Rabbit Heart

By: Barry Reese

Narrated by: Von Whadel

Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

From Reese Unlimited and Pro Se Productions comes Barry Reese's seminal work - the controversial and groundbreaking Rabbit Heart!

The time of the hunt is nigh.... Fiona Chapman was dead. However, though her heart still beat and she breathed oxygen, she was no longer like the rest of humanity.

Fiona was now one of The Furious Host, a race of mythical spirits who, in Archetype Form, rage through the centuries hunting for innocent victims to slake their thirst for blood. However, Fiona's desire is different: she craves the destruction of the Host themselves.

In her Archetype Form, she begins her own hunt to put an end to the evil of centuries. Now, the evil has descended on the small town of Milledgeville, Georgia, in the form of Urhl, one of the bloodiest of killers. Young women are being murdered in the most savage fashion imaginable.

With the aid of legendary occult investigator Ascott Keane, Fiona Chapman embarks on a blood-soaked battle to the death with the ultimate serial killer!

Barry Reese, author and creator of The Rook, The Adventures of Lazarus Gray, and the Adventures of Gravedigger, takes the battle for good and evil to a completely different level. Known for his pulp work, Reese pushes his own boundaries for this groundbreaking tale of action and adventure, sex and violence, discovery and death. One of Reese’s most popular titles, Rabbit Heart is a cutting edge exploration of the basest fears and needs everyone feels.

For mature listeners.

©2013 Barry Reese (P)2018 RadioArchives.com

Gratuitous sex and violence without much else

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
Take out a massive amount of the pointless violent sexual content. I'm fine with sex and gore in a book or a movie but this book takes it to a new, very unwanted level. Adult themes have their place in a mature story but in Rabbit Heart they are overused and abused in ways I can only describe as vulgar.

If you’ve listened to books by Barry Reese before, how does this one compare?
I've never listened to a book by this author before and will most likely avoid doing so in the future. The writing is cliche and uninspired, its only redeeming quality is the main character Fiona who is interesting and has some depth to her.

Would you be willing to try another one of Von Whadel’s performances?
Yes, Whadel's performance in this one was not fantastic by any means but the voices he uses for the different characters make them seem distinct and alive. That said its a very, for lack of a better word, amateurish performance. I would not be opposed to listening to a better book voiced by him maybe after he has more experience (I don't know if he has done voice work in the past but it seems like he hasn't). On another note the editing is terrible, many of the mistakes he makes (which is bound to happen) be it mispronunciations, stutters or unintended pauses in dialog are just left in where they could have been removed or edited together to sound better.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Rabbit Heart?
Everything related to the purple sapphire. In the middle of the story as its established the author introduces the magical mcguffin completely out of nowhere. Its seems like it was just added on a whim and I think it takes time away where character could have been fleshed out more or the story could have been improved. Also the rampant tasteless violent sexual encounters the main villain has.

Any additional comments?
On the subject of the issues of sex and violence I keep coming back to. There is a way to include sexual themes or violent content in a way that is tasteful, I really believe that.You can get extremely brutal as well as erotic without it feeling so crude. In this case it adds nothing to the story and appears to be present for no purpose other than for shock and awe. If you want a book that borders on gore porn then this is for you. Even if you don't like that kind of experience but will tolerate it for the sake of a good story and interesting characters this book is not for you.

Not "Pulp". Dull & Disastrous.

It seems that the hallmark of "New Pulp" authors is having absolutely no understanding of what makes True Pulp so enticing. Here you have a floundering author attempting to Ernst Kline his way a supernatural thriller.

Here's a hint, bringing up pop culture continuously is the most surefire way to KILL any tension. You can have a blood soaked slasher in the middle of the woods and the moment someone brings up 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', you've committed a taboo that tethers your work to a poorly aged fad TV show, murdered the story's independent verisimilitude in a way only Joss Whedon and his ilk could dare, and committed your work to the same 'cult of the now' dustbin of history that whatever you referenced will be relegated to.

There is also no pacing as the author frontloads too much information, killing the mystery/revelation aspects of True Pulp (Nobody who would name drop Neil Gaiman undestands Pulp, but that goes without saying.). It's clear Barry Reese watches more television than he reads books. He thinks along those lines.