Controller

(Warmer Collection)

By: Jesse Kellerman

Narrated by: Chris Andrew Ciulla

Length: 1 hr and 11 mins

Publisher's Summary

What happens when temperatures flare between a mother and son? A few degrees make all the difference in this New York Times bestselling author’s blazingly chilling story of psychological terror.

It’s the hottest winter on record, but Raymond’s demanding, bedridden mother doesn’t mind. She likes it warm. Lately, however, control over the thermostat has become a nasty struggle. And each morning that she’s still alive is a suffocating new challenge for Raymond. How high can the mercury climb before he boils over?

Jesse Kellerman’s Controller is part of Warmer, a collection of seven visions of a conceivable tomorrow by today’s most thought-provoking authors. Alarming, inventive, intimate, and frightening, each story can be read, or listened to, in a single breathtaking sitting.

©2018 Jesse Kellerman (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Pathological and Depressing

A psycho mother and a totally inept almost-psycho son fight for control over their house's thermostat during a crazy winter-time heat wave. She wants it hot, he wants the air conditioning. A weird. sick relationship. Now that you know this, you don't have to waste your time listening to this if you don't want to.

At least it keeps interest

So far the only book in the series that has enough structure to keep your interest. It at least has a story line that you want to hear out. Even though it doesn’t really play out to the story line in the end.

Struggled to keep listening

Did not care for the story or how it was written. Too many descriptive phrases, nice for an English class but made it difficult to follow the story,
which I actually hated. The narrator was excellent.

Not for me...

Humm... My pet peeve, is a book where I hate the two main characters... I hated the old lady, the mom, such a needy bitch. Oh gods, and her voice was just... jarring... (I myself am an older woman, I hope to god to never sound like this.) and the adult son, wow, that's another thing to have allowed his life to go so far out of control... I don't care how hot it gets outside...
The book is well written... And I thought the narration was good as Chris Andrew Ciulla preformed each character well...

I like the performance, especially voice of mother

So I say this periodically. I do tend to rate things high or low. I go extremes in one direction or other. But this is a great story and performance. The awful high temperatures in January ring true, and remind me that is what much of the world has to look forward to or apprehend. I am glad Amazon produced this bold series, and synced them for Audible. Thanks.

No

I appreciate the attempt to make a comedy in of the setting of climate change, but this thing is slow, boring, and anticlimactic.

Completely Successful in its unpleasantness

Actually difficult to rate because it is a completely unpleasant and depressing story which interestingly points to how well it was written and performed but also how this particular story isn't one i'd remotely recommend anyone to read but might say to try something else by Kellermann as the writing talent is obvious.

Excellent!

This story reminded me of my father and how truly ungrateful and miserable people can actually be. Very relatable.

There is no worse narrator.

This is the second time I've tried to listen to this but I just can't. It's beyond annoying.

Why did I NOT heed the reviews?! 😤😬😡😠😣

I tried to leave a review at 75% but I was forced to endure more of this torture.
I know some listeners think they shouldn't write a review unless they hear the entire story, but I feel that life is too short. I have many, many more books in my future and prefer not to waste my time. This story, though well-written, evokes the type of negative feelings that I prefer to avoid. What are those? 😕
Feeling trapped and physically uncomfortable ✔
Wallowing in self-pity ✔
Murderous hatred of one's parent ✔
Oh yeah, and the simplest solutions don't occur to this idiot. Too hot? How about a cool bath? Dummy!

Hard Going

Set in the near-future, in a world where the climate has heated up to really uncomfortable temperatures, this short story zooms in on a mother and son duo who are somewhat at war over the thermostat. It would be laughable if the mother wasn't so abusive and the heat wasn't driving the son, quite literally, to madness.

I didn't like this one very much, and not because I'm intolerant to heat and it was making me itchy just reading about the temperatures referenced in this story. Probably because I'm not into psychological thriller type stories. It didn't grip me and I had to trudge through it. So hard going. But I will say it was a unique perspective to read about and for that it was interesting. A snapshot of life during the worsening of the climate which I'm beginning to understand is the focus of this collection of stories.

Regarding the voice actor... I don't know whatvit was about him but he didn't do it for me at all, grated on me the whole time.