The Missing Boatman

By: Keith C. Blackmore

Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan

Length: 20 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's Summary

Miracles are happening. Pray to God they stop.

In the dead of winter, on a highway in Quebec, a man crashes his car and survives. In New York, a homeless person is run over by a bus and lives. In Tokyo, a teenager jumps off a high rise building and fails in taking her own life. All over the world, miracles like these transpire, and people breathe a sigh of relief.

But for the next week, some people will begin to suspect a terrible truth. A handful will even search for it. One man will find it.

And in seven days, all hell will break loose.

Note: Graphic violence and language.

©2013 Keith C. Blackmore (P)2018 Podium Publishing

I guess RC Bray was busy...

Interesting plot premise and, of course, Keith C. Blackmore delivers the goods with his writing skill but the narrator is, um... not good. As noted in another review, the narration significantly detracts from the enjoyment of listening to this book.

I suppose I'm a bit spoiled as the last few series I listened to, including Mountain Man, were narrated by RC Bray, who is arguably the best in the business.

Horrible narrator

Prob a good book but can’t get past 5 minutes. The narrators voice is the most annoying I’ve ever heard

I love this story! Love It!!!!

I love audible... Being disabled I have difficult time actually reading. Digital books are so much cheaper with my limited income. I just find it hard to read from my tablet. I had a first generation Kindle and I literally burned up the battery playing audiobook non stop when I found the text to speech option! I now have a Samsung tablet and it has text to speech but it nothing like my old Kindle! So I joined audible. This story was so good because it didn't come right out and tell you which carracters were entities and I had to make a lot of notes and re-read it to fully understand it. So when it became available in audible I didn't hesitate to buy it. The narrator just doesn't fit.... I was disappointed big time! I went back and read it myself! The text to speech on my Kindle was better than the professional narrator! I'm not going to return it.... maybe I will give it another try! But if I had not already heard the book on my Kindle I would not have been able to listen to the narrator ruin s such a good book!!!! To anyone else who bought this book and didn't like it, try reading it without the narration! You might like it as much as I did.

I wish the Boatman would come for the Narrator

This absolutely breaks my heart. This narrator is horrible. I LOVED Mountain Man, i listened to every book in that series including the short stories and the prequel and they are tremendous and R.C. Bray is the man. This guy is horrible, maybe this is just the audio equivalent to drinking orange juice after brushing your teeth- going from R.C. Bray to this clown.

It has been a struggle trying to pay attention to the story cause I'm so annoyed and distracted by the reader. I'm still trying to fight through it but its just not an enjoyable experience. I was so excited to have something new from this author (cause he is amazing) only to have the wind sucked out of my sails. Another reviewer says that the narrators voice eventually grows on you, well, I'm ten chapters in and i'm still grinding my teeth the whole way through. He sounds like a male version of Siri- emotionless and robotic. I think I may have to return this audio book and just read this one for myself.

Potentially great book ruined by a crappy narrator, what a shame.

Narrator voice was so weird and awful

Big fan of Keith C. Blackmore but the narrator actually made this impossible to listen to. I love audible books and I never thought I would come across such a bad narration. I wished I had sampled the book I'll never finish...... If this had been the first audible book I ever listened to I would have never tried another one. I know these are harsh words, in fact, it's my only negative review.

Nowhere near as bad as some have said it was

I enjoyed the story immensely! And I suspect the only reason that the critics didn't like the narration by P.J. Ochlan was because anyone replacing R. C. Bray would receive a bunch of negativity. It was like back in my old Army career the pistol that replaced the venerable 1911 was the Beretta M9A1 a great pistol in its own right. However, it replaced the 1911 and it was criticised for everything about it that wasn't like a 1911. Just like all these guys who criticised Ochlan for not being like Bray. James Earl Jones would have been negatively received by those same reactionaries. Albeit, I was a bit tired of the scrotum references; however, we are talking about Canada. Moreover Nova Scotia for that matter.

It was very enjoyable like all of the rest of Keith C. Blackmore's works. I recommend it. Just let it be a stand alone work. It isn't Mountain Man or Breeds. And Ochlain isn't Bray. If you accept it for what it is it will be enjoyed, I am sure.

