The Dirty Streets of Heaven

Volume One of Bobby Dollar

By: Tad Williams

Narrated by: George Newbern

Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Bobby Dollar is an angel - a real one. He knows a lot about sin, and not just in his professional capacity as an advocate for souls caught between Heaven and Hell. Bobby’s wrestling with a few deadly sins of his own - pride, anger, even lust.

But his problems aren’t all his fault. Bobby can’t entirely trust his heavenly superiors, and he’s not too sure about any of his fellow earthbound angels either, especially the new kid that Heaven has dropped into their midst, a trainee angel who asks too many questions. And he sure as hell doesn’t trust the achingly gorgeous Countess of Cold Hands, a mysterious she-demon who seems to be the only one willing to tell him the truth.

When the souls of the recently departed start disappearing, catching both Heaven and Hell by surprise, things get bad very quickly for Bobby D. End-of-the-world bad. Beast of Revelations bad. Caught between the angry forces of Hell, the dangerous strategies of his own side, and a monstrous undead avenger that wants to rip his head off and suck out his soul, Bobby’s going to need all the friends he can get - in Heaven, on Earth, or anywhere else he can find them.

You’ve never met an angel like Bobby Dollar. And you’ve never read anything like The Dirty Streets of Heaven.

Brace yourself - the afterlife is weirder than you ever believed.

©2012 Tad Williams (P)2012 Penguin Audiobooks

An attention Keeper

If you could sum up The Dirty Streets of Heaven in three words, what would they be?

something for everyone

Who was your favorite character and why?

Bobby Dollar

What does George Newbern bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He brings every character to stunning life

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It had humor,action,developed characters and romance. I will wait for book 2 and hope it comes out in a hurry.

Any additional comments?

I have enjoyed lots of Audible offerings but only a few have kept me listening so that I did not want to turn on the TV. I just wanted to see how the book proceeding racing toward an unknown finish.

Wow

Any additional comments?

Awesome. So glad I took the chance on this book. So not expecting what I got out of this book

A Noire Story of Heaven and Hell

I very much enjoyed this audio book. George Newbern does a fantastic job of reading it, investing the characters with great personality and vibrancy. The story is fantastic as well, merging a compelling story of angels and demons with the trappings of a noire detective story. The book travels a winding road of intrigue and conspiracy, and holds onto you through to the end. I felt that that end came a bit abruptly though, as I would have liked to see a little bit more of the fallout from the events of this story. I'm eagerly awaiting the next book in this series.

P.S. the angels' and demons' names are awesome, they were distinctive, had consistent flavor, and turned into their "mortal" names very well.

A good listen, but not brilliant

I haven't read Tad Williams since Otherworld years ago, so I had no idea what to expect. This series is a slightly different take on the ever-so-popular supernatural detective genre, and I found it reminiscent of The Harry Dresden Files; but the characters are not as endearing nor the story lines as hilarious. The God stuff was just background, which was great as I'm NOT Christian. Overall I enjoyed it, and will listen to book #2, but I won't be pining away for it (like I am for the newest Dresden book!). I would actually give it 3.5 stars if I could.

Liked it

Well written and well performed. Interesting, fairly exciting, well put together. Characters were all great, dialog was good. Ended a bit abruptly and slightly unsatisfying but not bad. And perhaps there will more to it in the bext book. Even if there isn't it was a good story and worth the listen/credit/cost.
As a side note Tad Williams Otherland series is really good and worth checking out.

Sandman Slim knockoff with YA romance

The book is okay, it had has interesting threads in it, but it pulls a lot from Sandman Slim. What really killed this book for me was the romantic relationship- it was just grossly obsequious and clumsily over‐the-top.

Similar, but not LIKE Dresden

So I saw some people likening this book to the Dresden Files, but I just don't see it. It may be similar, but it isn't LIKE it. It's similar in the sense that it is a low fantasy mystery detective novel, and that's about it. For me, Libriomancer was much more like Dresden.

As for the book itself, It was pretty good. It held my attention, but I definitely wavered here and there. There was just something about it that I drifted off from time to time. One thing I can't really get past and I didn't like which also bored me to tears, the angels and demons being lawyers to souls arguing where they were going to be placed. I don't care for religion one way or the other. In the book everyone is judged regardless of religion. For me it was just such a boring part of it that I didn't care for.

One final thing, just so you know, there are few pretty explicit scenes, just in case you care.

As for the next book, I'll be waiting for a sale that brings it within paperback price range.

Ok, but not great

Any additional comments?

Tad Williams has written better. Whether or not fair, in this genre his work unfortunately pales compared to Jim Butcher / The Dresden Files.

Snappy story of Tad.

Great storyline and it moves along looking forward to the next book. Tad has a lot of great books

A Cool Introduction to Noir

What did you love best about The Dirty Streets of Heaven?

The way he skirted the line between religious sacrilege and religious respect. Williams took an Angel as his main character and managed to make the book not at all about religion.

What other book might you compare The Dirty Streets of Heaven to and why?

The Desden Files comes to mind for the tone is not the theme.