The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man

By: W. Bruce Cameron

Narrated by: George K. Wilson

Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's Summary

Ruddy McCann, former college football star, has experienced a seismic drop in popularity; he is now Kalkaska, Michigan’s full-time repo man and part-time bar bouncer. His best friend is his low-energy Basset hound Jake, with whom he shares a simple life of stealing cars. Simple, that is, until Ruddy starts hearing a voice in his head. The voice introduces himself as Alan Lottner, a dead realtor. Ruddy isn’t sure if Alan is real, or if he’s losing his mind. To complicate matters, it turns out Katie, the girl he’s fallen for, is Alan’s daughter.When Alan demands Ruddy find his murderers, Ruddy decides a voice in your head seeking vengeance is best ignored. When Alan also demands he clean up his act, and apartment, Ruddy tells him to back off, but where can a voice in your head go? With a sweet romance, a murder mystery, a lazy but loyal dog and a town full of cabin-fevered characters you can’t help but love, New York Times best-selling novelist W. Bruce Cameron’s The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man, yet another laugh-out-loud, keep-you-up-late, irresistible read.

©2014 W. Bruce Cameron (P)2014 Macmillan Audio

As Good As It Gets

Bruce Cameron has combined remarkable wit with uncanny dialogue to create one of the best new heroes and most fun novels ever. I loved every character, every scene every moment of this book. Narrator George Wilson's performance and timing is flawless here. I'd put him in the top 5 narrators.

Ruddi McCann, ex football star, ex con turned repo man has a peculiar problem. He hears voices. I'd go further, but it would spoil too much of the story.

In some ways he is a combination of Jack Reacher and one of Carl Hiasson's quick witted stars who is surrounded by a bizarre set of characters in an even more bizarre set of circumstances. I laughed and smiled through the one day it took to finish the book

I'd put this book up on the same level as Big Little Lies, and that should be enough said.

24 of 25 people found this review helpful

Promising new series

Mystery-solving with wisecracking humor, good characters, adventures of a resilient repo man.

Definitely worth your credit if this appeals--There is a "prequel" story introducing the characters, especially the dog, called "Midnight Dog of the Repo Man"--short, inexpensive, worth "reading."

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

The Repo Man Gets Lucky

This book is just an overall fun book, the foremat was a little different, the characters were is dysfunctional as most people I know. That made me feel a little more comfortable about the world I liven.
George Wilson did a really good job bringing the characters to life, and I truly enjoyed his laid back matter of fact style when he tells the story.
Bruce Cammeron created a new concept on dealing with 2 characters in one physical body...I told you it was fun!

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Kept me running

This is the rare audiobook that I ran more miles to keep listening and I run for my health, not the love of it. I'd downloaded it because the reviews said it was funny and it certainly was, but I cared about the characters.

I think this was my favorite of 2016--at least so far. I'm definitely on board for the series.

Definitely recommend!

9 of 10 people found this review helpful

Mystery, Murder, Comedy, And A Little Love!

This is a fun, easy listen, a pleasant change of pace for me after a bunch of more serious listens. Ruddy McCann is an entertaining character, a repo man who suddenly finds himself sharing his body with a dead realtor, Alan Lottner. Their relationship with each other is a crack up as they have very different priorities. Ruddy is asked to help solve the realtor's murder, which becomes even more disconcerting once Ruddy realizes the girl he has just met and has started to have serious feelings for is connected to Alan! I don't want to give too much away so I won't add more. I will just say that I recommend this audiobook as a guaranteed fun listen. It's magical realism at its best.

Narration by George K Wilson perfectly fits the story and characters and adds to the enjoyment.

8 of 9 people found this review helpful

Great story, not the right narrator

I really debated how to rate the performance, because George K. Wilson is a great narrator and he gave the book exactly the right amount of emotion. The problem is that this book features a man just turning 30, and the narrator...well, he sounds like someone's grandfather, and it really threw off my perception in the story. I didn't catch that the main character was so young until his age comes up on his birthday. I had been picturing a man in his late 50s.

Cameron's story is fascinating, and the world he built around some seriously odd and down-on-their-luck characters is wonderful. I definitely plan to read the next book in the series.