Narrator is horrid

I though all the reviews about the narration were being negative I was wrong I love the author the narrator ruined this one

Surprised

it's a slow burn, similar to how Breeds was a slow burn to get into. But it really does pay off in the end. I'd like to hear more about the characters remaining and the 'others'.

Can I get a refund?

I'm a big fan of Keith Blackmore. This may well be a good book, however, the narrator is absolutely atrocious. I gave it a few chapters thinking maybe he would grow on me. Nope. It's like listening to a book read by the Microsoft robot voice. Skip the Audible version and get this one on Kindle.

Maybe mountain man set the bar too high for me.

I don't know if maybe I need more time to reflect on it and maybe it will grow on me. But starting out with the mountain man series and prequel, then this being my next Keith C. Blackmore book, I must say that the mountain man series was a bit of a masterpiece and this one is a unique intriguing enough story but it felt like it's kind of Canada's version of Kevin Smith's Dogma or something. The humor was great and the characters were interesting enough. still very much worth the purchase!

Oh my god, Pj Ochlan really !!!

Keith C Blackmore is a fantastic writer. ive listened to many of his novels but after only minutes of listening to this robotic narrator I had to switch off. I just cannot listen to this person, im sure the story is great but ill never know. Keith, if you are reading this please get this book re narrated by a professional such as R C Bray.

Atrocious narrator! Will irate you by the first chapter.

I really do like Mr Blackmore story’s, however this has been ruined by a nauseating narrator! I managed to get through one chapter of this guys irritating voice.
Audible please ask RC Bray to record this book as he is by far the best narrator.
People wait out till it’s been recorded by Mr Bray else be bitterly disappointed.

Don’t be put off by the negative folk

Okay...I must admit the first few chapters of P J Ochlan’s narration had me worried...but he pulls it back brilliantly with all the different characters. KCB is the complete nuts as usual , a fantastic writer and has written another bloody great story....Keith can write no wrong, I’d happy read his shopping list!!!?? I just hope one day he visits England so I can buy him a pint !!!!

Funny and full of gore

I know a lot of the other reviewers are less than complimentary about the narrator and I know what they mean but give him a chance. I started listening to this straight after listening to mountain man and it's a bit of a shocker to go from RC Bray to PJ Ochlan. The thing is the longer you listen the more you get pulled in to this truely great story and Mr. Ochlan style of narration. He's very good at voices and has a great way of delivering the humour in this book; I actually laughted out loud a couple of times, which doesnt happen very often with action/horror books. Really give it a try

Ignore the negative reviews

I read several negative reviews centred towards the narrator however ignoring these in favour of what appeared to be an interesting story and being willing to accept narration that differed from the great RC Bray, I decided to chance my arm. Pleasingly just a few days (long car journeys) later I’m pleased to report that my fears and perhaps the observations of other critics were unfounded as I found the narrator most capable, most able to have me appreciated different characters and the nuances of their performances. I wit certainty seek out additional work by both the narrator and author. As an aside I might add that I listen at speed x1.25.

Poor narrator choice

As soon as I started listening to this I felt irritated and amazed that they had chosen this narrator. The way it is performed is so irritating that it beggars belief. I've managed to persevere up to chapter 8 but just cant take it anymore. The story itself seems to be quite interesting but I just cant continue listening Im afraid.

Stick with it!

Stick with it. the narrator really comes into his own with all the voices accents and impressions. I read the reviews and were really pur off but people said stick with it. so I did. well worth a credit.

Forget the narration

The range of this performers voice really brings this great book to life.
Give it a few chapters and you will enjoy this hidden delight.
Great story idea and characters that slap you between the eyes coupled with a violent plot combine to make a feast of a book.

So worth sticking with ..thumbs up

Look, I've got over a hundred audio books and narrators make or break the experience for me to the point that I will listen even to a bad story.. so DO NOT get taken in by the bad reviews... this guy hits his stride after a few chapters and does an amazing job with the characters and truly defines them as individuals.. great story and very good narration. Get this audiobook.

Narrator is much better than perceived

Reading the reviews of the narrator I almost didn’t buy this book but another convinced me to give it a try, and I’m glad I did. I have every Keith C Blackmore book now and this one did not disappoint. I love how this extremely talented writer describes everything and the similes used have me laughing out loud. This book is very good and will most likely listen to it again even though I just finished it, I cannot recommend this highly enough. Another great book from KCB and look forward to his next.