The Dispatcher

By: John Scalzi

Narrated by: Zachary Quinto

Earphones Award Winner (AudioFile Magazine)

Winner, 2017 APA Audie Awards - Original Work

From master storyteller and Hugo Award-winner John Scalzi comes this Audible Original novella, winner of the 2017 Audie Award for Best Original Work. Emmy-nominated actor Zachary Quinto—best known for his roles as the Nimoy-approved Spock in the Star Trek reboot and the menacing, power-stealing serial killer Sylar in Heroes—brings his well-earned sci-fi credentials and simmering intensity to this genre-bending thriller.

One day, not long from now, it becomes almost impossible to murder anyone—999 times out of a thousand, anyone who is intentionally killed comes back. How? We don't know. But it changes everything: war, crime, daily life.

Enter Tony Valdez, professional Dispatcher. True to their name, these licensed assassins are tasked with humanely disposing of people in death’s crosshairs to offer them a second chance at avoiding the reaper. When a friend and fellow Dispatcher goes missing, Valdez is plunged into a web of intrigue both professional and personal.

It's a race against time for Valdez to find his friend before it's too late...before not even a Dispatcher can save him.

©2016 John Scalzi (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Mind blowing (in more ways than one)

This is my first outing for this author as sci-fi is a genre I visit only occasionally. This freebie from Audible was a very welcome surprise. The idea of the dead returning to life if their deaths were inflicted by another person is unique and just a bit mind blowing. The first scene in the hospital operating room was gripping, leading seamlessly into the primary action to come. Scalzi also shows that he has put a lot of thought into the social, psychological, ethical and religious ramifications of his concept, and where exploitation of the process can be used to illegally profitable purposes. The writing is crisp, the action moves quickly and the characters are vividly drawn. If this becomes a series I just hope Scalzi can maintain the freshness of his idea and his characters in a format longer than this short story gem.

Quinto Is A Perfect Narrator To An Awesome Story

John Scalzi is an author that’s been in my to-read pile for a while, but I somehow have been unable to get around to reading his work. Thankfully, he and Audible teamed up to produce The Dispatcher, an audiobook that runs a bit shy of two and a half hours, and which fit nicely into my daily commute.

Scalzi presents a world much like our own in The Dispatcher, with one crucial difference – people who are murdered or who die of unnatural causes automatically come back to life. Tony Valdez is a Dispatcher. His job is to intervene in a moment of crisis. Say somebody gets hit by a car or is about to die on the operating table. Tony’s job is to kill them in a humane fashion so they can come back to life and get another chance. There are loopholes, of course, because aren’t there always? And some of these loopholes are what drags Tony into a police investigation for another Dispatcher who has gone missing.

This premise of a world where murder is largely impossible is certainly an intriguing one, and it makes for a highly effective, attention-grabbing MacGuffin. While the mystical or theological elements undergirding the premise are inexplicable and unexplained, the effect this odd and new state of being has on the world and daily life is well rendered.

The investigation into the missing Dispatcher is well written, and poses plenty of questions, most of which the authors approaches directly and satisfactorily. The real star, though, is Zachary Quinto’s narration. Although he’s best known for his roles in Star Trek and Heroes, this dude can truly and utterly perform a book reading in spectacular fashion. He inhabits the role of Valdez nicely, and demonstrates a wide range of voice talent in tackling the other characters, as well. While the story alone is great, Quinto elevates the material to the next level with his narration. As expected from Audible Studios, the sound quality and production values are top-notch.

The Dispatcher is free through Audible until Nov. 2, 2016, making this a very low-risk investment if you act fast, and one that presents wonderful returns for the price. On his blog, Scalzi noted this freebie is a thank you to his and Audible’s audience, as well as a nice enticement to draw in new readers and listeners. As someone who falls into this latter category, The Dispatcher is certainly a terrific incentive to lure me deeper into Scalzi’s backlist. I may even have to reshuffle a few commitments so I can get one or two more of his titles in before year’s end.

JUST READ IT!

Succinct and clever tale with a subject matter you will be reflecting on long after the story has ended. (This is only a 2-hour story -- and thus an extra star for its brevity -- so to tell you more would actually give too much away.) Kudos to author Scalzi for not trying to make this into a full-length novel; he lays out his meaty concept quickly, and the listener grasps it with great satisfaction when it's over. Wonderful narrator. Read it.

Loved it!

His stories just get better and better.
Well written and a great performance as well. Get it and enjoy it yourself.

Outstanding.

Pros:
Great innovative story idea realized into a great story. Not always a given.
Great narration. Zachary Quinto nails it.
I love that Scalzi didn't feel the need to come up with an explanation for the "coming back from being murdered" phenomenon.
No "he said, she said" conversations. See - Scalzi can write without those. :-)

Cons:
None!