Wood's Relic

By: Steven Becker

Narrated by: Paul J McSorley

Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's Summary

From The #1 best-selling author of Wood's Reef, Wood's Wall & Bonefish Blues comes a new Mac Travis AdventureIf you like Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt and John D McDonald's Travis McGee check it out.

Mac Travis went to the Florida Keys to disappear, but his new commercial diving job turns out to be more than he planned. An artifact discovered while working on a bridge pier quickly draws the attention of a real estate tycoon, a Jersey mobster and twin Indian Chiefs all trying to open a casino in the pristine Keys. When his psycho ex-girlfriend tracks him down things get even more interesting.

©2014 Steven Becker dba The White Marlin Press (P)2014 Steven Becker dba The White Marlin Press

I'm not sure how to rate this

‘Wood’s Relic’ is a well thought out and designed story but I felt as if it didn’t really grab my attention. The story has some action but not a lot nor does it have overly impressive descriptions of the keys to transport the reader there. The characters are likable but I felt as if the listener doesn’t get enough background on to feel a connection with them. Finally I’m not sure the book really resolves anything. What’s up with the relic? Is there something amazing that’s going to be discovered? I felt as if it left too much unresolved. That being said I enjoyed the author’s writing style and while I don’t have a whole lot of nice things to say about the book, while I was in the middle of it I didn’t feel as I disliked the book, but rather I wanted to keep going. Maybe I just need to go somewhere warm!

Mr. McSorley does a great job with the narration, his characters are great.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Bridge Repair and chaos

From The #1 best-selling author of Wood's Reef, Wood's Wall & Bonefish Blues comes a new Mac Travis Adventure If you like Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt and John D McDonald's Travis McGee check it out. Mac Travis went to the Florida Keys to disappear, but his new commercial diving job turns out to be more than he planned. An artifact discovered while working on a bridge pier quickly draws the attention of a real estate tycoon, a Jersey mobster and twin Indian Chiefs all trying to open a casino in the pristine Keys. When his psycho ex-girlfriend tracks him down things get even more interesting

This is a romp of a mystery, written with some of the same zany humor seen in such authors as Carl Hyacinth, and it is wonderful fun. The events make their own kind of sense, though logic has little to do with anything, and I found myself wondering if these sorts of things could only happen in the Florida Keys. The writing is straightforward, and even, sometimes, glib, which adds to the hilarity, and the characters are well, characters, indeed. However, even at their most absurd, these characters are believable, and always come across like real, if probably less than sane, people, some of whom were entirely likeable (even when not at their best), and some would have been villains in the grand style …if they weren’t so funny. How the narrator could read this book with a straight face is amazing, but he did and did an excellent job, too.

I might mention, in passing, that I never realized how interesting bridge repair can be, but the author has either done this job, or done some serious research. I give this fun read 4 stars, and 5 to the narrator, mostly for not laughing out loud.

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

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Florida Keys- Not your ideal retirement location.

I liked this book. It was an interesting blend of old school mystery, Indiana Jones-style adventure, some gangster action and many other elements that I won't list here so as not to spoil anything. The only thing that stuck me as odd was the immediate almost 'sleeper-agent' type of reaction. Still, that was interesting, too.

The narrator did a great job and I'd be interested in listening to the next book in this series.

This book was provided free of charge from the author, publisher or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

fun, interesting story

Would you listen to another book narrated by Paul J McSorley?

Sure

Could you see Wood's Relic being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Yeah, I could. It has lots of interesting characters that would make for a highly entertaining show.

Any additional comments?

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

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Dont Bother

Another in what seems to be a trend. Books that have some promise, but are destroyed by terrible narration. Steven Becker does a decent job of telling a tale, but the narrator uses voices he shouldn't and mispronounces common area names. Too Bad
"I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBlast dot com"

2 of 4 people found this review helpful

This book was so bad......

....that i stole this from Bill Swann on Amazon: Next to slamming my finger in a car door, the thing I hate worst is reading a whole book and being left hanging in the end. This was a very good book until the last chapter, some folks will say this is a spoiler, I disagree. The author chose how he would end this book, he spoiled it, I'm trying to keep other readers from wasting their time.

Paul J McSorley was good, but that does not save the book!

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

2 of 5 people found this review helpful

Solid read, a pity about the narration

Any additional comments?

I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBlast dot com, for which I am very grateful.

This is the first book by Steven Becker that I have listened to and whist I enjoyed the storyline, there were a couple of aspects that let me down. Firstly, I didn't enjoy the narration. The reader didn't suck me in some do and I didn't feel the tension of the situations that confronted Travis and Woods.

I enjoyed the plot and basic storyline, although would have loved to have seen more depth in the development of Mac Travis and more of an outcome relating to the relic itself.

Having said that, I will definitely read another of Steven Becker's books and look forward to learning more about the characters and their development.

1 of 3 people found this review helpful

Buy it while it's on sale

It was OK, but I feel that the author was not well served by his editors. Plot was pretty good, but the characters were poorly portrayed and the ending was not there. I observe that there are more books in the series, so I can only go with the strong hope that the editors got off their benched and actually worked for the author.
Paul McS did his best to give the characters depth and differentiation. His voice is clear, pleasant, and cadences well.
Thank you AudioBook Blast

1 of 4 people found this review helpful

Could be better

I really wanted to like this book more since I live in Miami, but the story was just so-so and the ending just wasn't there. I did like the idea of finding the Mayan relic and wish that more of the story was about it instead of all the mobster stuff which was very repetitive and boring.

The narrator, Paul J. McSorley, was okay when just narrating the story, but his attempt at different voices for different characters was horrible. Also, he really needs to learn how to pronounce the place names the way the locals do (Islamorada and Bahia Honda were mispronounced).

I received this audiobook free from AudiobookBlast for an honest review.

0 of 2 people found this review helpful