Overdose

The Gunn Files, Book 2

By: M.G. Herron

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's Summary

People say, "Keep Austin Weird!" If only they knew....

Bounty hunter Anderson Gunn has had enough of this alien stuff. He can accept that offworlders live among us. He can even be friends with them. But that doesn't mean he wants to be involved in their affairs.

So, naturally, it’s just his luck that when Gunn tries to go back to his normal life of collecting bail-jumpers and minding his business, the Gatekeeper - Austin’s kingpin of extraterrestrial commerce - offers him a job.

Worse, after Gunn refuses to take the gig, his buddy Vinny winds up in a drug-induced coma. Is this Gatekeeper's dirty work? Or is there a new big ugly in town?

One thing's for sure...Gunn's life won't be going back to normal any time soon.

The Gunn Files series continues with Overdose, a rollicking sci-fi mystery filled with wonders and curiosities. If you've ever asked yourself what it would be like to have aliens living among us - or you're a fan of Men in Black, The X-Files, or Fringe - buy this book!

©2020 Aethon Books (P)2020 Audible, Inc.

Good series

Great new series to have just found on a whim hopefully the books will keep on coming.

Busy

The plot line stays busy without running into inane topics. It’s a pretty good story as it goes along. Nothing really fantastic or life changing, but a pretty good tale to fill the time.

Even better than the first

Gunm does get himself into the most precarious situations, mostly because he is arrogant and obstinate. He wants to do good and tries to do good but usually ends up endangering others as a side effect of his arrogance. Gunn can be a little slow at times too but luckily he has some smart people to help out. As much as I enjoyed the first book I liked this one more. i look forward to future Gunn books.

An excellent 2nd of the series

Just finished "Overdose," and l enjoyed this 2nd book of the series just as much and maybe even more than the first. More of the "aliens living among us" theme is presented, at a larger scale than previously. New characters are introduced, and we get to learn more of the inner workings of those we know. This series is more along the lines of popcorn munching fun...than fact checking and science learning fiction. During the dumpster fire that 2020 has been...these have been serving as nice diversions of fun and laughs. 5 of 5 for doing just that. OH!! ..and the narration is SUPERB!

Exceptional Story – Better than the Original!!

In Book 1, Anderson Gunn, a Bounty Hunter and Skip Tracer, came to learn that Aliens were real, and that they were living on Earth, have been for some time, and even more surprising, his best friend Vinny, is actually one of them. In Book 1, Gunn helped 2 Peacekeepers, Dyna and Kilos, track and capture an alien fugitive called Elekatch, a dangerous Pharsei fugitive sent by a group called ‘The Tetrad’ to stir up trouble on Earth as a part of an ongoing intergalactic conflict.
Whilst capturing this fugitive, Gunn’s long time friend, Police Detective Sheila Gonzalez assisted Gunn in cleaning up the mess left. As a result, she is in a fair amount of trouble with her own Dept, and at the start of Book 2, we find her desk bound, relegated to lock-up, having lost her Detectives badge for now.
During Book 1, it became apparent that Gunn was in some financial difficulty, and his Boss and Friend, Alek Ludwig (Alek organises most of Gunn’s bail jumper jobs for him), organised for his Accountant Annabelle Summers to come help him with his books. Gunn has always had a huge crush on the stunning Annabelle, turning into a drooling idiot whenever she is around. However, during Book 1, several things happened with Annabelle, it was revealed she too had feelings for Gunn, she was captured and used as a hostage by Elekatch, and nearly killed, and it was revealed she has a dual identity, that of Marsha Marshall, who writes a blog about alien conspiracy theories, as well as other conspiracies, big foot, the JFK shooting, that sort of thing. Anna’s mind was wiped by the Peacekeepers to protect her after she was abducted by Elekatch.
In Book 2, life is continuing on for Gunn, the Peacekeepers have left, Dyna desperate to get help for a seriously injured Kilos, as well as dropping Elekatch into formal custody. Annabelle Summers continues to try and find out what happened to her, as she is now having nightmares, and losing sleep. Gunn is back to just normal jobs, no aliens, when he comes across a woman who has overdosed on something, something that is not only giving her weird physical symptoms, but is making her eyes glow fluorescent orange.
When the Gatekeeper – the Alien version of the Mob Boss – tries to get Gunn to investigate what is happening with these overdoses to avoid Peacekeeper interference, Gunn initially doesn’t want to be involved, until his friend Vinny is found in the same condition.
Gunn decides he has to follow up, but this time, he is on his own, with Gonzalez benched, Vinny in a coma, and Dyna and Kilos away on other Peacekeeper duties, he has no one to help him, that is, except for Annabelle Summers.
Together Gunn and Anna delve into the alien underworld, to try and discover where this drug, known as ‘Ora’ is coming from, and how it is being sold to humans.
This is a really fun and interesting story, as we get to see another aspect of the ‘Offworlder’s’, being introduced to Jel’Ka racing, Jel’Ka’s being Velociraptor type creatures with high intelligence, that are trained to ride a wheeled device around a track, so that they can get up to incredible speeds, all the while attacking each other with their razor sharp claws.
Jel’Ka are worth a fortune, and the betting on them is intense.
The world building in this book is again, absolutely outstanding, with so much creativity and such depth. There is a huge range of alien races, each with their own background, and unique culture, description, etc, making for an incredible array of species and a really fun read.
Added to this is just an exceptional cast of Characters. Gunn, whilst still the skip tracer with an attitude and a bit of a losing streak, has grown somewhat since book 1, the events of that first book having changed him. He views the world differently now that he knows that there is so much more than just his little planet in the universe. This book sees Annabelle get a lot more attention, and she is such a great character, intelligent, and brave, but at times, quite naïve, making her totally lovable. There is a variety of Aliens again, which I am not going to go into so I don’t give away spoilers, but the depth of these characters is exceptional, they are so well written.
Overall, this is just a great story, with a lot of humour, action, all wrapped in a clever mystery and thriller with a mixture of a kind of 1950s Detective Movie, crossed with Men in Black. The end result is just a fantastic read that leaves you wanting more – can’t wait for part 3.
Oliver Wyman is a wonderful Narrator, providing a perfect voice for Anderson Gunn, as well as creating a brilliant range of voices for all the other male and female characters in the story. He not only creates all the characters with ease, but each character has a distinctive voice, so that you can easily tell who is talking, be it Male, Female or Alien, allowing you to follow conversations without having to be told. Not only that, he conveys the emotions of the characters so that we easily understand how they are feeling at any given time. Wyman provides a gritty portrayal of the characters, making them feel realistic, whilst at the same time, making this audiobook easy to listen to, and a lot of fun.
This is easily one of those books where the Audiobook is going to be better than just reading the book, the Narration is so good!!

