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The Final Enemy  By  cover art

The Final Enemy

By: Dan Petrosini
Narrated by: Joseph Kidawski
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Publisher's summary

In the face of a death-defying power, what's the "new normal"?

Like all reporters, Jack longs for a breaking story but is stuck writing obituaries for a small-town rag. As his frustration mounts, it hits him that no one has died in over three days. Jack's odd observation becomes something far stranger when he connects a meteorite to the bizarre phenomenon.

Seizing the opportunity, Jack breaks the story and after a struggle to control the meteorite's power is resolved, a swelling population begins to create havoc. With the survival of the human race hanging in the balance, politicians enact increasingly horrific measures and desperate citizens take matters into their own hands.

Jack's in a position to not just report the news, but change it, and his decisions and observations creates an epic thriller that pits the potential of human immortality against a force designed to change - or obliterate - humanity itself.

Only one man might stand in its way...the man buried in the obits department. The Final Enemy is a story of social disintegration as well as a saga of survival. Secret plans, starvation, suicide, and a series of events that spiral the human race into a desperate survival mode evolve from a seemingly singular event and leads to a fast-paced action story that delights with its penchant for the unexpected.

In the tradition of A.G. Riddle and Matthew Mather, The Final Enemy is a gripping blend of thriller and science fiction that will prove hard to put down.

©2017 Dan Petrosini (P)2018 Dan Petrosini

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It's not great!

When Jack Amato, a newly graduated reporter who writes the obituaries for his local paper, witnesses a meteor falling to earth, he thinks no more about it. That is until he realises that he hasn't had to write a single obituary since that night, not one! Thinking this is strange, he digs deeper and calls hospitals in the vicinity. He narrows it down to about a 10 mile radius that had no natural death occur since that night. He puts two and two together and gets meteor!! The meteor in question was moved and Jack finds that the route the meteor took, no natural death occurred in those places either. This is Jack's big chance and he breaks the story. It changes everyone's life forever!!!

I was drawn to this book because of the cover and the description, and I eagerly dived in when I got my copy. I have to say that I'm so bummed it didn't live up to my hopes!! I did enjoy it for the most part, but I just felt it was bogged down by some unnecessary things.

I loved the idea of the plot. A meteor falls to earth and all natural death stops. I just felt that the author didn't give us enough information on the how. The science was missing and I think if we had had more of a sense of what the meteor actually did, it would have been so much better. I also felt like the execution of the plot was lacking. I mean, once the story breaks, everyone wants exposure to the meteor and the government comply. That didn't work for me, because in my mind, I feel like the meteor would have been squirreled away by the government for testing and the public wouldn't have seen it again, or not as easy anyway.

Plus, Jack "breaks" the news that now that natural death has stopped, overpopulation is a real concern. Well, I mean, ya!! That goes without saying. There is also so much more I want to say about parts of the plot that annoyed me a little, but I can't because they are pretty big spoilers!! Suffice it to say, things happen about three quarters of the way through and people have to turn to doing something huge to survive, and there was no uproar about it at all!! There were a lot of things that the government did that got little to no reaction and it just felt unrealistic.

Now, it's not all negative, I did enjoy parts of it!! I liked that the author forwarded the time line of the story, I liked that we get to see 10 years after the meteor hit. I found the overall story compelling in a weird way, because even though I wanted to put this aside plenty of times, I was intrigued enough to keep reading!!

In all, an ok read. Very much hit or miss and I think most people will either like it or hate it!

This seems to be Joseph Kidawskis first book as a narrator and it showed. He did have a few tones and voices for the characters, but the overall enthusiasm for the book was lacking. He didn't capture the atmosphere of the story enough to truly bring it to life. I also found the quality of the production wasn't as clear as it should be.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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The ladies need to step up

Imagine Jack Amato as a older, boring, arrogant Peter Parker who never got bit by a crazy spider and became a super hero. I never really warmed up to Jack and he plays center stage for the entire story. He wants to be an investigative reporter but mostly he has contacts where he wheedles info out of people, through begging or guilt trips. I also simply found him boring. I don’t have to like the main character to find them interesting and get into their story (like in Brave New World, Wuthering Heights, or Breaking Bad).

The main premise of the story held promise. A mysterious meteorite has crashed into the Earth and it has a very fascinating power: it grants immortality to most humans. You can still be murdered or die in an accident and there are a few medical conditions it can’t cure. So initially, there’s the breaking of the story and figuring this out. Then we have the sharing of the meteorite so all can benefit. Finally, what happens to the world if the population greatly increases because birth rates remain the same but death rates greatly drop off. Yet there was very little science and I do love my science in my science fiction. What little science bits were included made me cringe. As a biologist, I felt the author was just tossing some genetics terms in there without really understanding what they meant.

