The Yeti: A Novel

By: Rick Chesler, Jack Douglas

Narrated by: Jeffrey S. Fellin

Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

The most infamous cryptid ever to capture the imagination of the planet.

A man putting his life at risk.

When evolutionary biology professor Dr. Zack Hitchens loses his wife in a senseless accident, he decides to follow her dreams all the way to the roof of the world - the peak of Mount Everest. On the infernal mountain, Zack and his teammates battle sickness, whiteout conditions, avalanches, the oxygen-starved minds of other climbers - and something else. Something primitive and consumed with rage. Something seeking revenge.

Something downright abominable.

©2016 Rick Chesler and Jack Douglas (P)2016 Rick Chesler and Jack Douglas

The Yeti

Superb! I could not put it down yet didn't want it to end. I hope
there are more books like this. Definitely worth listening to.

Different than what I thought.

Dr. Zack Hitchens and his wife love the outdoors and love to climb. It was his wifes ambition to climb Mount Everest, but she is killed in a senseless accident. Zack decides that a way to realise this ambition is for him to take her ashes to the summit. But battling snow storms, starvation, sickness and other horrors, Zach might end up not returning!!

This is totally different than I thought, it's not so much focused on the Yeti, but more so on the struggle and battle for surviving while climbing Mount Everest, We do get some Yeti action, but not enough!!

So as I said, this is more focused on the characters and the Mountain. Zach goes to the Mountain with the intention of giving his wifes ashes to one of the guides, and getting them to scatter them. But he meets up with some people and they encourage him to do it himself, it might give him a sense of peace. He agrees but is in no way ready for all the perils that a mountain like this can bring! You're talking white outs, extreme cold, fatigue, altitude sickness, but something is also out there killing animals and people!! The Sherpa's know the legend but Zach doesn't believe.

The whole book is filled with tension, both with what is happening the group, as well as the Yeti. It feels like it is always lurking in the background and was scarier for it. All the time, I was waiting for it too jump out!!

In all, this was a great read. It was adventurous and fast paced, and held my attention throughout. I will say that if you go in expecting lots of Yeti action, then you will be disappointed, but if you go in with no expectations, then you will be pleasantly surprised. It's well written and developed and I'm glad I took a chance on the audio!

This is the second book I've listened to by Jeffrey S. Fellin, and while he did bring the atmosphere and intensiveness of the book alive, he did fail on some of the accents. His Italian and British accents need work, they were recognisable, just not there yet. It didn't detract from the overall feel of the book though.

Loved it!

I enjoyed this book a lot! It was suspenseful, interesting, and most importantly it had a great ending! I'll be listening to this one again!

The story is great, then a Yeti has to come along

So first things first: the book is fantastic up until the point where the yeti enters the picture. It's philosophical, character-examining, informative, and interesting. Than the yeti comes in and the plot kind of distorts, and the previously believable climbing parts are taken down absurd paths that seem completely implausible considering what was stated earlier in the story. Basically Mt Everest itself goes from being a potent threat looming over the story to a mild inconvenience in the face of the plot-bending power of the yeti; the mountain has to be made less dangerous to shift the danger onto the yeti, apparently.

It kind of goes in some strange, wonky directions... but the characters remain good and the story continues at a decent pace, so I can't dock it too much for the story going bonkers later on. It's a good book and it's still worth your time, aside from a couple of minor problems. The magic of the early scenes isn't really recaptured in the later scenes, but I was still satisfied in the end.

It's one story and then becomes a different story

Story was slow. Yeti isn't much of the story till about the last 1/4. It's like a story about climbing Everest suddenly becomes a Yet I story.

Strong story ,but week performence

The story was good duty not great. The performance was marginal. It was a tough at times to continue.

Great adventure

Would you consider the audio edition of The Yeti: A Novel to be better than the print version?

I can't compare them as I've only heard the audio version

Who was your favorite character and why?

The professor

Which character – as performed by Jeffrey S. Fellin – was your favorite?

