Come What May

A Sam Harlan Novel, Book 1

By: Kevin Lee Swaim

Narrated by: Jim Tedder

Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's Summary

Until he met vampire hunter Jack Harlan, Sam Fisher lived a quiet, peaceful life. Now that dark creatures have murdered his wife and kidnapped his daughter, Sam must learn everything he can from his new mentor to find his little girl, before it is too late.

©2014 Kevin Lee Swaim (P)2015 Kevin Lee Swaim

Waiting for the next one

The story was very entertaining. While I'm not an avid reader, I have listened to some audio books over the years. I had read good reviews of the book and decided to try Audible specifically to listen to Come What May while I did so e recent traveling. Unfortunately, I had to split the book nearly in half with two weeks between. After listening to the first half, I was eager to finish the book on the second trip.

Kevin's way of describing the world Sam was living in was excellent. I was able to picture the surroundings, buildings, people, and action. I even had a couple laughs about some of the town descriptions as they were quite accurate for reality and expressed what many people probably think as they drive through.

I look forward to future audio releases of Mr. Swaim's writings so I can listen to them all. Hopefully Mr. Tedder will continue to narrate this series, if not all of them as I believe he did an excellent job. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in action/suspense. There is no need to be a fan of vampire books to enjoy this one.

Great read!

Sam Fisher is just trying to live his life and make his business work. He is happy with his life! That is until he arrives home one day to find blood on the floor and his wife lying in it. His daughter is in the grip of.... something. That is the moment that Jack Harlan enters his life and saves Sam from the vampires. Sam is thrust into the supernatural world in an effort to save his family from the monstrous beings.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book!! it has been way too long since I found a Vampire story that I enjoyed so much. It was well written and executed and the plot was fast paced! I really liked the vampire lore and learning about how they work. I also loved the idea of the Vampire Council and The Sheriff who polices rogue vampires! That alone could be the focus of a book!

I really liked Sam, he is just an ordinary guy who is trying to keep his business going. When his wife is killed, and his daughter taken, all he wants to do is hunt the people down, but Jack has to talk him down because Sam will only get killed. Sam learns some surprising truths too!!

I liked Jack too. He is mysterious, brave and an all round kick ass dude! When we start finding out his history and who he is, I was enthralled! I have to say that I loved what happened to him when a vamp was killed and thought it was unique. It added something new (to me anyway) to a genre that was full of the same thing all the time.

In all, this was a great read. I owned the ebook but bought the audio to listen to and am so glad I did! I am so looking forward to the next one because that ending broke my heart!!

Jim Tedder was easy to listen to and was clear and concise. He had a few tones and voices to differentiate the characters, and gave a good performance.

movie material!

I really think this would make an awesome movie or start to a TV series. I hung on every word. the action is great, story is on pace with the action, and character growth dead on.

Entertaining from beginning to end!

What made the experience of listening to Come What May the most enjoyable?

I'm a big fan of "Walking Dead," "Breaking Bad," and the old "X-Files," where the strange and absurd meets everyday people and American living. This looked like one of those experiences, so I dived in. I must say that Jim Tedder is an EXCELLENT narrator, and I hope he continues with the series. He makes the story come to life.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Come What May?

The book is never slow, and takes off right away. What fun that he explores some of the Midwest areas where I live and work. Kevin weaves in some Dan Brown-like religious mythology that is pretty impressive and fun to follow, but I believe his writing and descriptions are more like Stephen King and others who help you picture the action easily and add humor in the right places. I found myself being impressed with how the book held my attention and how fast the time went by.

What about Jim Tedder’s performance did you like?

No doubt Jim is perfect for this series. I hope he continues with the next. I have the Kindle version of book 2, but am resisting reading it until the audio version is released. Jim is THAT good.

Any additional comments?

Kevin has been added to my favorite authors list. Can't wait for the next one.

Great fantasy!

Come What May is the first book in the series, I had read a couple of books later in the series and wanted to see how it all started. I really love this great vampire series. Wonderful characters, plot, interactions, dialogues, and surprises that come up.

I loved this book!

It's been a long time since I've read a vampire novel. This was the perfect one to jump back in the genre. My kids had to pull out my ear buds several times. The narrator was great at portraying some of the nuances you might miss with the printed word. Thank you for the great read and I can't wait to get into the next book!

Ty

This book pulled me in from the get go and had me hanging on every word until the end. It's full of action, magic, vampires, etc...a bit graphic at times. I wasn't crazy about the ending, but still an excellent story. I will definitely follow the series and, in fact, I've already downloaded the second book.

A different take on Vampire Lore.

A good listen. I was freely given this title for an unbiased review by the author.

This was a pretty good tale of an ordinary man faced with not ordinary life altering situations. Vampires! Author did a good job of plot setting and the narrator did a fine job with the characters.

Worst vampire story since Twilight?

What disappointed you about Come What May?

I don't understand the glowing reviews- the story had potential, but dragged on & on with the wimpiest vampires ever.

Would you ever listen to anything by Kevin Lee Swaim again?

Possibly, with a different narrator. I have the second book in the Sam Harlan series and will probably just read it since it's not out on audio at this time.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Jim Tedder?

Someone more like Luke Daniels, Fred Berman, Roger Wayne- or even Tavia Gilbert! (That girl can bring the phone book to life....) I'm sure Jim Tedder is a fine narrator, but the main character is supposed to be 28, and this guy has to be in his mid-60's with a very gravelly voice. I know that male narrators portray women and vice versa, but all the characters sounded the same.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Boredom- I LOVE audiobooks and go through a ton of them giving the majority 4-5 star ratings, but this was the worst I'd encountered in a while. I slogged through it, but it was difficult.

Any additional comments?

I hate to rag on an author or story and hope the later books in the series will be better, but they need a younger narrator or one with more range.

hunting vampires in an attempt to save his family

Come What May by Kevin Lee Swaim is the first novel in the Sam Harlan series and is a novel about an average man, Sam Fisher, who is suddenly thrust into a life of hunting vampires in an attempt to save his family. Sam runs a run-down family owned diner in a run-down town. Even though money is tight, he is happy. Suddenly, a group of vampires is in his life and his family is in danger. Sam struggles to come to terms with the reality of vampires and how he is connected to them.

While the vampire-lore in this story was not in particularly novel, the characters and the story were interesting. The cruel tie-in between Sam Fisher and the infamous vampire hunter Jack Harlan was the key to the story and it worked to motivate the characters and drive the story forward. I really enjoyed the how both Sam and Jack changed as the novel progressed. Jack’s change was especially interesting and a unique part of this story. However, there were two aspects of the novel that I think could have been improved. First, as with many vampire stories, there was a tie-in with the church. There was a loose relationship between the church and vampire hunters in the war against vampires. I think the politics of the church and the vampire hunters could have been an interesting addition to the story. As it was, it seemed that the church was used to as a way to accomplish some supernatural events. I believe that this aspect of the story will be further developed as the series continues and Sam becomes an accomplished vampire hunter. Second, I think the romance in this novel was forced and should have been left out altogether. It wasn’t necessary and to me it detracted from the story a bit.

The narration by Jim Tedder was well done. The characters tones seemed to be differentiable, which made the audiobook easy to follow. The production quality was good. I would recommend this story to readers who enjoy vampire stories that are not necessarily attached to the technology of the modern world.

Audiobook provided for review by the author.

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

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