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Impasse  By  cover art

Impasse

By: Royce Scott Buckingham
Narrated by: Allan Robertson
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Publisher's summary

In Royce Scott Buckingham's Impasse, a man is left to die in Alaska while on an "adventure vacation" and must somehow survive to get his revenge on those who betrayed him.

Forty and facing a midlife crisis, Stu Stark has lost his mojo. He simply gave up after being fired from his prestigious job as a prosecuting attorney for losing the biggest case of his career. So when Stu's best friend gifts him a one-week trip into the Alaskan wilderness to rediscover his manhood, Stu thinks it just might do him some good. But after a horrible week, Stu is crushed when he realizes no one is coming back for him.

Dying, Stu is found by a grizzled, old hunter who informs him that winter has set in, and they're not going anywhere for a while. So begins Stu's training to become the man he never was...and to get revenge on those who betrayed him.

This adult debut by the internationally best-selling YA author is a modern-day take on The Count of Monte Cristo.

©2015 St. Martin’s Press LLC (P)2015 Audible Inc.

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What listeners say about Impasse

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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    152
  • 4 Stars
    117
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    52
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    18
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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
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    9
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Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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    143
  • 4 Stars
    94
  • 3 Stars
    51
  • 2 Stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A Truly Great Crime/Revenge Novel

So what makes this one so good? Well there's quite a few things. It moves quickly and builds momentum as it goes. There is the impending sense of doom the reader faces in the lives of each character. The contrast between shallowness and depth of character, hard work and laziness, ambitition and greed, innocence and guilt that flows through virtually every chapter of the book. It is well written and extremely well read.

I cant help but compare this to The Count of Monte Cristo on several levels. To go further in the camparison would reveal too much. Suffice to say it is a very clever plot with a unique take and entirely new subject matter.

I cant imagine any fan of the mystery/thriller genre not enjoying this one.

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24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Really great with just a couple of flaws

Impasse is great. Really great.
This book drives the listener forward. It's a ride where you get in, commit, and just hold on. As the story developed, I could not wait to get back to it, I was so excited to see what happened next.
The character development is good. I believed the relationships between Stu (main character) and the other characters and I cared about what happened to the good guys and the bad guys. I really bought into the whole story.
This book also felt well researched. The details in scenes including everything from real estate law to how to skin a rabbit seemed legitimate to me. Just another reason why it was easy to invest and really enjoy the story.

There were a couple of flaws. Royce's character development of the "bad guy" was a little shallow, a little cartoonish. I see that his past book was for teens and I think that showed here. He could have made the bad guy more evil and sinister without being so obvious. Also, in a couple of scenes towards the end, as the action climaxes, I rolled my eyes at what the characters did--just a couple times, their actions were not in their character. The flaws should not stop you from listening to this book though, as they were anomalies in an otherwise well written story.

The ending was great and satisfying--a little surprising and sneaky and fun.

The narration was good, not great. The narrator forgot which character he was supposed to be a couple of times, mixing up the female voice with the male ones. Also, the story would say "and he said breathlessly..." and the narrator wasn't breathless. Overall though, Robertson brought the story to life and wasn't a distraction.

I recommend this book.

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22 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Suspense, Murder, Revenge, and FUN too!

This was really an enjoyable listen. A clever storyline with characters I cared about and great narration! What more could you ask for?

What I really liked was seeing the main character, Stu, go through changes as he left his mild mannered, follow the rules kind of guy to the man he becomes. How he gets there is part of the fun. What he does with what he learns is a great revenge story. I also learned a lot from this book- how to snare small game, the many uses of tampons (really), and many other tools for how to survive in the wilderness.

There were a few scenes that I thought were not necessary to the overall plan of this book-but not enough to make a real difference.

This was a new author for me--glad I didn't pass this one by.

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

. . . intrigue, murder, adventure, sex, and more!

I took a chance, putting my trust in several of the nice listeners I follow, and purchased this audiobook. All I can say is thanks, folks, for pointing me in the right direction! What a fun, compelling listen. This is a author I will definitely be looking for more from.

You have a once up-and-coming attorney who made a colossal blunder on a big case. He seemingly lost his way, getting fired from a great job and having to open a private practice with someone he didn't know all that well, someone he went to law school with but didn't pal around with. No worries, he had a beautiful wife and was working hard to redeem his name, slowly but ever so surely. Until, that is, he is put in a life and death predicament in the wilds of Alaska. This part of the book, the time in Alaska, fighting for his life and finding his manhood, was one of my favorite parts.

