The Boat man by Dustin Stevens - Narrated by Charles Constant

This one is in 2 parts. Not the book, but the review :-)

One thing I learned by tapping into audio books, is The Narrator makes the book. You can have a great story, but if the narrator doesn't do it for you, you're wasting your time trying to "sit thru" to the end of the book, so.... IF I have an audio book to review, I will also mention the narrator, and if it's really bad and I can't sit thru the rest of the book, I will try and read the actual book, and do the review on it... (It will happen, trust me) I think, the narrator doesn't make a book better, maybe more enjoyable, but they can definitely ruin it. Charles did not ruin the book!

Now on to the reason you're reading this: The Review!

I can't say enough times how much I love this book! Now, I could leave it at that, but we all know I have more to say than that :-)   The book tells the story of the investigation AND the "here and now" of the Boat Man in a way, you would see in a movie, were the culprit is watching the police do their thing, with a little of his mindset and thoughts dispensed with it. And it's told in a way that feels natural. You get a glimps of A, the result becomes part of B's day, he deals with it to solve it, and so on.  The way the author weaves the story around and around, the details given, the thoughts and processes of the investigator  and the whole vibe.......  It's awesome and a little scary when he does it with the boat man, it's still a bit disconcerting to know the author had to come up with it :-)  It's a thriller, but it's not. I know, it's weird. There is so much tension written into the story, but it has nothing of the "leading up to" stress and racing heart you would have with a thriller except for maybe turning an extra light on in the hallway.... but there is no way you're putting the book down before you finish, because you won't be able to stop wondering. LOL! Definitely looking this author up for the rest of the series!

Now to the narrator. NO ONE BETTER to tell this story than Charles Constant. His voice is steady throughout the whole thing. His inflections are not acted out, but normal speech patterns you would hear if somebody is telling the story in person, not reading to you. He seems to be genuinely enjoying the telling of the story, he's engaged without going over the top. The couple of times he changed to give a person a voice, he did it subtle. He didn't go into some falsetto when speaking for a female, or changed his accent or tone of voice when speaking like a male. It was more of a "someone else is talking now" thing. Not sure how to explain, but it was a good thing! :-)  

 Can't wait to read the rest of them, maybe indulge in another audio verson, as long as Charles is the narrator....

I tried out audio books.....

Yeah, never thought to hear me say that, either :-)

 My niece loves them, and since I'm clearing out crap my sisters thought "I would like to have" after dad passed and don't want my mind to wander to severely missing my husband, I figured what the heck.

This listening to books, is a new thing to try,  so the house isn't so quiet.  It's like working around the house with the TV on, so you can follow along, which is great for a footballgame, because it literally is a "play by play" attention span thing and if you miss one (unless it's a touchdown, of course) you don't miss much in way of information and still keep up with the whole picture. On the otherhand you kinda have to keep your mind on "keeping up" when listening to an actual story. THAT part, I have a problem with, as I have used listening to music, TV or radio to force my brain to ignore the "clutter" and concentrate on what I was doing. I know it sounds weird, but by having to "tune out" the noise, my mind had no choice but to concentrate on what I was doing, because without noise, my mind would race anywhichway :-) It never started out that way, just something I discovered when I didn't have music going and couldn't balance my checkbook, but as soon as I put the radio on, everything fell swingingly in its place. Something that I had done since childhood finally had an explanation.

With listening to audiobooks, I actually have to concentrate on the noise, I spent my whole life tuning out! So my first attempt contained A LOT of rewinding. ROFL!!

Now, the difference by reading a book and listening to it, turns out to be more than concentration. My first attempt was The boat man by Dustin Stevens. The narrator was Charles Constant. HE WAS GREAT!!! I already loved Dustins' books but Charles gave the book a lot extra. It was actually like he was telling the story over a cup of coffee, at the kitchen table, like a friend catching up with his day to day.   HIM, I can listen to all day, as well as concentrate on what he is telling me. (After the initial rewinding sessions. LOL!)

But, on the flip side, when you're reading, in your mind, you fill in the voices, hear the story teller, see the sites, and imagine the surroundings by what is written. With a good narrator, like Charles, you still do and it makes it a great experience. One to be repeated. The enjoyment of audio books is not just whether you enjoy the writer, but also whether you can stomach the narrator.... and that brings me to the other end of the equation.

My second try, was the polar opposite. The book was "You should be so lucky" by Cat Sebastian. I read the sample to guage the story and liked it, so I checked it out on Audible, while I had my trial. (Don't think I will renew, because price and time are not on my side :-) so one more book, and I'm done until I have time to think....  The narrator, Joel Lestie is SO fake, or they used a really bad AI to do the reading.... He uses some weird accent of what he must think sounds New Yorkish, but is more of an ill attempt of someone with a heavy Southern accent, trying to speak over the top Brittish, that completely overshadows the story. Hearing the sample on audio had me gnashing my teeth and I didn't make it thru more than probably 1 page before I cut it off. So.... I will be READING that one.

So here you have it..... IF you want to try audio books MAKE SURE YOU LISTEN TO THE SAMPLE BEFORE YOU COMMIT!!! Audio books are sometimes almost the same price as a paperback or hardcover, and if you don't like it, you can't even gift it to somebody who might enjoy it.  

With reading, especially if it's a "new to you" author, how you feel is sometimes just as much part of the enjoyment of a book as the writing so if you don't like it first time around, you can always try again. You never know how that sometimes works ;-) but if you don't like the way the narrator tells the story, that's hard to come back from. It's like that one salesman that grates your nerves, you won't want him (or her) to help you next time you shop either.

So, DUAL SUCCESS on trying audio books.

Now, go hug a loved one, while you can.