Jeffrey S. Fellin did all the voices and accents so well that they seemed very real. Great narrator that I've never heard before. I will look for more books narrated by him.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The characters are "fleshed out" so well by the author that you really feel that you are right there with them in the adventure. The character of the "professor" really touched me. He is no super hero, but is a very honest and introspective person. He risks his life doing what he feels is the right thing to do. The ending really touched me.

Any additional comments?

I usually stick to books by my favorite authors, but lately their books haven't been all that great. So I decided to take a chance on these new authors that I haven't listened to before. I am so impressed with their writing. First, their characters are so human and multi-dimensional. There are no "bad guys, good guys" but very human sorts of beings that you can have empathy for even though you may not like what they do. These writers must have done a great deal of research or else are mountain climber themselves. They sure described the climbing of Everest with such detail that the listener really feels like they are along on the expedition. The cryptozoology is something that I find fascinating. I have often wondered if "creatures" like Big Foot and the Yeti could be ancient hominids that evolved along side humans, hiding away to protect their existence. Evolution seems to be having to be re-written as new discoveries are made which indicate that evolution was not linear and the existance of other forms, such as Gigantopithicus, the Hobbit, Denisovans etc prove that several different hominid species existed along side modern humans. So, this story is not entirely far fetched and is fascinating to ponder. I will certainly look for more books by these authors. Most enjoyable story telling!

Why do we climb? Because it's there.

Dr. Zack Hitchens loses his wife in a senseless accident, he decides to follow her dreams all the way to the roof of the world-- the peak of Mount Everest. While he's up there he discovers a lot more than he originally thought he would about himself, the other climbers, and the snow beast known as Yeti.

The narration for The Yeti was done by Jeffrey S. Fellin, who again does a phenomenal job. I believe this is the best book I've listened to by Fellin. He was able to capture a lot of the nuances that Chesler wrote into the book. He also used a few tricks to really draw the listener in like using a radio noise when the characters were talking on a radio (an incredibly simple way to make things feel more real). As I said before, I will continue to be on the lookout for more books by Fellin, especially those that combine with Chesler.

Wow, what a ride The Yeti was. I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but I can tell you this. The Yeti is Chesler's best work to date. I haven't read a book by him that I haven't enjoyed, but the drama and peril that he was able to capture in this book is unparalleled.

The main character of this book could have been the drama and the peril. They really took center stage. Chesler and Douglas really wrote this book to make the reader feel like they were there, or at least feel like these characters were real and going through all of these things. I can tell that they did a lot of research into Everest expeditions because everything just felt like it was exactly as it would play out in real life. I loved the realism of the ascent.

The book, while being titled The Yeti, was almost more about Zack's re-finding and redefining himself. I really felt for Zack numerous times throughout making it feel even more real.

While the yeti is definitely a part of this book, it was secondary. Being secondary doesn't make it any less scary. The way it was written about reminded me of how Bruce (the shark from Jaws) was never really shown front and center. You always knew that he was around by the music playing, and his attacks always seemed to happen off screen. The same was true here. You could definitely tell the snow beast was there and killing things, but it didn't have to be described or even seen to be terrifying. Just the smell or the noise would scare the heck out of the climbers (and readers).

Overall, The Yeti is easily the best work by Rick Chesler, and I really enjoyed it. I started it and almost finished it in one sitting. I couldn't pull myself away from it. I had to know how it ended.

I received this book for free. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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Not the highest point in books

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

While the book is not bad, it is not particularly great or memorable. A standard monster story wrapped in a story about climbing Everest.

Would you be willing to try another book from Rick Chesler and Jack Douglas ? Why or why not?

Depending on the subject matter, maybe. But they need to sell me on it being above average in their take on the story.

Which character – as performed by Jeffrey S. Fellin – was your favorite?

Virtually all of the book is from the perspective of the protagonist, Zack Hitchens. There were a couple interludes of other character points of view, but there was nothing particularly stand-out about them

Could you see The Yeti: A Novel being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

I would probably place this a Syfy monster of the week film. As such, no stars of note come to mind.

Any additional comments?

Again, not a bad book, just not that great a book. You do read a LOT about mountain climbing...more than you read about the Yeti itself.

Good Read

Novel had a lot of potential but yet missed it's potentiality. And the ending was not very good. Thanks!