Special Talents

Goon Squad, Vol. 1

By: Jonathan L. Howard

Narrated by: Gabrielle de Cuir

Length: 4 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

An ongoing, episodic "prose comic" from which the pictures are summoned by the magic of words, Goon Squad is set in a version of modern-day Manchester. Its biggest divergence from the real city is that it - along with most other large urban centers - has a team of superheroes to protect it against unusual threats with which the conventional forces of law and order would have problems.

Goon Squad, Volume 1: Special Talents is composed of six tales: "The New Girl", "Nightclubbing", "By the Water, by the Grave", "Changes", "No-No Dojo", and "Exterminating Angel" as well as an introduction read by the author.

©2015 Jonathan L. Howard (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc., and Skyboat Media, Inc.

Narrator's lisp is distracting

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I love Howard's dry, acerbic humor and his love of words. The only drawback here is the over sibilant sound of the narrator's voice. It was irritating at first but the story drew me in.

What three words best describe Gabrielle de Cuir’s voice?

overly sibilant, lispy

Fun Comic book style stories

Where does Special Talents rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Enjoyed it very much.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Ian Mears is the walking dead man. Very sarcastic and amusing.

Have you listened to any of Gabrielle de Cuir’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

She's very good with all the different accents. Russian, British, etc.

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

Laugh out loud. No crying.

Any additional comments?

Nice to have these short stories put together into a collection. I love Howard's writing.

a great intro but a tad short.

while not the authors best work (johannes cabal) a great premise and loveable characters. A tad bit short for the price though.

Previous Positive Reviews Revoked

The stories are offbeat, which I appreciate; however, there is a plethora of superhero fiction that I find much more enjoyable.

Although unlisted, there is more than one narrator and I don't like multiple narrators or sound effects, such as doors opening. Individually, narrators do a decent job, but Sasha's voice grates on my nerves a bit.

Disclaimer: I am probably holding this author to a much higher standard than the norm. In previous reviews of Jonathan L. Howard's work, I wrote I would read anything he writes. [My policy is to write positive reviews but not negative reviews; however, my honesty policy supersedes the positive/negative review policy and I'm not looking forward to the unhelpful votes this review will get. At the time, only the Johannes Cabal series was available. This is now untrue and I have thought of putting Howard in captivity until more Cabal books are written. He also stated, in his own voice on one of the audio books, that he would have another Cabal book out this year and I'm growing skeptical and possibly jilted.

1/3 of book

This is more a short incomplete story than a real book. The author wrote a book then than divided it into 3 parts and sold 1 book as 3 books for more $$$. Which would be alright if "Goon Squad"was as big as "Harry Potter" or "Lord of the Rings" but it is NOT...
I do enjoy the story and am now hooked and will buy the 2nd and 3rd copy. So congratulations! your strategy to bleed me of my money worked...
I would recommend to listen to these books, but not to pay full price.