Zero at the Bone

De: Jane Seville

Narrado por: Alan Smith

After witnessing a mob hit, surgeon Jack Francisco is put into protective custody to keep him safe until he can testify. A hitman known only as D is blackmailed into killing Jack, but when he tracks him down, his weary conscience won't allow him to murder an innocent man. Finding in each other an unlikely ally, Jack and D are soon on the run from shadowy enemies.

Forced to work together to survive, the two men forge a bond that ripens into unexpected passion. Jack sees the wounded soul beneath D's cold, detached exterior, and D finds in Jack the person who can help him reclaim the man he once was. As the day of Jack's testimony approaches, he and D find themselves not only fighting for their lives...but also fighting for their future. A future together.

©2009 Jane Seville (P)2014 Dreamspinner Press

Good story. Good narration.

This book was an entertaining adventure with engaging characters and over the top action scenes. The narration was nicely done.

I couldn’t get over the narrator- badddddddd

I wish I could but it was as if this was the first time this actor had done voice work for a novel. I barely finished because he made Jack such a f’ing whiner. I wanted to reach into my phone and slap him.

D's voice....omgggg

This was a good listen for me. I liked the narrator's voice but I had a little trouble with the speed. Had to listen at 0.90x when I normally listen to books at 1.20x or above. So, there's that. However! The voice for D was f***ing hottttt!! Had me flushed every time he made that grunting sound....I felt like a schoolgirl with a crush 🤭

It sorta fades out.

Many time, I've wanted to know what happens after. Some stories end too soon, and you're left wondering what happened next. This one, suffers the reverse. A brilliant story, well written, expertly performed and a joy to listen to. The plot wraps up, and then it goes on. And on. It would be improved by dropping the last two hours of the book.

All that said, it's more than worth a credit. It's great and I look forward to more from the author.

Wonderful

Everything about this audiobook was perfect ..
Jane Seville her words and the great narration of Alan Smith

A fav ebook

The audio version of this book was a really good idea. The narrator added depth to a story that was already a favorite. Highly recommended.

Enjoyed

Would you be willing to try another one of Alan Smith’s performances?

I didn't really care for the narrator.

Any additional comments?

Really enjoyed this. A conscious minded hit man, D, and a kindhearted surgeon, Jack, are running for the lives while Jack is waiting to testify on a hit that he witnessed. I loved how Jack never broke on the stand & came right back at the defense attorney. There were parts of the story that did drag and I was kind of bored but over all I really liked it. Oh and I was totally wrong with who was behind blackmailing D. I hope there will be another full length book in this series.

Loved it in print, love the audiobook

This is one of my favorite books of all time and it was wonderful to hear these characters brought to life. It has a 4.6 rating on Goodreads with over 4600 reviews, pretty universally loved in the mm romance genre. The narrator did a fantastic job and the story if first rate. The basic story is D is a hit man with a heart who is tortured by his past. Jack is a witness to a mob hit that D is sent to kill. Romance and adventure ensues. The writing is witty and engaging, I've read this book 3x. The only caution I'd give a listener is that I have been waiting for the sequel for years. The author has some pretty good freebies on her website, but not sure if the sequel will ever happen. That being said, still definitely worth a credit.

Catch This Roller-Coaster Ride

What about Alan Smith’s performance did you like?

Smith’s voice is satisfyingly resonate to this genre of book. Over all he does an excellent job and keeps the two main characters voices separate in his performance.

Any additional comments?

I read/listened to this book on my Fire tablet three week ago and I am still thinking about the various plots and sub plots leading to resolution of the mystery. This book, at its heart, is about a paid assassin with a conscious, who is being forced to take a job he would normally pass up, because of said conscious. Obviously rather than do the job, at the last minute the assassin refuses to kill the mark, Jack, and become his protector.

Jack is a high value innocent whiteness to a gang murder. The government has been unable to keep his pretrial location secret from D, the assassin, and Jack rightly determines that D is his best hope for survival.

D is a complex mystery that Jack needs to unravel to ensure his survival. In piercing the vails of mystery surrounding D, Jack begins to trust, and then be attracted by the man behind the surface of D. The author does this in a paced human way; not Stockholm syndrome at all. All this poking and prodding by Jack awakens the deadened emotional man in D that he had imprisoned to do his job as an assassin, to the deserving bad guy.

The concept of assassin to the deserving was a very interesting literary concept. A lot of people are repulsed by villains to smart, rich, or powerful to be held accountable for their actions. The idea that one can employ someone to provide the ultimate sanction to a deserving villain is an attractive one.

The clever mystery reader may figure out who is manipulating D to go after Jack, the innocent, but they will have to wait until the end before the why this manipulation occurred is revealed. Along the way there is a subplot of a “Mr. X” that appears to be helping D and a why Mr. X is helping for the reader to figure out. The answer of why turns out to be good karma paying back D for having a conscious in the way he applies his trade.

Solving the mystery of D through Jack is a completely enjoyable experience. It is a great thrill ride of dips and hollows that makes ones stomach drop and twist like a roller-coaster. It is a great literary ride made all the more enjoyable by some of the best believable couples dialog I have read in a while.

The transformation and reclamation of D to recast him as the good guy he has always been deep down, is satisfying esthetically. However, I do not think that this book’s end could have occurred absent a Presidential appointment. This, in my opinion, is the plots one flaw.

When I read / listened to this book I was on vacation at an adult only resort in the Caribbean on the beach. The book holds enough interest so you are not distracted whether you are confronted with trying to figure out if the topless fauna are real or medically augmented or whether the budgie smugglers holds a balled up pair of socks or an anaconda. But hay if you are listening to the book you can solve both mysteries and miss nothing. GRIN

Fantastic depth and story!

Hitmen/hit-women, the struggle between right and wrong plus the love of a brave doctor will keep you captivated until the last page!

Felt like there was more story to be told for D and Jack, I am hoping there is a second book!

This book is worth the credit, enjoy!