Killer Instinct

Instinct Series: Dr. Jessica Coran, Book 1

By: Robert W. Walker

Narrated by: Brian Nishii

Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

DR. JESSICA CORAN

A brilliant and determined FBI medical examiner, she was an expert student of the criminal mind who thought she could face anything.

That was before Wisconsin. Before she saw one of his victims...

THE VAMPIRE KILLER

The FBI agent had a special code name for his unusual method of torture: Tort 9, the draining of the victim's blood. The newspapers called him the Vampire-Killer. But his own twisted love letters were signed "Teach"... and were addressed to the one woman he wanted most of all: His hunter, his prey, Dr. Jessica Coran.

©2009 Robert W. Walker (P)2013 Robert W. Walker

If you like gritty crime thrillers, get it.

Would you listen to Killer Instinct again? Why?

I really liked this book. Lately the crime novels I've been reading are more romance than thriller. This one is gritty and the woman doesn't take any s**t.

What did you like best about this story?

It was suspenseful and I enjoyed all the forensic talk. The ending was deeply disturbing and I loved listening to every second of it.

What does Brian Nishii bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He was fantastic! I liked his voice for Jessica. She sounds as you would expect. Someone very intelligent and just wants to cut through the nonsense.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I pretty much did.

Horrible narration!

The instinct series was in my book collection since the first book was published. The narrator was far by the worst I have heard mispronouncing many words and names.

Good story-Not so much for the narration

As a medical professional, I found it quite annoying to have the narrator mis-pronounce many of the medical terms.

a good start to an exciting series

Any additional comments?

Audio book edition
This is the first in the FBI medical examiner Jessica Coran series.

I was given a review copy of the last in this series (book 11) Absolute Instinct (which I thoroughly enjoyed)
I was thinking that i would like to hear how the whole series started and then was lucky enough to see this one also offered as a listen/review copy, so I grabbed at the chance.

This is a very gory, serious and bone chilling thriller ,very grafic, so not for the faint hearted , but just what you would expect of a M.E. hunting a serial killer plot.
Although I already knew some of the plot- as it was mentioned in book 11(there was only one real spoiler for me)
I still found the story very exciting and intruiging. It has a good pace throughout .

I remember seeing this audiobook advertised before and although I liked the sound of the storyline I was put off by the negative reviews of the narrator . At the start of the book i did find him rather irritating , although I could not really put my finger on what was wrong , he did seem to settle down in his narration and I found he did not completly spoil the story for me.

good book

I really enjoyed this book, I was thrown for a loop a few times. I really like these kinds of investigative mysteries.

Vampire Killer!

This is the first story in Jessica Coran series by author Robert W. Walker. The author introduces us to a story where people are finding bodies that have been drained of their blood. This is why they call the killer a Vampire Killer but no vampires are in this story. The author has written a great story, the characters capture you and draw you in. But he's written this story to keep the reader fully engaged. Robert keeps the listener wanting more from the main characters. This story is grafic and a tense bone chilling thriller. Its a story you won't forget anytime soon.

Narrator, Brian Nishii did a great job at bringing this story to life. I found his accents distinguished enough that I was able to understand which character was talking. He did a wonderful job breathing life into this story. This is the first audio that ice listened to by this narrator but I'll be looking for others. Overall I give it 5 🌟. I received this audio in exchange for an unbiased review.

Well Worth a Re-Read

Any additional comments?

There are some authors who earn the designation “prolific” quite honestly and Robert W. Walker is one of them for sure. Last time I looked, he had something like 75 books published under the Walker name and various pseudonyms, not to mention a lot of nonfiction and short stories. The man makes me exhausted just thinking about it. Anyway, I first met Rob way back when my bookshop handled sales for the mystery authors (and some others) at the Virginia Festival of the Book. I think it may have been the 2007 festival but, whenever it was, he had a ton of books even then and I found him to be a most engaging person although some would call him curmudgeonly these days 😉

I had already read a couple of his books and my interest grew after meeting him so I dove into quite a few more but the demands of a bookstore and the need to read across a broad spectrum pulled me away and I never got back to Mr. Walker‘s books until I heard that he had developed audio editions. I love audio books inordinately and his news piqued my interest right away. I’d already read Killer Instinct in print years before but, let’s face it, I rarely remember details of a book—can count on my two hands the ones that have really stuck with me—and re-reading presents no problems at all.

Re-reading Killer Instinct was a real pleasure. From the vantage point of so many years, I can see flaws more readily especially since this book came pretty early in the author’s career, but they didn’t detract from the core story too much. I was kind of disgusted, for one thing, by the “petite skirt” at a crime scene; I’ve come to expect that nonsense on TV but would like to think authors know better than that (while reminding myself that this was first published in a very sexist 1992). Also, Jessica does do one or two pretty dumb things that put her perilously close to the TSTL line and I really couldn’t buy into the romantic element. I did think that Jessica is not as interesting as Teach at first and that’s not surprising in itself because the villain is often the more fascinating personality in books as in real life. That said, I do think Jessica is very engaging, capable, strong-minded and (mostly) highly intelligent.

Serial killers tend to be very nasty people and there is no lack of nastiness in this book. In fact, if you’re easily nauseated by gruesome violence, I’d suggest you go read something else. Bloodletting is only the beginning here.

And what does it say about me that I’m not usually nauseated by such things?

Now, as to the audio, I can’t say I thought it was great. This narrator comes across as inexperienced (although he’s not) and he makes quite a few pronunciation errors as well as being overly dramatic at times. However, I became more and more accustomed to his style as the recording moved along and I thought he did the different voices pretty well, well enough that I almost always knew which character was speaking. Mr. Nishii is not the worst I’ve ever listened to by any means and his being the narrator would not put me off trying other books. He’s the kind of narrator that I suspect would grow on me.

So, have I been pulled back into the Robert W. Walker fold? Why, yes, I believe so and I’ll be trying another audio edition sooner rather than later.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, October 2015.

I overpaid for this at $1.99

Would you try another book from Robert W. Walker and/or Brian Nishii?

I will absolutely not read or listen to another Robert Walker book. This was quite possibly the worst novel I have ever listened to or read.

Has Killer Instinct turned you off from other books in this genre?

This isn't my normal genre. I only bought this because it was so cheap. But yes, it reaffirmed why I avoid these books.

Would you be willing to try another one of Brian Nishii’s performances?

No, terrible narration.

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

Absolutely none whatsoever. I had to force myself to finish the book.

Did anyone bother to listen to this performance?

I don't usually write reviews. But this narrator was so godawful! Scapple? Really?

Quite an interesting story. Kept my interest.

Does no one proofread the narration? I could not believe so many words could be mispronounced. How could purses lips become pursued lips?