The Dirty Streets of Heaven

By: Tad Williams

Narrated by: George Newbern

Length: 15 hrs and 40 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

A heavenly slice of urban fantasy.

Tad Williams offers up a modern view of the struggle between heaven and hell and in his version of the conflict things aren't quite as black and white as you would imagine. Angel Doloriel (Bobby Dollar) is unlike any angel you've ever read about before and his heavenly assignment is to be an advocate for the recently departed. He is responsible for pleading the case on behalf of the deceased's soul to ensure their final judgment results in a trip to heaven or no worse than minimal time in purgatory.

Bobby, like many other angels, spends a lot of time down on earth and he struggles with many of the same temptations that get the better of his clients. These are angels that drink, smoke, and curse like sailors so if such a portrayal is likely to offend you then best to take a pass on this one. After one case goes wrong, Bobby finds himself at the center of a giant heaven/hell conspiracy where he is likely to be the fall guy. He must sleuth out what is going on and in the process he finds himself up against extremely powerful beings on both sides of the eternal conflict.

Bobby has an engaging personality and you can't help but be amused by his views on life (and the after-life.) From foul language to sexual exploits and violence, he certainly crosses the line of "acceptable behavior" for an angel and you often wonder which side of the conflict is going to be his downfall in the end. As you would expect he has a moral compass that puts him on the good side of the line and you find yourself rooting for him to be successful.

Although the story ventures into weird territory from time to time it is definitely different and ultimately entertaining. As the mystery unravels the book gains momentum and it left me intrigued enough to give book 2 a try at some point. George Newbern does a good job on the voices and seems like a great fit for bringing Bobby D's unique personality to life.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

Angel Noir

What made the experience of listening to The Dirty Streets of Heaven the most enjoyable?

Tad Williams takes the reader on a great modern paranormal adventure with some innovative takes on Noir in a Modern context. The main character is well portrayed; as a flawed angel, tasked with advocating for the souls of the dead, Bobby Dollar is both real and supernal.

In Noir fashion, our hero is dropped in the thick of the Cold War between Heaven and Hell when a soul disappears on his watch. What follows is a ride that takes Bobby D through the righteous underbelly of San Judas (Santa Clara), California, angering Angels and Demons alike.

While the mystery is solved by the end of the book, it leaves many questions unanswered and I eagerly anticipate the next volume of the Bobby Dollar series.

What about George Newbern’s performance did you like?

Snarky and funny while keeping the tone serious at tense moments of the story.

13 of 14 people found this review helpful

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.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Most Imaginative Gumshoe Novel Ever!

It's such a fantastic surprise when a book exceeds your every expectation. I didn't just like this book -- I loved it!

First reason: the character of Bobby Dollar, who is a modern take on the classic hard-boiled, pulp-fiction private eye. This guy can go wise-crack for wise-crack with Sam Spade or stand toe-to-toe with Mike Hammer.

Second reason: the imaginative setting. I can't think of any other neo-noir setting that is quite so much fun as this one. The uneasy truce between heaven and hell is the perfect background for a private-eye procedural where all-is-definitely-not-what-it-seems.

Third reason: the performance. George Newbern makes Bobby's wisecracks come alive. His pitch-perfect delivery of the "Prince Sat-on-a-panda" wisecrack had me in stitches.

I've been a fan of Tad Williams's since Tailchaser's Song and I'm very happy to see him return to stand-alone novels. I eagerly await the next installment in the Bobby Dollar series.

8 of 9 people found this review helpful

I liked it

interesting twist on a mystery. I found Bobby Dollar very likeable and will be listening to more in this series.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Angelic Gumshoe

Interesting story, well written. Dislike the narrator, especially when he tries to do accents. There ought to be a rule that if the narrator can't pull off an accent he isn't allowed to do them. Characters can be differentiated without resorting to bad Scottish, Australian and Hispanic accents, especially when the characters are angels and have no country of origin. If bad accents don't bother you, give it a try. If they do, read the physical version.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Angels as gritty investigators...I like it.

I came into this book with little expectations, I have read some of Tad Williams other novels and had mixed reactions to them. Some I liked a great deal, others...not so much. But I was looking for something a little different from my usual fare, and the title of this novel intrigued me. The base world of this novel is contemporary Earth, near San Francisco but in this world angels and devils/demons walk among us every day. You see, they all have day jobs in the employ of Heaven and Hell as part of the eternal struggle of Heaven and Hell for the souls of the living. At our deaths we are put on trial, a literal trial..complete with Judge (an angel) an advocate (basically an angelic public defender assigned by the court) and a demonic prosecutor assigned by hell. The prosecutor and the advocate present arguments why the soul should be damned or a saved. I will admit, at first I was not liking this novel, I am not much for overtly religious rhetoric and feared that this novel would devolve into a treatise on the pros and cons of Judeao-Christian-Islamic religious dogma. Luckily it did not, Mr. Williams keeps clear of endorsing or refuting any particular religious dogma and presents his world largely outside the constraints of established contemporary religious thought. He sticks to the story and the characters instead. The lead character of this novel can be described as a slightly dis-enchanted advocate of Heaven. A kind of gritty angelic Colombo character, and he is very entertaining. I enjoyed the character self-deprecation and infinite compassion. All the characters in the novel were well conceived, and explored. Completely believable albeit in a "film noir" way. The novel was light, funny, and at times poignant. I highly recommend this novel for those of you who like a "gum-shoe" type tale with a supernatural twist, and especially for those of you who have never read a "gritty PI"-style novel but are a bit curious about one.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

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.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Wow

Any additional comments?

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

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Great story, great writing, phenomenal narrator.

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

Definitely. Absolutely phenomenal narration to a great book.

What did you like best about this story?

the narrator and the humor

Which character – as performed by George Newbern – was your favorite?

Bobby's humor was great but Fox and the wanna-be had me rolling with laughter.

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

No. At sixteen hours I'd probably go into some sort of fantastical coma. No. I'm good with spreading it out over a week.

Any additional comments?

Great stuff. On par with Peter Grant series, Dresden, and Matthew Swift.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful