Doc Holliday

Excellent Narrative

Revisado: 04-03-17

What did you love best about Life and Death in the Central Highlands?

The narrative, (in between the facts & figures; and pedantry), was excellent. Very vivid and "up close." The narrative is more personal than in most books about Viet Nam. He described feelings and situations so well, I thought I was there. His description of the smells was especially engrossing- (Gross?) I had heard about the rotten fish head rice sauce, now I have a better idea what it really was about.

He seems to be honest and laid it out, no matter how it came down. His problems with officers, especially. It, also, showed how hard it must be to be an officer in a war; having to make all the right decisions and not being able to. It gave a good view of the army "caste system," as he described it.

A good, well researched book, based on actual fact that seemed not to have a political agenda. It cut through an experience that is, often, seen through the lens of politics. It just told the story of what the life of a grunt was like. He was an intelligent, educated person thrown into a maelstrom that made anything, but staying alive, superfluous.

What other book might you compare Life and Death in the Central Highlands to and why?

Robert Mason's "Chickenhawk." Both seem to be honest, personal accounts of a brutal, very life changing experience.

What about Todd Belcher’s performance did you like?

It was a bit stilted and monotone. Otherwise good narration.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

"Viet nam, Class of '69. You don't have to die to go to hell."

Any additional comments?

This book is missing the clichéd being chased by a water buffalo or being spit upon story. These two events seem to be in every first person account of Viet Nam I have read/listened to. He is a little pedantic and the statistics where not that interesting. Although, he did tie them nicely to the narrative; which made them more interesting.

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Interesting, but...

Revisado: 03-31-17

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

There was no "mystery," there was no 'whodunnit,' a crime was committed and they immediately decided it was the antagonist. Then spent the rest of the book "proving it." With no mystery it was, essentially, a TV police procedural with crooked cops and barely motivated 'bad guys.' It was an interesting procedural-although Box does not write regular cop very well-with some twists with a lot of fantastic events and out of character behavior from long established characters. (Nate goes from being a mountain man to harried businessman? Prison staff misses an iPhone for 2 years?) Many of the supporting characters were completely vacuous, without any visible motive for their actions, some were completely unnecessary. Long unnecessary descriptions were given for unrelated things, seemingly just to take up space. New characters acted completely contrary to their descriptions. It was like Box rounded up all his recurring supporting cast and gave them a part. It was almost as if the story was made up as it went along. Very disappointing.

Would you be willing to try another book from C. J. Box? Why or why not?

I've read all of the Joe Pickett books and I'll probably read the next one–if there is a next one. This book and "Off the Grid" show clearly that Box either has run out of original ideas, or isn't interested in writing about them, for the series. It was like he put this book out only because he needed to get another book out.

What about David Chandler’s performance did you like?

Chandler's performance was great as usual. Voice characterizations were great.

Was Vicious Circle worth the listening time?

Yes, but just barely.

Any additional comments?

I had hoped that, as he aged his characters, Box would bring Sheridan into the story. Maybe she would become a warden? Sheridan would make a good replacement. Box made a mistake in aging his characters the way he did. He wrote himself out of a series. Pickett won't be a viable character for very long because of age. Nate Romanowski is already showing signs of aging; the character must be in, or near, at his 60's. In a lot of ways, this book sort of seemed to be bringing these characters to an end.SPOILER:In this book, Box depicted Joe and Dulce knowingly driving drunk and justified it. This was completely out of character for both of them and very disturbing. There is no justification for driving drunk.

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Methamphetamine: winning wars for 70 yrs.

Revisado: 03-24-17

If you could sum up Blitzed in three words, what would they be?

Interesting. Dry. Surprising

Would you be willing to try another book from the authors? Why or why not?

Probably not, since what is being read is, in fact, a translation from German. When the story ventures into accounts of the consistency/frequency/etc of Hitler's bowel movements, no matter how interested in history I am, I am probably not going to go looking for more of the same.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Performance was average. A bit monotone and slow. This may be due to the fact that reciting the number of millions of methamphetamine/narcotic analgesics/vitamins/gas pills/etc pills taken by Germans-military, upper echelon military, government and average German citizens-is only interesting for a short period of time.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Your grandfather's methamphetamine lost WWII for the Germans.

Any additional comments?

The sheer mass of pills and other concoctions used by the German people is staggering. The book gives one the impression every German in the military was, from the invasion of Poland until the fall of France and beyond to Operation Barbarrossa, 'blitzed' on methamphetamine or something Hitler's personal physician dreamed up to make money. Most of civilian administration and civilians seem to have indulged themselves in everything from quack vitamin remedies to methamphetamine to various, very potent narcotic analgesics.