12 of 14 people found this review helpful

Multiple Layers Make a Great Story

This is a story that truly "unfolds." There are tons of layers that reveal themselves that made me more and more invested as I got to know Ruddy and Alan and Katie.
Just when I thought that I knew how the story was going to go, a small twist or a new fact was revealed that delighted me and kept me super interested.
The writing is great. The author, Cameron, is funny without feeling like he's trying very hard. The chuckles in this book are subtle and surprising which makes them even more fun.
The action in the story drives the pace really well. A TON happens to Ruddy, there are several stories woven together at the same time, but it is all done smoothly, and believably, and in a self-effacing, funny, natural sort of way. I'll say it again, the writing is great.
The character development, especially of Ruddy is really well done. That's another aspect that unfolds really well--I got to know him more and more as the story went on.
Why only four stars? I felt like Cameron could have pushed it just a little bit more. It could have been a little funnier, a little faster. It's really 4 1/2 stars, it just wasn't quite, quite perfect. On the other hand, maybe it was perfect, because it left me wanting more. I'm assuming there is a next book based on the title, and I'm really looking forward to a sequel.
The narrator is great. George Wilson does the funny, tongue in cheek, sardonic books so well. He is a perfect choice for this book.
I recommend this book.

17 of 21 people found this review helpful

The Voice Inside Your Head

Ruddy McCann -- ex-football star, ex-con, currently a repo man and bar bouncer in seasonal northern Michigan -- dreams of a murder. He soon discovers that the murdered man, Alan, a real estate agent when he was alive, has come alive inside his head, where only Ruddy can hear him and talk to him. Alan wants Ruddy to find out who killed him, and why. That task is complicated when everyone thinks Ruddy is suffering from repo madness, hearing voices.

Well, there's that, and there's a cast of characters swirling around Ruddy that could have come right out of a Carl Hiaasen novel, if this were set in Florida instead of Michigan. There are several other things going on that may or may not be related to Alan's murder, and one of the things Bruce Cameron does well is make his red herrings worthy side plots in and of themselves. All in all, good fun, well plotted, well peopled, well written.

Cameron is best known for his Dog's Purpose and Teenage Daughter series. Here he branches out in a different direction, doing for his home area in Michigan's Northwoods what Hiaasen, Tim Dorsey, Dave Barry and the like have done for South Florida -- humorous crime novels set in a particular locale filled with quirky characters, starting with the cynical wise-cracking protagonist and his idiosyncratic sidekick, in this case a voice in his head.

No coincidence that George Wilson, who has lent his gravelly voice to many a Hiaasen and Dorsey audiobook, gets the call to narrate Repo Man, reminding you of the genre. If you're familiar with it, you'll like this Michigan transplant. I'd wager you might like it no matter what. The only thing missing is an overarching theme that transcends the plot and the fun, but that is not a show stopper.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Honest, Not Exploitive, Look at Small Town America

America is full of communities where the full extent of human experience is encapsulated in their Main Street experiences. In the Midnight Plan of the Repo Man, there gathers a lovable, but sheltered, citizenry around which our main character, Ruddy, swirls. The foci for this gathering is a local dive bar long past its prime.

About the characters in this novel, you will find yourself wanting to say, "How dumb can he/she be," but you won't say it because they are flawed just like us (and that kind of self-deprecation is difficult).

I was moved and occasionally frustrated by this story about a man with tremendous intelligence who just goes with the flow in rural America, living a slightly parasitic life (but not quite). I rated the story a 4-star and the narration the same. Overall, however, I believe this story is 5-stars because it continues to gnaw at your soul long after the last byte fades in your earbud.

Keep an open mind...enjoy the people...open your heart to Ruddy and his friends. Ultimately all of us are good. Ruddy teaches us that.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

All kinds of fun!

Any additional comments?

This book was so much fun! I thoroughly enjoyed it. I did not want it to end and I found myself looking for any excuse to get back in my car so I could drive around and hear some more of the story. It was sweet, enduring, thrilling, and comical. A weave of romance, Sci-fy, comedy, thriller, mystery all in one and it's a feat to behold! With so many different intersections in the story I was sure there was no way to wrap them all up but the author does a wonderful job. This sure was a fun journey.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful