Blood Test

A Comedy

By: Charles Baxter

Narrated by: Rob Shapiro

From the winner of the PEN/Malamud Award and “one of our most gifted writers” (Chicago Tribune) comes a comic novel about a divorced Midwestern dad who takes a cutting-edge medical test and learns that he has a predisposition to murder.

In this fresh take on love and trouble in America, Brock Hobson, an insurance salesman and Sunday-school teacher, finds his equilibrium disturbed by the results of a predictive blood test. Baxter, a master storyteller, brings us a gradually building rollercoaster narrative, and a protagonist who is impertinent, searching, and hilariously relatable. From his good-as-gold, gentle girlfriend to the macho subcontractor guy his ex-wife left him for, not to mention his well-raised teenage kids, now exploring sex and sexuality, the secondary characters in Brock's life all contribute meaningfully to the drama, as increasing challenges to his sense of self and purpose crash over him. The final battle—no spoilers, but there is one—couldn't be more delightful, as this quick and bracing novel reminds us to choose the best people to love, accept the ones we love even if we didn’t choose them, and love them all well.

Lack of story progression

I found this a disjointed and poorly developed storyline. Characters were not relatable and showed no growth. A waste of time and money for me. I certainly wouldn’t call it a comedy.

It’s okay

It’s okay. Like a hot coffee gone cold still drinkable but not the best. If you want something easy to read this is for you.

I didn’t hate it, but don’t recommend it

The reader is good, performing the different characters using consistent tones of voice. The story meanders and never really goes anywhere. I know it’s supposed to be a commentary on something - the way we live or what is truly important, I don’t know - but this style didn’t resonate with me. It was not funny, as reviewed, and there were many parts that were too long and it skipped around, as if the author got tired of writing one part, so just moved to something else. I finished it, but I don’t recommend it. Time is finite - spend it listening to something more enjoyable.

A funny, weird, satire with heart

Baxter is a very clever, skillful writer and storyteller, and much of this story feels tongue-in-cheek. He definitely leaves you guessing about how you should actually feel about the narrator and about where the story is going. I was worried it was going to end in a bloodbath like The Bee Sting, but thankfully it did not. If anything the ending feels oddly hopeful. The narrator is basically a self-righteous, tight-assed douchebag who, over the course of the story, you actually learn to love and root for. Which is often how I feel about myself, so the fact that it ends more in family farce than tragedy feels somehow both encouraging and heartwarming.

Another Gem From America's Best Storyteller, Charles Baxter

Another Gem From America's Best Storyteller, Charles Baxter!!
There has been no other time in history, with the uncertainty of COVID, that we needed comedy more!!
Baxter delivers again! Funny, wry, dry, always beautifully written, and always, always intelligent and cant-put-it-down-interesting.
Baxter continues to surprise, but not really since we do know that we never really know just how thought provoking, twisted, and sincere he can be!
The concept here is simply scary! For how many of us WOULD act if given a "HALL PASS," or as stated here, "A License to Kill?"
Baxter's prose, as usual, is unsurpassed. The same is true for his character development. I was right there with him, at the ready, to make sure THIS TIME another character pronounced his name correctly.
Baxter is a master at plot development as well. I found myself hoping, along with Joe, that Brock would actually take a shot at the awful Burt. A good shot!
For me, there has ONLY EVER been one bad thing that's come with reading a novel or story by Charles Baxter. And that's that it ends.
That's the reason I read his words over and over again; finding something new and delightful every time I do.
Until his next release, which I hope is coming soon, I'll again read MY FAVE: "THE FEAST OF LOVE," and then work my way through each of his works again and again!
Thank you for this amazing read!!