Also enjoyable was his slow dawning that what happened to him might not be a terrible mistake but an attempt on his life. How he comes to his realization and what he does is pure fun and makes that little mp3 player so hard to put down. I had the ear-buds on at the crack of dawn this morning in bed! I never do that.

I just want to add a few things. IMHO, this book has nothing to do with David Copperfield, which I also listened to not that long ago. This is a modern, up to date story that races to its conclusion; it's thrilling almost every moment of the way. While they are both great listens, I would by no means put them in the same category or compare them.

Additionally, Allan Robertson, as narrator, does an expert job, adding even more to a very enjoyable listen. Impasse has everything--intrigue, murder, adventure, sex, and maybe even redemption. I say, go for it!

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

One of the best reads this year.

You can't put it down. One of those great reads you hope will never end. Very engrossing. You will enjoy Impasse

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

X-rated Hatchet

You know Hatchet, the teen story of Brian who survives in the Canadian wilderness for months? I expected this to be sort of like that, but funny. I don't know why I expected funny, maybe the cover art. It's not funny.

But this is another coming-of-age, growing up story, except the main guy is 40. That's okay, some people take longer to decide what and how they want to be. While our guy is lost in the Alaskan wilderness, we get to see what happens at home, and how others are growing up and determining their personas.

We get to see this mental, physical and personal development process in both places, the fast world of high dealing business, accounting and law, as well as the unforgiving emptiness. Actually, both places seem to be pretty unforgiving.

An allegory is made here to wolves. Just as there are wolves on Wall Street, there are wolves in Alaska. The two species have much in common, but also vary significantly. This plays out at the end, a bit ridiculously, unbelievably, but then you remember it must be parallel. Some of the characters act unbelievably, but then I guess real people do to. I wouldn't put up with some of the behavior the one woman did, but it played into how she decided to redesign herself.

I wasn't expecting soft porn, but there you go. Depending on your imagination, it might be hard porn.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A Story of Double Cross and Revenge

I enjoyed this story....The plot is clever and fast paced.

The tension builds as the story builds. The characters are developed well enough that I liked or disliked them... The story really takes off after the central character, Stu, is left in the wilderness to die. The listener suspects that Stu is being double crossed but he doesn't know. He is very gullible!.....

Stu had to "man-up" pretty quickly and learn a thing or two.... he learns to survive in the wilderness with the help of an old hunter who teaches him the laws of the wilderness. Stu slowly gain the skills that will help him to survive the wilderness and live to get revenge on those who betrayed him.

Throughout the novel there is an impending sense of doom, that something bad is going to happen as the listener learns each character's value system, their standards of behavior, their ambition, greed, and their innocence and guilt.

It is well written and very well read. The pace the narrator used to tell the story is perfect. In the beginning I thought I was not going to like the narrator but I am glad he proved me wrong.....

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Fast paced thriller that spans genres

Impasse starts as an interesting legal thriller. The characters are interesting enough to draw the listener in, and I was sufficiently interested to listen to it, in its entirety, in only two days. Narration is well-done.

The story evolves beyond a legal thriller to included elements of outdoor survival, but eventually devolves into a gritty revenge story. The character development, in my opinion, does not remain true to form. I felt that the characters became someone else entirely (someone less honorable), instead of growing as a character, and that is the reason I chose to give it only 3 stars.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Watered down The Count of Monte Cristo

Knowing the story of The Count of Monte Cristo I was eager to get to climax. It was like listening to a remixed version of your favorite song waiting for the finale. While the take on the classic was good, this story, much like a remake, was not as good as the original. I don't want to suggest I didn't enjoy it; but, I did finish the story wanting more from it. This would have been a better story if I had not already read TCoMC.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Weak at best

What disappointed you about Impasse?

The story is destined for the Lifetime network. The plot is weak and felt incredibly rushed. The characters are unbelievable. I think the most believable character was the bear. You can also predict the ending after the first 15 minutes of the book. Pitiful.

Would you ever listen to anything by Royce Scott Buckingham again?

Probably not

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The reader sounded like he's the voice of Apple's Siri, very slow and pauses between every word.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Not many, but sure glad it was only 10 hours and not 20.

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4 people found this helpful