Man on the Stair

By: Stacy Bender

Narrated by: Theo Holland

Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Erased from the system, Adam can’t hold a job, have a bank account, or own a house. His digital identity is gone. He doesn’t exist.

He spends his days wandering the park, keeping three different street gangs from shooting up the neighborhood.

When a good friend is nearly killed while investigating an accident that should not have been possible, the evidence points to a serial killer who uses technology as a weapon. With the police running at their wits end, Adam decides to track the killer. But can he stop them in time, or will he get caught in the crossfire?

©2018 Stacy Bender (P)2019 Stacy Bender

Great Story! Not sold on narrator.

I was really not happy with the narrator. His voice was very monotone and lacked any enthusiasm while telling the story.
The story;however, was thrilling. Imagine what could happen with a better narrator.

Great futuristic story

Bender does a great job creating interesting characters in a futuristic world. It really shows the things that could happen if everything goes online and is ran through computers. We see more and more of identity theft, etc in our own day. Can you imagine if your cars were controlled and driven by computers? Or if you only exist if the computer recognizes you and says you do? It gives a person a lot to think about. Plus it was just a very entertaining mystery. A lot was going on so you will need to pay attention. I do disagree with the review about the narrator. I thought he did a great job. His voice is so soothing. He gives his characters a lot of attention and creates voices to bring them to life for you. I hate listening to books where all the narrators do is read it off to you. Holland always makes the characters come to life and makes the story much more interesting to listen to. He holds my attention where most narrators lose me right off the bat. I always look forward to more of his work.

A possible future

While not obviously so this mystery takes place in a future where facial recognition is your ID. Government databases and technology is embedded in everything. If the computers don't recognize you.... All in all a VERY enjoyable story and I'd love to see more in this setting learning more about the main character and his canine companion

Man on the Stair

The book has great characters & plot, has you thinking until the last moment. Another look at what big brother could do to a person & what could occur with full automation of everything.

a fun mix of Sci fi and noir crime

Stacy Bender once again shows us that she has a very solid understanding of how to merge sci fi and noir in this crime drama involving the dangers of becoming overly dependent on. technology.

any fan of Black Mirror or Blade Runner may find this book very fun. also, there's a crime foghting, super intelligent dog Character who is adorable, and that's never a bad thing.

Sci-fi but it doesn't feel like it

This book is sci-fi but it doesn't feel like it. It is a murder mystery set in the near future where everything is controlled by computer and people only exist if they exist digitally. Adam is the man on the stair, an old man in a trench coat and an old fashioned hat with a German Shepherd by his side. An ex-cop, he had his identity digitally erased. He is sort of like The Invisible Man. He doesn't show up on surveillance videos, has no ID, no credit cards-he doesn't exist. He works with police detective Lila to solve this string of murders by self-driving cars, supposedly unhackable, that were hacked.
Ms. Bender did a good job with character development. I loved the main characters and the colorful auxiliary characters. I loved Munch, the dog. Several people have mentioned the possibility of a sequel. I hope to see more of the man on the stair. I would like to thank the author for giving me a copy of the audiobook. I had a little trouble getting into the book at first but once I did I loved it.

Good story, but the narrator didn't work for me.

I was quite surprised by the story, as I didn't expect that it was set in the future - both the title and the cover led me to think it was more of a modern day thriller. The premise of the relationship between the two autopilot accidents and the subsequent hunt for the explanation was unique and made for a good story. The author did a nice job.

I have to say that I had real trouble with the narrator. He could not keep me engaged and I lost track of the story many times. It took great effort to keep to the plot line - in fact I had to start over again after a few chapters because I couldn't figure out how and if the gang robbery was related to the police investigation of the accidents. Obviously they weren't, and the relationship would come together later, but it was a tough was to start. Good story, challenging performance.