The Eye Collector

By: Sebastian Fitzek

Narrated by: Paul Shearer

Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Ready or not, here he comes.... It's the same each time. A woman's body is found with a ticking stopwatch clutched in her dead hand.

A distraught father must find his child before the boy suffocates - and the killer takes his left eye.

Alexander Zorbach, a washed-up cop turned journalist, has reported all three of the Eye Collector's murders. But this is different. His wallet has been found next to the corpse, and now he's a suspect. The Eye Collector wants Zorbach to play.

Zorbach has exactly 45 hours, seven minutes to save a little boy's life. And the countdown has started....

Sebastian Fitzek has worked as a journalist and an author for radio and TV stations all around Europe and is now head of programming at RTL, Berlin's leading radio station. His first and subsequent novels have become huge best sellers in Germany, and he is currently working on his fifth.

©2012 Sebastian Fitzek (P)2015 Audible, Ltd

Both story and narration take concentration

This delivered an outstanding vibe of suspense and horror, but is quite the mind trip and has several confusing plot devices. If you enjoyed books or movies like The Bone Collector, Memento, or Seven,
then this should appeal to you.

My favorite part was in stumbling along with Zorbach, drummed out cop, tabloid reporter, and currently prime suspect as he attempts to hunt down the killer while also grappling with what is real. I’m not sure I’m satisfied by the explanations at the end; it felt a bit like all the misdirects got away from the author and he took the easy way out with some huge info dumps to try to convince us that the result was intended. But, was I not entertained? I suppose I was.

Confusing things include:
Zorbach suffers from headaches, blackouts, and maybe delusions
Zorbach is sought out by a blind woman claiming visions of the past
The story starts at the end, then jumps around several POVs as the clock ticks down
The story blends in memories and it’s often unclear when they occurred and who is having them
The narrator’s male voices all sound the same, contributing to the confusion of whose POV is on

Excellent!

This book has all the things that makes for a great mystery suspense. The writing is incredible, so much depth to the characters and multi layered plot. What’s more it’s all done backwards in time! A must read!!

Narration was excellent!!

Love it, an amazing book with good actors, total

Love it, an amazing book with good actors, total fan of the author good read

I had trouble following the narrator

What did you like best about The Eye Collector? What did you like least?

I love Sebastian Fitzek but I had a lot of trouble following the narrator. I'm not sure if it was because I couldn't identify the individual characters based on narrators performance or if it was the delivery of the material. Either way, I listened to the book twice. Out of frustration I then bought the book. It was great.

Would you be willing to try another one of Paul Shearer’s performances?

No

Any additional comments?

Buy the book. Don't listen to the audio performance.

Fails to deliver

Any additional comments?

I return very few books but this is one of them. Good title and premise but that's it. Writing is repetitious and infomercial like: wait, there is more! I never felt a connection with any of the characters and didn't care what happened to them. Reader did the best he could with the story he was given. In a way it also assumes the reader is a bit dull - too much explanation.

Fitzek does it again!

I buy anything Fitzek writes sight unseen because he is that good. You will not be disappointed, and you won't see it coming either.

FITZEK IS BRILLIANT!

Any additional comments?

Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock......Time is running out for Zorbach. He is on the hunt for the eye collector who has brought him into his sick game of kidnapping and murder.

Zorbach, doesn't know what hit him. He is all of the sudden the prime suspect in a kidnapping case. He gets a visit from a blind lady who seems to see the past. Little does he know that she has also been brought into this bizarre game of hide and seek.

This book starts at the end, and works it's way to the beginning. It was a very interesting concept. I have really enjoyed Fitzek's writing. Fitzek only has a few that have been translated into English, but they have all been very good.

There is a lot going on in this story, and it kept me on the end of my seat the whole time. I know I say this all the time, but I was sure who the "murderer" was the whole time.....I am happy to say I was wrong... I was surprised. I did not see the end coming the way it did.

If you like creepy, exciting, edge of your seat books, you will enjoy this one. Fitzek is an awesome author. His writing is beautiful, and the narrator makes the story really come to life.