Sharkman

By: Steve Alten

Narrated by: Andrew Eiden

Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Kwan Wilson was a high school basketball star living in San Diego when a tragic accident changed his life in ways no one could predict. He only looked at his phone for a few seconds, but that was all the time it took to crash his car into a telephone pole, killing his mother and paralyzing him from the waist down.

After the accident, his father, Admiral Douglas Wilson, sent him off to live with his maternal grandmother in South Florida. Kwan's new principal, anticipating his depression and isolation, tells him about an internship at a genetics lab in Miami that is testing shark stem cells on rats in an effort to cure cancer and repair spinal injuries. Kwan declines, until he learns the beautiful Anya Patel is an intern at the lab. When Kwan takes the internship, he learns that the good news is that the stem cells are curing their rat subjects; the bad news is it alters their DNA so much, it kills them. But after a promising breakthrough is made, Kwan risks his life and injects himself with the experimental stem cells, forever altering his destiny and the lives of millions in the process.

©2016 Steve Alten (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Absolutely Loved This Book

Would you listen to Sharkman again? Why?

It was a great performance by Andrew Eiden. Loved the story and action. Characters were great.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Sharkman?

Learning the true feelings of the father.

What about Andrew Eiden’s performance did you like?

Overall tone of the read was great. Very easy to listen to. Just a great job overall.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Well that would be great, but never get a chance to sit there for that long of a period.

Any additional comments?

While I know it is all summed up for now, it would be interesting to see more stories come where he can use his abilities to help. I think there is an opportunity to make a series. Really loved the book, if you are a fan of Steve, give it a whirl. I think you will really enjoy it.

hope there's a part 2 coming

great story line, fast listen, couldn't stop listening and the narrator was great..highly recommended book

There are a lot of fantastic books in the world,

this is not one of them. The story was uninspired, the characters were so unrelatable, the whole shark analogy was shoved down your throat before you even get to any major plot. I wanted to strangle the main character more than half the time, because no one in real life acts like that. This was obviously written by someone who enjoyed basketball because any part having to do with it was overly detailed, absurd, and just didn't need to be added. The conclusion was very lack luster, this book leaves so many things to be desired. I got it when it was on sale for 3.00$ and it wasn't even worth that. Get it if you want to have a laugh at how ridiculous and bad it is.

Too sudden an ending

I felt that the ending seemed rushed, otherwise good overall. Thought maybe the package going back to the abyss, with the Tigress taking care of the Admiral and friends might have been a more deserving fate.

Another winner!

This book leaves you wanting a sequel. thats the worst part I coumd find with the story.

Uhh... not for me

I didn't care for this book. It's as if it couldn't decide what it wanted to be. Kind of Science Fictiony but not. There were (fairly mild) descriptions of sex scenes that might have appealed to teenagers yet some of the language was flowery and poetic, inconsistent with that genre. It threw in random political tirades yet wasn't a political thriller. It was anti-religion but pro God. It was anti-military throughout so it was consistent on that front.

I'm not a literary expert but frankly I didn't think the writing was great either.

On the other hand, the narrator did a great job.

Disaster.

Sometimes even lowering your expectations can't make things enjoyable. This book was all over the place. I could tell when it started it wouldn't be an amazing character driven story, so I didn't expect that. What I did expect was a low key entertaining over the top unreleastic tale about a half man and half shark.

Instead, what I got was no real story, lots of useless descriptive dialogue about things that really didn't help the story. The main character spins most of his time lost, like we (the audience) are. The characters fade in and out when it seems like they should say something. There isn't one that you can root for, not even the main character.

If you asked me what was the story line, I really couldn't tell you. The story lines come and go and never stick.

I've got about 2 hours left and honestly, the ending doesn't really matter, because nothing so far tells me what the "true" story is.

It was on sale, so I gave it a try. If you decide too, you've been warned.

This will sink it teeth into you

This book has an excellent premise, good story-line, characterizations and perhaps even some good moral lessons. I would think this will be made into a movie. The reader does an excellent job as well. It reads like a good super-hero story. Marvel move over.

Very cool

This reminds me of a combination of Benchley's Creature and Jaws, but from the pov of the non human entities. Alten's a great story teller!

Stupid title awesome read

I had my doubts when I read the title of this book. I figured it would be something really stupid and cheesy. Boy was I wrong. It’s an awesome book super exciting. It’s actually believable if you enjoy superhero type stories. I finished it in one day. If you wanna fun read that you can just enjoy this book is for you.

Yawn...

Very teeny and boring.

Prize for stupid distinction made between: "substances like alcohol and nicotine and harder drugs like pot and heroin"..........

Escapism at its best

Weird, mad, somewhat far fetched but still brilliant! Don’t question it, just listen and enjoy.

Surprisingly good!

I nearly passed this book up based on its title, it didn’t sound like something I’d enjoy. I was wrong. Well written, and expertly performed by Eiden, this book grabbed me from the start and it’s plot kept me on the edge of my seat. It isn’t just an action or thriller genre; it’s also a little YA with its Protagonist a young, emotionally scarred paraplegic Asian-American boy named Kwan. The plot is a rollercoaster of emotion, switching from pity to fist in the air moments of vindication for Kwan. The performance of Andrew Eiden arguably brought this audiobook to life, reinforcing my belief that a great narrator is key to success in this kind of entertainment. Anyhow, don’t be put off by the title, it’s well worth your time to give this little book your time.

GREAT LISTEN

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book. The characters were really brought to life and it was narrated brilliantly by Andrew Eiden

Good

This book was a surprise as some of the reviews I saw weren’t very good but I enjoyed it I believe it’s worth giving it a go.

Go Sharkboy

This was a good little action story that I could listen while doing something else. It was pretty straightforward but enjoyable.

Slow to start but worth it

Not only did this pan out to be a real page turner, keeping me up at night to finish, with a really excellent twist but the portrayal of the newly disabled young man was too accurate.

Covering his post accident angst, bitterness and anger was perfectly on point and something that is rarely gotten right, especially by an able bodied author.

My only, niggling, criticism would be that the ending happens a tad too fast. However, not so as to spoil the atmosphere which is masterfully crafted to provoke maximum tension.

Would definitely listen again and look forward to there being a sequel.

Great origin story

i liked it. i like the story and the reading. i can't really say much because it'll ruin the book. but if you're into marvel or dc you'll like this

Started off ok then got silly

Nice start but felt rushed for the important bits. Spent far too much time on basketball descriptions, it got ridiculous. The plot thinned and just rushed to the end. Story and characters had no depth.