Dead Line

By: Jack Patterson

Narrated by: Bill Cooper

Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's Summary

When veteran NFL quarterback Noah Larson finally guides his team to the Super Bowl, his dreams - and life - are dashed when his six-year-old son is kidnapped for a unique ransom: Lose the game or his son dies. Seattle sportswriter Cal Murphy and photographer Kelly Mendoza get pulled into an FBI sting to help rescue Noah's son in Mexico. But when everything falls apart, Cal and Kelly are left to save themselves, save Noah's son, and save the Super Bowl.

©2012 Jack Patterson (P)2013 Jack Patterson

Critic Reviews

"You can tell Jack knows what it's like to live in the newspaper world... and he's proven that he also can write one heck of a murder mystery. With a clever plot and characters you badly want to succeed, he is on his way to becoming a new era James Patterson." (Josh Katzowitz, NFL writer for CBSSports.com and author of Sid Gillman: Father of the Passing Game)

"Jack's storytelling feels as natural as James Patterson's, and the short-chapter setup is the literary answer to Lay's potato chips: you just want one more and before you know it, you've gone through the whole thing." (David Bashore, The Times-News, Twin Falls, ID)

Intriguing story, Journalistic Narrator

Cross the Line was a pleasant listen, but not an exciting one. It was not a bad story, but I simply felt unexcited, which should not be the case for a thriller-type story.

Jack Patterson wrote this story well. It was clear he had done the research and had put a lot of thought into it. I thought the story flowed perfectly. The story let me down because of the dialogue between characters. It simply was unrealistic. A few of the characters often went off on tangents when talking to someone about things they had discovered along the way. These tangents, which clearly were dialogue and not narration, were too-journalistic. I know a few journalists, and even when I get them started on a topic they're writing about, they still don't *talk* like they write. These characters spoke more like they were reading an article, rather than sitting at a table drinking coffee. It just felt unnatural. There were also a few times the characters used rare synonym's to describe things when talking to someone (again not during narration), even during the intense scenes. Most people I know under would go for the easiest word to describe something when under pressure, not the unusual synonym. (i.e., blue vs. azure)

Perhaps all these faults would not have been so disappointing (or rather, distracting?) to me had I read the book vs listened. The narrator was not horrible, he had a pleasant voice. However, the book was simply read to me, not narrated. He lacked the vocal talents needed to pull off not only a book, but especially a thriller. There were no differences between male and female voices, and often I could not tell which character was talking because there was no difference in dialect. The non-American bad characters in this book had normal American voices (even in their home country), and were not frightening or manipulative at all. Another fault, there were two very intense parts of the book that simply require some voice excitement, and there was absolutely none. During the part in which the son was kidnapped (forgive me for not marking this as a spoiler, but as it was in the book description, I didn't think it was necessary), I completely missed it because the narrator was so soothing and calm that I had no clue something big was happening. I literally had to go back a few minutes to re-listen to that part. Later in the book, during another big event, I had a similar unexcited response because of the calm tone. Overall, the narrator was pleasant and soothing, but I do think Cross the Line could have been done a lot better with someone who had more narrative vocal talent.

Cross the Line is a great book, despite all I've mentioned. And I do recommend giving it a try. Jack Patterson is a great writer, and I have enjoyed his work for a while now. I look forward to his future books.

Fantastic

Dead Line is a clean, well written thriller that kept me engaged from beginning to end. The characters are interesting and nicely developed. Kudos to the narrator on his performance. He is able to pull off the drama of the storyline without being over the top and over acting.

meh

This was hard to listen to because of the nature of the story involving kids and greed with senseless violence. A positive ending but much needless cruelty and violence. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. The narrator was okay.

Excellent

The stakes are high for Noah, to play the game and lose or his son. Excellent series, well done and with good narration. Given audio for my voluntary review

Decent book

I thought it was a good story, interesting characters, and OK narration. Not a book I would stay up late to hear what happened next...

So-so

Gripping plot was the only thing this book had going for it. There was zero character development. The use of language was mediocre (e.g., using "penultimate" when it was obvious the author actually meant "ultimate.") The narration was also subpar. Although the narrator spoke clearly, he always sounded like he was reading. Of course he WAS reading, as all narrators do, but they don't all sound like it. Save your money.

Just okay

I didn't finish it. It started out okay, interesting premise, but became implausible and then just boring. I might have finished it if I didn't have more promising audiobooks in my queue. I didn't hate it, but it didn't compel me to finish, thus 2 stars.

Comment

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Good story.

Decent story. The Superbowl is here. Two unlikely teams are readying for the big day. But the fix is in. Or is it? Cal Murphy, sports writer in Seattle, is in the thick of it. Well worth the time. 5 stars.

Could have been better

Where does Dead Line rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Definitely not the highest.

Would you recommend Dead Line to your friends? Why or why not?

No, I can't say I would recommend it to my friends, even for free.

What three words best describe Bill Cooper’s voice?

Sadly lacking emotion.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The only extreme reaction I had was to moan at Patterson's repetition of the characters names.... Cal thought he saw something...Cal looked the other way... Cal closed his eyes...etc. When it would have been much better (in this reader's opinion) to simply say, he looked the other way and then closed his eyes. I got to the point I wanted to moan out loud. It was obvious at the first part that he was talking about Cal, there was no reason to keep saying Cal, Cal, Cal or Kelly, Kelly, Kelly.

Any additional comments?

Better luck next time Mr. Patterson. You probably won't even read this, but if you do, it's nothing personal.... just some constructive criticism. The story itself was well thought out otherwise.

End of the line

I enjoyed this book . I thought I was listening to book one in the series but it soon became apparent that I was wrong. As the main character had obviously already been on an adventure that I had missed out on but I kept going anyway and it didn't spoil the enjoyment of this book.and I will be going back to see what I had missed. I did wonder if this book was for me or not because I am not a big sports fan but quick decided I was hooked and other than the son of one of the stars getting kidnapped you wouldn't know, hardly any sports plays or terms are used. The plot was interesting, although I am not sure the FBI would let civilians go hangout with such a notorious bad guy, so as long as you can suspend belief it was entertaining.
Cal is pleased that his team has made it to the Super Bowl play offs and he is there to write the story. That is until he lands an interview with the star quarterback and learns that his six year old son has been kidnapped and in order to get him back he just has to lose the game of his life. The FBI pick up on suspicious betting and get involved but there suspect gets killed before they can question him. He does however manage to point the finger and Cal who normally writes about the news finds himself becoming the news when he and photographer Kelly head off to Mexico, to a notorious drug dealers compound to try and learn about the boys whereabouts by posing as reporters. Can they find the boy before the end of the game and his dad needs to decide if he will do the hardest thing in the world or choose his son?
I liked the narrator, he did a good job with all the voices need in this thriller.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.