The Fallen

By: Ace Atkins

Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews

Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's Summary

A classic Southern tale of backroom deals, tainted honor, dysfunctional family, high-stakes greed - and everyday heroism - from the New York Times best-selling author.

Mississippi sheriff Quinn Colson had to admit he admired the bank robbers. A new bank was hit almost every week, and the robbers rushed in and out with such skill and precision it reminded him of raids he'd led back in Afghanistan and Iraq when he was an Army Ranger. In fact it reminded him so much of the techniques in the Ranger Handbook that he couldn't help wondering if the outlaws were former Rangers themselves. And that was definitely going to be a problem. If he stood any chance of catching them, he was going to need the help of old allies, new enemies, and a lot of luck. The enemies he had plenty of. It was the allies and the luck that were going to be in woefully short supply.

©2017 Ace Atkins (P)2017 Recorded Books

An Ace In the Hole

First the good news: The narrator MacLeod Andrews was terrific. He effortlessly switched roles between the disparate characters in this book, mimicking accents, attitudes and rhetorical tics. Well done.

The Bad News was everything else. The ending was atrocious, bordering on fraud in my view. It appears the Ace simply pushed back his chair, stood up and walked away before finishing his homework assignment.

The story also veered back and forth between multiple plot lines, a literary technique that, unfortunately, lies far and perhaps permanently beyond the skills of the author. The result is literary seasickness as the reader is whipsawed around improbable corners in this confusing mess.

Save your money; look for something else read by Mr. Andrews.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Realistic Perspective

If you could sum up The Fallen in three words, what would they be?

Veterans Gone Rogue

Who was your favorite character and why?

The one-armed mechanic. He was a consistent character and a reliable friend.

Have you listened to any of MacLeod Andrews’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. Consistently well done.

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

While it would be nice to have the luxury to listen to a book in one sitting, I don't. If I did, I might have listened to it all at once.

Any additional comments?

This book, while not dwelling on this concept, presents a different perspective from the popular genres that all vets come home, suffer from occasional nightmares, but otherwise assimilate back home as upstanding citizens unaffected by war horrors, except for their capacities for heroism that they demonstrate at every opportunity. This book also reminds us that not every soldier who went into combat did so voluntarily or for altruistic reasons. Some soldiers like to kill--or learn to like to kill-- we are reminded. Combat service either creates heroic, reluctant and introspective killers [the current stereotype] or exacerbates the evil tendencies of others [the dirty secret no one discusses]. The soldiers who were bad apples from the beginning [go to jail or go to war] inwardly scoff at those who say "thank you for your service" and take advantage of the kindness of people who express their generosity and appreciation--not to mention discounts, special parking, status with women and the like. This book pits one of the good returnees against the bad ones, but it is interesting to not only acknowledge that the latter exist, but to gain a little insight into how they view the world.

The other characters are interesting and the author continues to develop their relationships in this book. There is also a subtle set-up for things to come in the next publication. Will Lily go? Come back? Will the sheriff keep his job, or be beaten down by the politicians? Will the cunning woman who owns the pole-dancing bar that provides so many other services finally get her due? What trouble will Caddy [Catty?] attract next time? There are enough mysteries to look forward to the next installment.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

hmmm

I think I'll move on for a spell. Ace Attkins writes about how low people can go. There's not a lot of good in this story. human depravity has no boundaries, and women are either whores, junkies, or crazy. I am a women, an honest career driven women, and my career doesn't require me to lay on my back!! ( huge sigh) i would appreciate this story or any of them forth with, if some of the women in the story, are strong minded, capable, and kind, not from life beating them down, but from honest hard work, and tenacity. no happy ending here. if you're into how bad life can be, here's your book.

read not play

I must confess that I am not a native speaker. Although I have usually no problem listening to other audiobooks, I found this one very difficult to understand.
An audiobook should be read and not played like a TV serie. No need to insist on the southern accent.
The narration jumps from one sequence to the next without pause, making it difficult to follow the story.
The story seems interesting though and the book might be worth reading but not listening.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

My new addiction

The good news was discovering this incredible series paired with a gifted narrator! The bad news is I've gone through each book in the series- please write more!

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Raw and Real

Ace Atkins does a wonderful job of describing small town North Mississippi. If you follow his directions, he could be writing about the town I grew up in, without the legal bars asnd strip joints, as it was a dry county. However the people and attitudes are very real. Once again, Colton finds himself up against the MS political powerbrokers, who are also real and have been flexing their muscle since Reconstruction. This book rings raw and true.