The setting was very one dimensional. This story takes place in the later half of the 21st century. Initially, there’s a few remarks about self-driving cars and other tech but we never have any examples. Honestly, this story could take place in the 1980s since the future tech had no role in this story.

All the decisions are made by male characters. Laura (Jack’s girlfriend) and Jack’s granma are the two recurring female characters. They are there to provide support and not much else. Laura initially has her own life but that is quickly minimized. In fact, there’s a scene where Laura is talking with Jack where she tells him she doesn’t want to be eclipsed by him. That gave me a chuckle because that happened several chapters back.

My favorite parts of the story were all the different ways the US government attempted to keep everyone fed. Some of these were pretty straight forward, like limiting the number of births, while others were more radical (and therefore more interesting). There’s also little snippets about how other countries are handling this unexpected world tragedy. I did feel that the tale left some big ideas out such as what people would grow at home to supplement their diet (anything from veggies to mushrooms to insects).

All together, the story has an interesting underlying backbone but it was clumsily executed. The characters were one dimensional and boring. I wanted more science but would have been satisfied with awesome characters had they been there. The story does leave us on a cliffhanger with possible hope hanging ready for Book 2. 3.5/5 stars.

The Narration: Joseph Kidawski was a good pick for the voice of Jack Amato. He sounds like a corn-fed midwestern reporter and he did a decent job of putting emotion into Jack’s voice. His female character voices were feminine and all his characters were distinct. There were a few times where a sentence or two were repeated. Twice I noticed a slight change in volume. 4/5 stars.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Dan Petrosini. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

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Good premises but poor execution

Jack is a reporter in a small town, and has the opportunity of his life by witnessing the fall of a special meteorite. In charge of obituaries, Jack soon realizes that this meteorite might be related to the absence of deaths in the last days. His suspicions are soon confirmed, and the world has to adapt to this drastic change.

The premises of this story were quite interesting although, more than science-fiction, this book was about politics facing overpopulation. This made it a bit dystopian, and it was interesting to explore how far one government can go in order to keep the balance.

I found a few issues though, like the really slow buildup. The first third of the book retold again and again how the meteorite was transported here and there and how Jack followed and kept investigating deaths, or lack thereof.

I think the story would have worked better with further character development. I had difficulties connecting to the characters and, while I understood their motivations, I didn't care much for them.

I was a bit bothered by the fact that this meteorite was often mentioned as sent from God. I understand that religion is deeply ingrained in the American people but, as an atheist, I tend to dislike sci-fi and religion mixed together.

I would say that Joseph Kidawski's narration was okay. There were no great issues, but it could have been better. There was more reverberation than usual, and this is something that we mostly find among new narrators. Checking Kidawski's Audible page, I see that this is his first audiobook, and this explains it. I also had issues with the characters' voices. Some of them sounded the same (like Jack and his girlfriend, for instance), but for others I think he overdid it. I also have to mention that the first time 'Sheffield' is mentioned it is wrongly pronounced, putting the emphasis on the last syllable, while the next times it is correct. There are some noticeable audio edits and in some cases the pause between paragraphs is too short. Working on these little things will really help Kidawski in delivering a professional narration.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Dan Petrosini. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

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Great Read

The Final Enemy was a good read by Dan Petrosini. Jack is a reporter who is longing for his breaking story. He is looking for a story when he realizes that no one has died in over three days and he connects it to a meteorite. He breaks the story which results in no one dying which create havoc. The human races survival is hanging in the balance and politicians take horrific measures. I really enjoyed reading this book and cant wait to read more by the author.

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Listener received this title free

Societal Effect of Immortality

I requested and received this book after spotting it on a list of review copy sci-fi audiobooks being offered. The following is my voluntary review.

'The Final Enemy' starts with a meteorite hitting Earth. It soon becomes clear that the meteorite is the cause of the cessation of aging among the people of the planet. The main character, Jack, is the first to report this and uses it to advance his journalistic career. Soon, it becomes apparent that with no one dying, the world is becoming overpopulated and that food sources are dwindling at an alarming rate.

The author brings up some tough questions about what would happen if there were so many people in the world that there was no way to sustain them all. The government officials work feverishly to come up with more resources for food and water. And in the end, ironically, the simplest and most logical solution is finally implemented.

The subject of what it means to be immortal could have been explored more, but overall the book does a good job of pointing out the pitfalls of immortality. This is a enjoyable, thought provoking listen.

