Human Resources

By: Geoffrey Neil

Narrated by: Corey M. Snow

Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Some things are much worse than getting fired. A beautiful business consultant swoops in to rescue a struggling company from financial disaster. She cancels layoffs and dazzles everyone with her killer looks and corporate savvy. Employee, Lonnie Raiford, becomes skeptical when he and the other staff notice inexplicable, over-the-top attention and affection she showers on his best friend, Hugh Berish. As curiosity mounts about the woman's intentions, Lonnie launches a frantic investigation that uncovers her true identity and a secret plan more disturbing than anyone at the company had imagined.

Human Resources has been optioned for film or TV adaptation by Mace Neufeld Productions, producers of titles such as The Omen, The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Invictus, The Sum of All Fears.

©2012 Geoffrey Neil (P)2015 Geoffrey Neil

HR

I didn't care much for this one.The characters were not very likable.The premise was nauseating. The narration was well done.I was given this book free for an honest review

Great Tension, Creepy Slow Build

The audiobook of this novel was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast.

This was an interesting read with a unique plot. This author is very good at building tension. I felt nervous with the characters in many scenes. I also loved how he wrote in little details that the characters noticed. It added to the realism and made me feel like I was there in the story that much more with the character. The writer's style was great. He writes without much flourish so the story moves fast but like I said there is also little details added to really flesh out the scenes. A great combo of nice bare bones writing with dashes of detail made for a nice fast pace and vivid story.

Like I said, this was a unique book. I haven't read anything like it. I liked it and I'm glad I read it because it was an interesting tale. The author is a talented writer and he did a lot of things right in this book - there were just a few things that kept me from giving this one a 5 star review.

It's a thriller but sort starts and stops as far as pacing goes. Once it gets that sorted out there are little moments of intensity here and there followed by a very slow boil that eventually pays off. I can't say I was ever bored, I guess I'd say the author just really took his time establishing things with the characters and the situation. That said there were a lot of really cool scenes in this book. It's worth the slower parts to get to the exciting stuff and the slow parts are doing their job of adding depth to the characters and setting up what happens in the last act of the story. So I guess I'd say some parts were a little slow but I still wasn't bored in these parts so the author was doing something right there.

The book starts off with one story and it takes a crazy turn toward horror. Then before you quite understand what's going on, though I'm sure more discerning readers guessed, you are plunged straight into another story with a whole new setting and new characters with the villain from the first story eventually coming into the story. It took a while until she was there though and until she tied the two stories together it was a jolt and I felt like I was reading a completely new book. I know these kinds of books need to start with an exciting scene to hook the reader but I'm wondering if the author could have condensed the first story and told a little of it and then sprinkle the rest of it in little parts throughout the other story as flashbacks the villain has or something. It was kind of cool knowing who the villain was before the characters and seeing them all slowly come to realize just who she really was though. The villain is someone you feel is very dangerous, capable, and smooth as you read the book. Like she's capable of anything.

The character Hugh seemed like a bit of a rip off of Lennie Small from Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men but I liked him anyway. I liked the details about him liking whittling but felt his character could have been developed a little more. I'm not sure how this could have been accomplished but maybe if we could of had some scenes from his point of view it would have helped us readers feel like we knew him better.

Overall the author did a great job of taking a crazy very creepy idea and turning it into a believable full length novel. That would not have been easy to do but it all comes to live as you read the story. This story would make a great movie. Give it a try and see it as a movie in your mind as I did.

The long walk down the hall to HR is looming !

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Not the best offering I have listened to, but it did have several redeeming qualities. Certainly the principal characters were very well developed. As that pertains to time well spent, most audiobook offerings are a good diversion and transit time occupier, and this offering is no exception.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Frankly, this story needed some editing and plot clarification. That said, I did get pulled along by the story, and it did resolve in a fascinating and creative way.

What about Corey M. Snow’s performance did you like?

The consistency and uniqueness of his characters , and his tone were outstanding. Very well done!

Did Human Resources inspire you to do anything?

Be thankful I work for an organization without an HR department !

Any additional comments?

This is a better than average offering, with some unique concepts and strongly written characters. Recommended.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast.

