RISK!

True Stories People Never Thought They'd Dare to Share

By: Kevin Allison - editor

Narrated by: Kevin Allison, Sarah Mollo-Christensen, Robin Miles

Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's Summary

A "fascinating" (MetroSource) collection of uncensored, confessional, and at times outrageously funny essays about coming of age, coming out, and the wildest experiences that define us. Collecting the most celebrated stories from the hit podcast RISK!, along with all-new true tales about explosive secrets and off-the-wall adventures, this book paints a spellbinding portrait of the transformational moments we experience in life but rarely talk about. 

No topics are off-limits in RISK!, no memories too revealing to share. From accidentally harboring a teen fugitive to being poisoned while tripping on LSD in the Mayan ruins, these stories transport listeners into uncharted territory and show how your life can change when you take an extraordinary leap.  

In these jaw-dropping stories, edited and introduced by RISK! host Kevin Allison, writers reveal how they pushed drugs for a Mexican cartel only to end up kidnapped and nearly killed, how they joined a terrifying male-empowerment cult and fought desperately for a way out, how they struggled with pregnancy complications and found a hero where they least expected it, and so much more. 

A lifelong construction worker shares the intimate details of transitioning to being a woman, a best-selling author discusses how he assumed the identity of his babysitter online in a social experiment gone awry, and a beloved comedian discusses how a blow job from a prostitute changed his life. By turns cautionary and inspiring, RISK! presents an extraordinary panorama of the breadth of human experience and a stunning tribute to the power of the truth to set us free. 

©2018 Kevin Allison (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Critic Reviews

"RISK! uncovers life at its most hilarious and terrifying. Each story leads readers over a tripwire and leaves you thinking, 'Wow....'" (Glynn Washington, host of WNYC's Snap Judgment)

"If you love hearing about real-life stories that range from embarrassing to heartwarming to sometimes shocking, you're going to love RISK!" (Brit + Co)

"RISK! will move you to live fiercely and share your wildest truths!" (John Hodgman, actor, humorist, and New York Times best-selling author of Vacationland)
 

don't buy the audible

I'll bet the book is good but the audible is terrible. There are 3 narrators, mostly Kevin Allison. These narrators cannot relay the stories as they were intended by the writers. IMO. I would not recommend this audible. HOWEVER, the RISK podcast is excellent and I suggest you take a listen to that.

EXCEEDS MY HIGH EXPECTATIONS!!!

I am an avid listener of the Risk Podcast, which I love, and was excited to hear about the coming book. Yet, I was also very skeptical. I was afraid that the intamacy of these deeply personal stories would be lost without the the author themself sharing it. That is not the case!

Although there is something lost by not having the author tell their own stories the narrators do a fantastic job of delving into the emotional complexity of each individual's experience.

If you are new to RISK sit back and enjoy the ride. if you are already a follower of the podcast there are a ton of new stories, and even the stories I recognize from the podcast feel fresh and exciting and a joy to revisit!

congratulations RISK team! Thank you!

Unlistenable

Are you trying to put me to sleep? I tried to listen to this book but the narration is just god awful.... too flat, no energy at all, which made it really excruciating to keep listening.... super disappointing because the podcast is awesome....

Wonderful Book

I love listening to the podcast,so I purchased the book.all I can say is I loved it.

Great stories ruined by bad narration

This audio book starts off on the wrong foot by immediately telling you that almost every story in this book is from their podcast. It's like, congratulations on your $20 purchase, you could have listened to all of these stories for free, AND they'd be told by the original story tellers.

Instead you get to listen to one of the three narrators retell the story that someone told on their podcast. In the podcast, the story is told by the person who experienced it, so the story is personal to them and therefore there's more emotional weight behind the story telling performance. When the stories are retold by others, they are not personal to the narrator, so we won't get the same emotional performance.

Unfortunately, one narrator in particular has a speaking style that's extremely distracting at best, and (in my opinion) disrespectful to the original storyteller at worst. He tends to speak with upward inflection when trying to be intense or to add emphasis. This is fine for his own story, and for the overall introduction, because that is his voice. However I feel like as someone who obviously cares about these stories, he should have had the self-awareness to realize that he's drastically changing the tone of the stories. He should have hired a professional narrator that could match the tone of the stories at the very least.

When a high up drug dealer makes the statement that "He woke up handcuffed to a desk", that should be an intense and scary sounding statement. Instead it sounds like a condescending question due to the upward inflection. It's....really bad.

TL;DR Listen to the podcast, or maybe buy the book. Don't buy the audio book.

Amazing!

I loved this book. the stories are incredible! I'm a big fan of the podcast too

Great Book to get you thinking

The Risk book is a very heavy book. It gets you to think about life. Took me a while to get through because of the gravity of certain stories, but this book is important enough to spejd a few weeks listening to on and off. Definitely recommend.

Difficult to listen to

Couple of problems here. First, it is ridiculous that the authors of the stories didn't read their own testimonies or have a variety of narrators. The way in which Kevin Allison poses eighty percent of his statements as questions is so grating. A few of the stories were great but some were horrible. Not "oh that's so sad", or "wow, that's too bad". Truly horrible stories. As a medical professional, at least two were simply untrue. Once you know a "story" is a lie, the rest of the stories fall apart.

It's like Jim Gaffigan reading people's tragedies

I have never heard the podcast so I didn't really know what to expect. The male narrator sounds exactly like Jim Gaffigan, and I love that! However, the subject matter is much darker than I had anticipated. Despite the overcoming/encouraging endings, these stories are extremely heavy on the soul and definitely not for everyone. I can personally only handle so many tales of dying spouses, miscarriages and sexual abuse. Just one after another. After 10 chapters, I found myself feeling really awful and literally jumped to the stop button, involuntarily saying "enough" out loud as I turned it off. I'm sure this book is very healing for the writers who bravely shared their stories. I'm sure that it may also help many listeners. No disrespect intended towards any of them. I am also sure that some people, like me, should skip this one.

Incredible Stories

I love the podcast and these are some of the best stories. I wish they used the original performances for listeners to hear the audience, which can help add to the magic of Risk! However, I understand why they chose not to. This is a must for anyone that loves adult storytelling.

A wonderful and moving listen

I honestly can’t recommend this book enough. I have been a fan of the risk podcast for many years and to see it available in a new format is wonderful. This book is just a taste of what risk is about. You’ll cycle through so many emotions. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry but most importantly, you’ll feel a connection to another human being as they share a part of their lives with you.

Storytelling is so powerful and these stories might not have been shared on other platforms without Risk!

Out of the mouths of those who do

As an avid listener to the Risk podcast, I was intrigued to hear old and new stories, and they are all here the good, the bad, and the risky. For me though, what makes the podcast work so well is the richness of the voices that populate the air, which I feel was missing in the audio of this title and took me one step away from the story being told, when the narrators where spinning there own tales the airways crackled with the truth, and at other times the stories just flowed. A great idea to collect these admissions in one place, but next time for the audio, allow those who lived it, till it.

great book

loved this, great stories well read and brief q&a's for each story. listened twice now

daja vu

felt slightly cheated listened to all the story's before some new content would have been nice