graham? Why or why not?

Yes he has potential but he needs a longer book to expand a particular premise.

What three words best describe Dan Carroll’s voice?

BORING.BORING.BORING.

Did Atacama Red inspire you to do anything?

Get something to drink..... it is very dry in here.

Any additional comments?

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

A mystery to keep you guessing

I enjoyed the story, there are quite a few twist and there are clues layered into the story but they aren't obvious so I got most of the way through before I figured out one of the characters involved.

I like mysteries that aren't obvious but where you stand a chance of guessing who's involved. and this one delivered that for me.

This book created a good set-up for a series of books and I'm putting the next book on my 'to read' list.

I wasn't a fan of the narration, a few of the character voices were OK but most weren't particularly the female voices. I also found the flow of the narration a bit strange, not too bad but enough to be a bit distracting. I'd have preferred the eBook version.

This book was supplied free by the author/narrator/publisher and I voluntarily wrote this honest review.

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Let down by the narration and the duration

Another good short story mystery from William Graham. American ex-detective Pablo Nelson moves to Chile to escape his ghosts, only to be pulled into more detective work. Nelson must face his own issues while helping the Chilean authorities.

At two and a half hours this book fits a whole lot in, which works both for it and against it. It opens with Nelson's final case in the US before he moves, the one that haunts him. It then has to set up all the players in Chile and also set up the mystery. Because of this it all feels rushed and some "get to know the character" elements feel really forced. Especially the prologue section introducing Nelson. This section is an info dump on him that tells you a whole lot abut him but doesn't really engage you. There is also a lot more telling, rather than showing throughout.

The story was good. The mystery was good. The detective work good. It just needed more space and more time to breathe.

I found the narration and sound production rather lacking, which really took away from the book. As an overall thing the sound quality wasn't great. The whole thing sounded like I was listening though a wall, just a little bit muffled.

While Dan Carroll does provide voices for some characters they are spotty, and his 'main' voice for the narration and the main character is not engaging. The voices are also muddled at times - there was at least one point where I am almost certain he swapped the voices by accident between two people talking. So person one was saying things in persons two voice and vice versa. There are times when we move from internal conversation to a comment made out loud with no change in tone or pace so it all flows together.

The pacing is mostly okay, although there are some awkward pauses at times.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher

Rich story teller

I have listened to many audiobooks. Dan Carrolll has a rich and wonderful voice that is a pleasure to listen to. The time goes by quickly hearing the story come to life. Look forward to listening to more books narrated by Dan Carroll.