The ending of the book, chronicling Hitler's final 'pharmacological fall' was interesting. A lot of people seem to believe the Germans were these invincible 'supermen' and that a neo-nazi state would be so efficient, it would take over all other forms of government. The Nazis were clowns. They did nothing efficiently. Keeping records doesn't preserve a corrupt government. There is no reason to believe neo-nazis would be any smarter than the Hitler clan. I think it is the uniforms and, of course, the movies that give them this aura of invincibility.

It is interesting that the extent of the Germans' drug use is not more commonly known. This seems like something the allies would have jumped on to demonize Hitler when he was alive and to demonize the remaining Nazis after the war. Like the Germans very effective use of IBM's "Hoeleriths" to facilitate the final solution, it remains popularly unknown.

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Like it was written by a 12 year old

Revisado: 03-12-17

Would you try another book from Jack Phillips and/or Owen Western?

No. I find it amazing, he got this one published. The writing is terrible. There is no story. There is no plot. "No animals were harmed..."? Does this guy even realize he's writing a book? Humans were hurt, aren't they animals? "He doesn't have to work out much, did anyway"? That doesn't even make sense. "The FBI didn't save the dog." Didn't realize it was the FBI's job to save dogs, if they didn't save the dog, doesn't that mean it was killed? "It's not going to be solved by evidence?" What's it going to be solved by? Witchcraft? Wouldn't it be hard to prosecute a case with no evidence? The writing is stilted, like something a fifth grader who didn't speak english very well would write.

What do you think your next listen will be?

I would re-listen to every book ever written by Carl Hiassen or a raft of other authors rather than listen to this.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Flat, absolutely monotone. Terrible narration

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Off the Deep End?

All of it.

Any additional comments?

Why isn't it 'eligible for return'? How does that fit with the guaranteed return/exchange?

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"The" Carl Hiassen

Revisado: 11-30-16

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

Yes, reading Hiassen books is always worth the time. I live in the Intermountain West and Hiassen's sense of humor is a nice change from the mystery stories set in the west that I usually read. Hiassen doesn't have the anti-government bent that some of the stories set in the west do. His bent seems against anti-environmentalists. And Hiassen's work is heavy on the bizarre and the funny.

Has Skin Tight turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, just about anything that Hiassen has written I have either read and/or listened to. He writes great books.

Do you think Skin Tight needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

It's is hard to tell if Hiassen's other books are follow ups. I tend to think they are, as they feature some of the characters. (Particularly the ex-governor 'skink.' I love Skink.)

Any additional comments?

In Skin Tight, the part where the barracuda bites the character's hand off and it is replaced with a "weed hacker" is one of the more hilarious pieces of his work. The re-appearance of the "weed wacker" man in Star Island was great.

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Outstanding

Revisado: 11-14-16

Would you listen to The Stand again? Why?

Yes. Outstanding story, great writing and great narration.

What did you like best about this story?

Apocalyptic fiction is one of my favorite genres and The Stand is the premier piece of apocalyptic fiction written in the last 50 years.

If you could take any character from The Stand out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Larry Underwood

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A disappointment

Revisado: 08-29-16

What disappointed you about Off the Grid?

The story was completely unbelievable. Had nothing to do with the premise of the Joe Pickett series. The book should have been called book #1 of the Nate Romanowski series because Joe didn't even play a significant part in the story until the last two chapters. Sheridan's part in the book was minimal and insignificant; she could have been used as a foil. Instead she was left to cower behind rocks with the rest of the non-characters.Box is a good writer, he just isn't a good writer about Islamic terrorism, electromagnetic pulse technology (what is described is a HERF-high energy radio frequency cannon-not EMP and I am sure some of the billions spent on the NSA's UT data center was spent shielding it from terrestrial sources of HERF/EMP) or how the Posse Comitatus Act would have prevented the Apache attack helicopters from showing up. Not to mention the absurdity of anyone in the government sacrificing an intelligence asset such as the UT data center to keep it from being used by politicians in an election year and managing to keep it all secret.Pickett is a game warden, not a government agent who chases people with high energy weapons through the desert and withstands assaults from truckloads of sociopaths.

Has Off the Grid turned you off from other books in this genre?

Probably not. I'll give Box the benefit of the doubt that this was just an 'off' effort. If the book had not been written by Box, I doubt I would have finished it.

What didn’t you like about David Chandler’s performance?

Probably the worst of any of Chandler's performances I've listened. A lot of it had to do with the material he had to work with, which wasn't very much. However, his voice characterizations are becoming cliche as he is limited to around 5 different ones total. His changes in tone, to me, are almost 100% predictable and therefore boring.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Off the Grid?

