Agnes and the Hitman

By: Jennifer Crusie, Bob Mayer

Narrated by: Sandra Burr

Take one food writer named Cranky Agnes, add a hitman named Shane, mix them together with a Southern mob wedding, a missing necklace, two annoyed flamingos, and a dog named Rhett, and you've got a recipe for a sexy, hilarious novel about the disastrous side of true love...

Agnes Crandall's life goes awry when a dognapper invades her kitchen one night, seriously hampering her attempts to put on a wedding that she's staked her entire net worth on. Then a hero climbs through her bedroom window. His name is Shane - no last name, just Shane - and he has his own problems: He's got a big hit scheduled, a rival trying to take him out, and an ex-mobster uncle asking him to protect some little kid named Agnes. When he finds out that Agnes isn't so little, that his uncle has forgotten to mention a missing five million bucks he might have lost in Agnes' house, and that his last hit was a miss, Shane's life isn't looking so good, either. Then a bunch of lowlifes come looking for the money, a string of hitmen show up for Agnes, and some wedding guests gather with the intent to throw more than rice. Agnes and Shane have their hands full with greed, florists, treachery, flamingos, mayhem, mothers of the bride, and - most dangerous of all - each other.

©2007 Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (P)2007 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Ditzy Agnes?

I've recently become a fan of Jennifer Crusie and I think the "Hitman" book is a nice addition to her list of titles. The book itself seems to be a lot of fun; the characters are a little stereotypical but it's fitting for the genre and entertaining nonetheless. My biggest problem with the book was the narrator. The Cranky Agnes character could be a lot of fun for a narrator to read and this could have been one of those books that enhances the writing with a great narration. But to me it sounded like the narrator was going for a Marilyn Monroe-esque voice for Agnes that, in my opinion, did not fit with the descriptions, dialogue or character. The other characters talked at times about their fear of Agnes when she is angry, but the little breathy Marilyn voice just didn't strike fear into my heart. I didn't hear Cranky Agnes, I heard Ditzy Agnes.

I agree with other reviewers that the echo chamber effect used when characters are thinking is annoying and unnecessary, plus very difficult to hear. A good narrator is generally able to distinguish thinking from dialogue with vocal inflections and I have almost never found myself confused as to what is a thought versus dialogue in other audiobooks. It's still a good book, and it's still a fun listen, but I think it could have been a lot more with some different choices on the part of the narrator and producer.

Total Enjoyment

What I have found to be typical Jennifer Crusie! Fun with great twists and turns. This is book you enjoy reading so much that you wish it could go on and on. Enjoy this book and all of its intriguing characters.

Took a bit getting use to

The narrator is distracting, and takes away from the story, but the story itself if fun. I enjoyed the characters. It definitely took me a while to get into the story, because of the narrator.

agnes and the hitman

what a terrific read! light, funny, a bundle of laughs. It was a great read, I will look for more from Jennifer Cruise

Laughter, suspense, intrigue, giggles & sex

This is the 2nd Crusie book I read. The pairing with Mayer really makes it sing. The narrator makes it perfect. This has a perfect combination of outrageous humor, spine tingling intrigue and, I never thought I'd say this, explicit sex. Somehow it works. I had read the printed book and passed it around friends and relatives, then heard the sample of the Audible version and got it. The narrator does an outstanding performance, all the voices, characters come alive, right off the page. Somehow she does male, female, accents, the characters performances, all of it. Amazing!