Blind Cerulean

By: Gene Kendall

Narrated by: Tom Weitzel

Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's Summary

This city was a sewer of drugs and corruption. Someone had to do something about it. And, improbably, minds far wiser than her own had selected Alley.

On the hellish streets of Acadia, salvation comes in the form of an angel. One who doesn't care much about collateral damage.

Alley is a 15-year-old girl with a genius IQ, a self-medicating mother, and an unusual obsession with a 1980s movie star. Alley's never truly questioned why her unemployed mother is wealthy enough to afford a luxury apartment. She's more concerned with collecting '80s memorabilia.

Alley's life changes when a mystery figure known as Coach approaches her out of the blue. He tells her she has a destiny; that the crime-ridden, drug-infested city she lives in needs a savior. And Coach - a cranky, plainspoken mentor with no tolerance for any slacking - will train her, make certain she lives up to her true potential.

The girl begins an unlikely career as a vigilante. She runs afoul of local crimelord The Swine, and the mystery figure pulling the gangster's strings. But the true power behind The Swine finds himself drawn to Alley, and as the girl is shocked to learn, is the man who can provide answers to questions she'd never thought to ask. The revelations just might shatter the girl.

©2021 Gene Kendall (P)2022 Gene Kendall

Highly recommend to comic lovers

As the narrator, Tom Weitzel, nicely tells Gene Kendall's action-based story, I quickly began to invest in his main character, Alley. She is a witty, outspoken teen, who finds herself recruited by this "couch" guy who she respects. He trains this young courageous teen to fight crime in a drug-filled city. After Alley learns the crafty skills of a vigilante, she is ready to rid the city of drugs and super villains for good.
At first, the story is fast-paced, and then shifts into different areas where I became confused and found it hard to follow. But... as I continued to listen, the story and characters came together. Good story!

Fast-paced thriller with a twisty plot

Blind Cerulean is a fast-paced science fiction thriller reminiscent of the novels of Dean Koontz. Teenage Alley is a young genius (especially in chemistry) who is working as a vigilante on the drug-ridden streets of Acadia. Her trainer/handler is a mysterious but endearing man she calls Coach. But this is not merely the story of a vigilante's exploits in cleaning up the drug houses, as exciting as that might be. The story has a number of twists and con-current plot lines. And the heroes and villains are connected in surprising ways.

The narrator gives a great performance, providing just enough differentiation among the voices to recognize them as distinct. The audio was a pleasure to listen to.

Kendall does superb work developing the many characters. They are well-rounded enough to feel some sympathy for all of them, well, almost all of them. If you enjoy well-crafted thrillers with a flavoring of science fiction, you should read Blind Cerulean. I'm hoping there is a sequel in the works.

"Just good old family nepotism."

Alley, just 15, is super intelligent but a contrdiction: she never questions why they live in an upmarket apartment with no money troubles when her single mother does nothing but sit around drinking 'tea' all day, bare!y even bothering with her daughter. But she knows other people who work hard have to struggle. And she calls for the old line that she is special, that she is the only person who can save the city, training to excess at the directions of Coach, a much older man, She is the Angel, protecting her city against drug use and the evil Swine - just as her favourite film idols used to do.I

This is a comic book story, written in vivid picture and colour, graphic, too, in its drug and sexual excesses, violence and killings. Oh, it's done very tastefully, nothing shown in It's full nastiness, but it is ever present, a sort of putrification, from the first removal of Mr.Crocodile, to the promise of what's to come at the end. Told partially in flashback, it took a whi!e for this reader to really grasp what was happening, but the story does resolve quite cleverly before the conclusion. Throughout, there is a sense of unreality, only slightly grounded by numerous lol references made, and it is so vividly written that it feels as if a film has been seen rather than an audio book heard. Definitely more graphic novel than flat print on the paper (so to speak).I

Narrator Tom Weltzel further adds to this unreality in the flat, at time noire, delivery throughout. From the beginning, he irritated this reader with the slowness of his reading so the speed was increased to 1.30 to move things along a little: this seemed to make little difference to the.timbre but made for more comfortable listening. Not an easy book to read, he did well overall,
so much so that he was almost forgotten by the conclusion, the book itself having taken over completely in my hesd.

This is a remarkable book and I'm not sure how to rate it.
Did I enjoy it? No: far too pessimistic and overbearing, not to mention my initial total confusion (in fact I started it twice, having decided part way through that I must have lost something in my first attempt). And, though not averse to the inclusion of violence, this was far more than mere inclusion, it was more the foundation, more for the horror fans. And yet it was clever, with an ongoing fascination as well as being so very visual. A real cinematic explosion, perfect for a comic hero-style movie. I am sure there are many who would thoroughly enjoy this book.

I am indebted to the rights holder of Blind Cerulean, who, at my request,freely gifted me with a complimentary copy via Audiobook Boom. Thank you.

Science Fiction, Thriller and Coming of Age story

It took a little bit for me to really get into the story but I really enjoyed it.
Upon meeting coach, she embarks to become the savior of the city, ridding them of drug abusers and the likes; though it comes with so much more. Alley also learns more about who she is. Who those around her are. Causes a fair amount of collateral damage, but at the end of the day is also figuring out her own moral compass while being manipulated by (some of) those around her.

I really enjoyed the writing and the narrator, Tom Weitzel, did an absolutely fantastic job. I'll definitely keep my ears peeled for more of his work, but it was a very enjoyable listen.

Good, but not my thing

I can appreciate what the author was trying to do, and it seems like it's a good story, just not as much my thing as I'd thought. I'd been expecting something almost like a low-level superhero and this wasn't it. Good for what it was, with good narration just not what was expected.

I received a copy of this book at my request in exchange for a fair review.

Twisted, Convoluted Story

This Audible book starts off with 1 story, then goes to another Story, etc. Eventually the Stories come together and make sense of the entire storyline. This does Not help the listener/ reader to understand until things start to come together. I was extremely frustrated and nearly stopped listening to this book because of this.
Narrator does a Great job with the characters voices.

I just never got the feel for it.

A good story with some great ideas and plenty of intrigue and action. Unfortunately I just never got the feel for it. The 15 year old super-spy/assassin just never felt feasible and there was so much going on around her it just felt a little strained.
Well narrated but not much distinction between the different character voices.
This is my honest opinion on a free review copy.