The part between the beginning of their sojourn into the Red Desert and the part in the Homeland Security building in Cheyenne. There was no story. Not much of it made any sense. It was technically inaccurate. The motivations of all the players-esp. Joe-are extremely thin and largely unbelievable. A group of "6 year seniors" college students manage to build a piece of cutting edge technology not even the government can figure out in an abandoned and burned out ghost town in the middle of the desert and no one actually sees them do anything?

Then the government allows this same group of people to destroy a $4 billion asset and hopes everyone will keep their mouths shut about it? All of them would have been shut up by being sent to jail for the rest of their lives for aiding and abetting a terrorist organization. Or for all the stuff they stole or swindled for their project.

Any additional comments?

Hopefully, Box's next Joe Pickett book will be within the parameters and premise of all the other Joe Pickett books.

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One of Box's Best

Revisado: 06-05-16

If you could sum up Nowhere to Run in three words, what would they be?

Exciting. Action. Intrigue.

What about David Chandler’s performance did you like?

Chandler's performance of Box's books is outstanding. Since he has done the whole Joe Pickett series, he is 'Joe Pickett' and the other characters. Well done on this one, as usual.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

The hunters, become... The hunted.

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Another great CJ Box book

Revisado: 05-22-16

What made the experience of listening to Free Fire the most enjoyable?

This entire review contains SPOILERS:

David Chandler's narration was outstanding. Because Chandler has done all the CJ Box books I've listened to, he IS Joe Pickett, et al, to me.

The story was wrapped around a bizarre legal point about venue and the requirement for local juries–there are no courts, so no venue, and since no one lives in that part of the park, so a local jury could not be found. The book made the complicated legal mess pretty simple and worked the story into the framework of the laws, or lack thereof.

The guy who believed the Yellowstone "volcano" (actually, the Yellowstone Caldera, there are six other super-volcanos hiding under caldera in the world) wasn't crazy, everything he mentioned is supported scientifically. The caldera erupts about every 600,000 years and we are overdue for an eruption.I live about 4 hours away from Yellowstone and will be one of the first to get wiped out by the eruption; most of us here think that's better than having to live with the aftermath of the eruption.

The discussion of the thermophiles and the fact they are legally mined in the park was a good center point for the plot to hinge on. It really made you hate the bad guys without revealing who they were until the end.

Overall a great book, with a great narrator. A good book to add to any CJ Box enthusiast's collection. This, and Savage Run, are Box's best books.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Free Fire?

Any of Box's books where Nate Romanoski plays a significant part are among his best. SPOILER: When Nate showed up in the 'Free Fire Zone' and shot the guy with his .454 Casull to save Joe. As an paramedic, I can tell you that the guy probably wouldn't have survived. Each .454 slug is about as big as your little finger. It would have torn the guy apart, but the 'never kill' anyone unnecessarily (Nate's definition of 'unnecessarily.') meant the guy got to live.

Nate's moral relativism is one of the things that makes the books. He sets himself up as judge, jury and high executioner. But, somehow, you have a hard time disagreeing with him. I guess there is some vigilante in all of us.

What does David Chandler bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Voice characterizations. When I "read" a "real" book, I never thought about putting voices to any of the characters. Chandler is very good at it.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When the director of the park snuck up behind the female law enforcement ranger and shot her. That came at me out of nowhere.

Any additional comments?

The Park Service guy who had ___________ (no spoiler) engraved on the back of his fake eye was pretty gross.

Buy the book, even if you're not a Joe Pickett/CJ Box fan you'll love it!

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Interesting

Revisado: 05-14-16

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

It is, not, about the fire. It is, at best, a documentary about how the death of six firefighters affected their relatives. I would be more interested if they spent less time on 'character development' more about the fire. Either way, I don't see any potential for this book to became a "4 or 5-star listening experience' for me. Since it was a documentary, more of a description of the building before the fire would have been nice. Instead we get 'rooms.' The "documentary" is incomplete because the book failed to say what the outcome was for the arsonists.

Would you ever listen to anything by Sean Flynn again?

The narration was fine.

Any additional comments?

I get this book expecting it to be about firefighting and experiences. Not about the survivors. Not that the survivors don't have a story, they do, but that's not what this book was described as being about. I was particularly interested in this fire.

The writing was sloppy. It's probably not accurate to say that everyone who made calls to the survivor's families said, "There's a really big fire." Poor research or lack of knowledge: crampons are on your feet, you don't hang from them. There is no relation between firefighting and rock climbing. It isn't even analogous.

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