The Method

By: Jerry Bader

Narrated by: Marc Bonilla, Heather Graham

Length: 44 mins

Publisher's summary

A down-and-out LA actor with a knack for impersonations finds his circumstances completely reversed by a chance meeting with a look-alike stranger. After a night of drinking with his new friend discussing the possibilities made possible by their similar appearance, the stranger offers the actor a ride home. On the way there is an accident and one of them is killed.

The survivor finds himself in the hospital with amnesia and everyone assuming he's the stranger, the right-hand man for a mob boss. The survivor plays the role that's expected of him, despite the fact that doubt about who he is weighs heavy on his mind.

Life becomes a balancing act between the role he finds himself playing and the search for who he really is: the down-and-out actor or the mob consigliere?

©2015 Jerry Bader (P)2015 Jerry Bader

Vintage Gum Shoe and Mobsters

The Method is reminiscent of old black and white gumshoe mobster movies. It’s entertaining because all of the characters are walking cliches. As the description says, a talented impressionist actor and a mobster guy ended up in the same car that had a bad accident. Now no one, including the Survivor, is sure which man survived and which didn’t.

The Survivor is having memory issues, understandably, but the clues leave little doubt to the reader who has survived the car accident. No matter who he is, he needs to act like the old Arnie Bernado to get his mobster job done and keep his boss, crime lord Carmine, happy. Yet others notice small changes in him. Vito, a fell mobster, finds the new improved Arnie quite a bit funnier and Lonnie (Arnie’s sexy girlfriend) appreciates that he’s more tender in the bedroom.

There are very few ladies (just 2?) and they are sex objects. While this holds true to most of the dated mobster genre, it did make me roll my eyes a bit. So many of their lines were cringe-worthy because of their predictability. The ladies didn’t really add anything to the story.

Carmine pushes Arnie back into work, ordering his men to keep an eye on him. There’s also all the fancy parties these well-to-do mobsters are expected to attend. Sooner or later, the Survivor may well run into someone who can say definitively who he really is. This particular point was the most interesting and added the most suspense to the story.

In all, the tale is short enough to be entertaining with all its cliches. It does end on a total cliffhanger, very abruptly. I felt like nothing was resolved.

The Narration: Marc Bonilla and Heather Graham do a good job narrating this book. Bonilla gave voice to the bulk of the story as it’s told through the Survivor’s eyes. He did a fine job with the expected Mobster accent and I appreciated his more insightful presentation of the inner thoughts of the Survivor. He also showed some real talent with his voice impressions of famous actors, as called for in the story. Graham voiced the few lines the ladies had. She did well with them but it often felt like her lines butted into the recording. I expect they were recorded as stand-alone lines and inserted into the final recording as needed.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author/narrator/publisher.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog.

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