Drugs, gambling, offworlders races!

So Anderson Gunn’s life is just getting back to normal. If you count bouncing from all over central Texas from Huston to Midland and back to Austin to apprehend one bail-jumper normal. Well, he hasn’t been dealing with offworlders so we will say he’s having normal days.
When the intergalactic mob king pin ask him to find out who is moving in on his drug territory, Gunn says no. Remember Gunn is fiercely independent and refuses to be on anyone’s payroll.
When his friend Vinny is given an overdose of the drug, Gunn goes looking for the culprit. With all that happening, Anna has been ceaselessly calling him and he is to ashamed to talk to her. Being only human, Gunn gets his ass kicked many times, pulls a couple all night stakeouts, and is accused by offworlders for causing the trouble.
The peace keepers are not in this story. That is fine, the other characters are developed more. We see more of the offworlders at their favorite location Rashiki, where there is gambling, drinking, and shopping. Gunn is building him a team because the Tetrad insurgents are heading to the backwater planet earth.

Gunn Series

This is so cute. Though at times he seems quite ignorant of those around him, he comes through in the end. Love the other worlders descriptions. Gunn definitely does not know women well. The reader has a wide variety of voices and accents to tell the story with. Great job. Looking forward to the next one.

Nice Detective story

This book is a pleasant way to pay the time. Somewhat like the great detective books of the 40s and 50s

Better and better.

M.G. Herron's second installment, Overdose, is an enjoyable adventure, with more depth added to the characters and The Gunn Files universe. We get to see Gunn doing what Gunn does best. Plus there's more of the off worlder inhabitants and how they do business in Austin. The writing is definitely stronger than in the first book. I wish its momentum wasn't bogged down with explanations at times and also that the tension build up wasn't undermined by telling the reader what to expect in the upcoming scene, but these are small blips in the grand scheme of things. The story itself was very entertaining with another mystery Gunn must solve with nothing more than his smarts and street savvy. Again, I'd liken this series to The Dresden Files, where Jim Butcher seemed to be searching to define his writing style in the first two books and hit his stride in the third. I'm hoping that's the case here, because there's a lot of potential in this series. With a few minor adjustments it'll really spark. I'm looking forward to the third installment, Quantum Flare.

Oliver Wyman, as always, does an excellent job narrating. His comedic timing is perfect.

Didn’t even hesitate

Book one was so good that book two was an auto-buy. Longer than the first. Stronger than the first. These characters just keep getting more exciting.

In this installment, we learn a lot more about our little furry friend Vinny. There’s a tremendous development with the Gatekeeper and I’m salivating for book 3.

Sci-fi gum shoe

loved this 2nd book even more than book 1 and oilver wyman's voice acting if 1st class .