Unique Unusual Scary Good Thriller

The Hero is this book, Lonny is a very unlikable fellow who is more of an antihero than a true hero. Lonny is dishonest, manipulative, cocky, arrogant, grandiose, vengeful and just not a very nice guy. He is narcissistic with many antisocial traits. Yet Lonny will be the hero of the story. Lonnie is his companies IT guy and he has a soft spot for a mentally challenged co-employee Hugh. Hugh is the only real friend that Lonny has and Lonny is very protective of Hugh.

As despicable as Lonny is he is an angel compared to the villainess Miranda. She is pure evil. Miranda is hired by Lonny's employer to get the business that Lonny works for back on track and into the black. (Lonny is a major cause of many of his employer's finical problems as Lonny has devolved innovative ways to steal from his employer which Lonny self justifies)

Miranda is smart and beautiful and has developed an apparent romantic attachment to Hugh. Lonny senses that something is terribly wrong with this scenario and distrusts Miranda and her affections and attention to Hugh.

Indeed something is very amiss and Miranda's intentions with Hugh are far more nefarious than Lonny can guess. Both Lonny and Miranda underestimate each other as foes.

This book is full of suspense plus the intense cat and mouse game between Lonny and Miranda. The book is an unusual unique intense thriller.

“I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBlast dot come”

A whole new take on the HR Department

Some things are much worse than getting fired. A beautiful business consultant swoops in to rescue a struggling company from financial disaster. She cancels layoffs and dazzles everyone with her killer looks and corporate savvy. Employee, Lonnie Raiford, becomes skeptical when he and the other staff notice inexplicable, over-the-top attention and affection she showers on his best friend, Hugh Berish. As curiosity mounts about the woman's intentions, Lonnie launches a frantic investigation that uncovers her true identity and a secret plan more disturbing than anyone at the company had imagined. Human Resources has been optioned for film or TV adaptation by Mace Neufeld Productions, producers of titles such as The Omen, The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Invictus, The Sum of All Fears.

This is one of the more original mystery/thrillers I’ve read, and I didn’t “get” the nature of the real mystery until it was revealed. Hint: you’ll know who did it almost from the beginning, but that isn’t the *real* mystery.

The writing is very good. At first I found the story a bit confusing, because, although I’m used to reading stories having more than one POV, usually, these are presented in shorter, alternating chapters. However, once the author tied things together, and I understood how certain characters introduced in the beginning of the book fit in, the book became a fast and fascinating thriller, with a twist that left me breathless.

The narrator gave a professional an very competent performance, too, so, all in all, this was an absorbing read, and by the last few chapters, one hard to put down, even for a minute.

I give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for this unbiased review via the courtesy of AudioBookBlast dot com.

A really great Horror/Thriller hybrid!

I was given this book by the Author for free in return for an honest review through Audiobookblast dot com. OK, Legalese over. This book is not normally in my wheelhouse, being more of a horror/thriller hybrid, But I am so glad I expanded my horizons. This book was so good! The prologue starts with a guy who hooks up a relationship with a woman way out of his league. She's perfect. In fact, she's so perfect, she takes him on a vacation to a private resort off Fiji.Well, Whings go badly there, and we are left to wonder about his fate until later in the book. For the rest of the book, we follow the main protagonist, Lonnie , who is the IT guy at a small Menu cover company that is struggling. Lonnie's best friend at work is Hugh, who is somewhat autistic and very childlike, but very nice. The company brings in a consultant, Miranda, who calls off layoffs, and seems to be making lots of changes for the better, at least at first. She also seems to be inexplicably attracted to Hugh, and becomes very possessive. She and Lonnie clash, and it becomes a running theme of the book. Who is Miranda, and what is she up to. A Private investigator is hired by Lonnie to find out, only to be found dead in Lonnies driveway later. Is Miranda more than she seems, and if so, what are her plans for Hugh? Well, the only way to find out is to read this thrill packed book, and follow the twists and turns until the final, epic conclusion! Corey Snow's narration makes that a lot easier, since he does a great job bringing the characters to life, making sure the narration is never flat, giving life to each individual character. I would recommend this book to any fan of psychological thrillers.

Misleading title

Nothing to do with Human Resources
Just a story for entertainment
but good performance from the narrator