Joseph Kidawski does a nice job with narration. The character voices are distinct. One production issue I had: there are a lack of pauses between POV and timeline shifts. It made it a tiny bit confusing at times.

Recommended.

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Enjoyable read

The Final Enemy (Kindle Edition), my first read from author Dan Petrosini, caught my attention in the opening pages & I never put it down until completed. Since I own other books by this author I was surprised to find I'd never read one before and in all truth, I picked up this one thinking it was the first book in The Luca Mystery series (Am I the Killer?). I look forward to reading more from this author. Joseph Kidawski’s narration adds to this unique book's enjoyment. "I received a free Audible review copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review." (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 - July 24, 2018).

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Something you think would be good goes bad

This story was really relatable. Ironically I live in Iowa where the story begins. This is a world in the near future. A world where natural death doesn't occur and the chaos that happens because of it. I got this book through storyorigins and this is my voluntary and honest review.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Different.

What would happen if death was no more,except for violent death. How will it impact the world? Find one idea in this thought provoking story. I received this audio book free and voluntarily reviewed.

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Intelligent, fascinating and scary sci-fi plot

The Final Enemy is a very thought-provoking sci-fi novel. Although with most sci-fi you have to accept new ideas and sometimes implausible events, The Final Enemy was very well researched and thought-out. The idea of a meteorite that has an unknown aura and components that stop human cells from dying off if fascinating. Suddenly people were no longer dying of natural causes and the benefit was extended around the world. People rejoiced and world peace was suddenly a reality as countries cooperated to receive the benefits of the power. But over time, problems of overpopulation and resource scarcity accelerated as more and more people survived. I found the plot development to be very interesting as the government evolved in their solutions and human nature started to overwhelm the government. I do not want to spoil the plot but it was very well constructed and believable in a sad sort of way. At times it became difficult to listen to the problems of the world but it is something that we need to hear. The world is progressing towards these same problems now, but at a slower pace. This is a well-written and provocative book!

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wish I could wrap my head around the logic...

Like many other reviewers, I was really intrigued by the premise of this book. Imagine a world where people don't die of natural causes, and follow the logic to uncomfortable conclusions concerning over-population and food/water scarcity. The thing is, I had so many unanswered technical questions and I wondered about the author's assumptions, so instead of "enjoying" the story, I went into geeky problem-solving mode and spun my wheels because the author wasn't providing enough information for me to move forward (Malthusian theory, aquaculture, melting ice caps/towing ice bergs for fresh water, voluntary birth control incentives, and so on).

Another reason why the science in this book didn't flow well for me was because I live in Canada and the population density here is four people per square kilometer. Our fertility rate is, like, 1.5 births per woman and something like 90% of our population lives within 100 miles of the U.S. border. Thus, I had a hard time envisioning global catastrophe in the timeline presented in the story, from my personal perspective in my corner of the world. I look out my window and I see possible solutions, not possible problems (although I acknowledge that many countries in the world don't have the abundance of natural resources that Canada has).

Along with this, I think that the author could have taken the plot in different directions to make things more interesting. For example, more tension between 'have' countries (such as Canada) versus 'have not' countries, or tensions over common resources like oceans, or actions by preppers, or people's efforts to grow home and roof gardens, breeding different kinds of food sources (that produce multiple offspring), the growth of cults/alternate religions, and so on.

And then there's the weird plot device, where the solution to the entire problem was so elegantly simple yet no government tried to implement it. And then there's the 'bad guy' who is revealed at the end of the story but we don't learn his motivations (unless we did and I missed it) - there was a huge missed opportunity here to develop his story. And there isn't much on international collaboration of research and responses, which I thought was unusual; there's lots of international collaboration and networking among researchers in educational institutions and corporations, yet I noticed that the story didn't provide much depth regarding the amount of research that was being done to deal with the problems and issues that were arising as the story progressed.

Anyway, what it boiled down to, for me, was that I found the main premise to be hugely interesting, but I was unable get past the dozens of questions and gaps that were popping into my mind as I listened to the story. There's so much potential here to develop out the story by providing more characters, more character development, and more science/research to support the plot. I know that it looks like I"m complaining a lot, but in some respects it's more frustrating to read a potentially excellent but flawed book than it is to read a completely mediocre book. With a mediocre book, you can just throw it against the wall and forget about it. But with a book like this, that has such potential, it's frustrating because you can see glimpses of how much better it could have been.

The narrator was satisfactory, although some of the character voices weren't my favourites. I increased the playback speed to match my preferences.

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