Eminence

Angel of Camden, Book 1

By: Keith A. Pearson

Narrated by: Beau Thomas

Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

We all need a purpose in life. One man only finds his in death.

Camden, London—1975

A bear-like man leaves a pub just before last orders—a man you’d much rather regard as a friend than an enemy. But, to Roland Raynott, Clement is most definitely the enemy. Minutes later, Clement is lying dead in a rain swept alley as Roland Raynott scurries away.

Atlanta, Georgia–2022

An old letter hidden amongst his late mother’s possessions is the reason why Patrick Finch is now 4,000 miles from his home in South London. The letter suggested that a man by the name of Ray Johnson might be Patrick’s biological father and the only person on the planet he can now call family.

His quest to find Ray Johnson doesn’t start well after two men attempt to rob Patrick. They might have succeeded if it wasn’t for the sudden intervention of a man dressed in flared jeans and a denim waistcoat. After brutally dealing with Patrick’s assailants, the stranger introduces himself as Clement.

Confused and seemingly suffering from amnesia, Clement claims he has no idea how he arrived in Atlanta, but he does know one thing—he absolutely must help Patrick in his quest.

Despite his reservations about Clement’s motives, not to mention his industrial use of the English language, Patrick reluctantly agrees that the big man can help in the search for Ray Johnson. What the two men unearth on their journey will change Patrick’s life forever…and possibly Clement’s death.

©2022 Keith A Pearson (P)2022 Keith A Pearson

A Real Treat

So glad to have happened onto both Keith A Pearson and Clement. Was sorry that the series ended after four books and now glad a fifth has come out. One can't help but like Clement. A thug with a heart of gold. The narrator does a great job supplying two distinct voices.

Amazing

Oh wow, what a performance. Both the writing and the reading are stunning. Couldn’t put it down. Had a few good laughs along the way. Can’t wait for the next one.

Disappointing effort from Pearson (Light spoilers)

I'm a long-time listener of Keith A. Pearson's time-travel audiobooks and have left 5-star reviews for tremendous listens such as "Tuned Out", "The '86 Fix" and the conclusion "Beyond Broadhall". Pearson is at his best with sympathetic and flawed protagonists facing a pre-midlife crisis and unraveling personal and professional lives given a 2nd chance or new perspective by a time travel experience. We care about the supporting characters, details are fascinating and meticulous, and the conclusions are satisfying even when bittersweet.
This unfortunately cannot be said for "Eminence". It features a protagonist in Patrick Finch we don't care about and who’s feeble eccentricities aren't endearing. The second protagonist and anti-hero, Clement, comes across as violent street thug who serves as a "life coach" to Patrick. Their interactions are sometimes odd and Clement's responses to life in 2022 from being transported from 1975 are so muted that you forget about this "fish out of water" context, which turns what wants to be a reverse time-travel story into a weak buddy road trip adventure.
Eminence takes place in the American South focusing on the Atlanta, Georgia area and south Alabama. I live in Atlanta, and Pearson's research regarding the details into neighborhoods and suburbs are not well done. Patrick rents a B&B on Auburn Avenue, in Atlanta's "Sweet Auburn" historic district. Patrick can't find a coffee shop or restaurant in walking distance which is implausible given what 2 minutes on Google Maps will indicate. Pearson inserts the KKK into the story to make the kidnapping antagonist family even more evil that they are. This seems to have been added to justify Clement's severe beating of some of the antagonists as without the KKK connection, the violence wouldn't have been justified. I'd suggest to Pearson that if he's going to set a story outside his native England, that he find some assistant story editors actually from the place where the story is set. This might avoid nearly everyone Patrick speaks with having a drawl right out of Deliverance.
The production of the character voices is also weak. Simple things are both annoying and sloppy which should never had made the final recording. Awkward mispronunciations of Atlanta major roads (Piedmont Avenue) and the town of Macon, GA pronounced in the French-like Maison rather than like Bacon. This is to be blamed on production rather than voice actor Beau Thomas. Saying this, Thomas' American South accents are inconsistent and overly thick and hinder much of the character definition for local people in the story. His delivery is very fast and thus turning your listening speed over 1.00x is not recommended. Thomas' emotions finally appear in the final three chapters and come on so suddenly that it sounds like Thomas himself must have just experienced a traumatizing event before recording.
In the end, we don't care about Patrick, we're unimpressed with Clement, and the payoff announces itself 3/4th of the way through the book leaving us surprised when the narration finally gets out of the flatline from the prior 30+ chapters.