Big Easy

By: Eric Wilder

Narrated by: Joe Hempel

P.I. Wyatt Thomas is more than a French Quarter sleuth. Much more. Whenever a new client needs someone to investigate ghosts, possession, or the paranormal and supernatural backside of New Orleans, Wyatt is the person they call.

Someone is killing New Orleans street people, and it is affecting the tourist trade in the venerable old city trying to recover from Hurricane Katrina. More than murder, voodoo is involved, the killer possibly an actual Vodoun deity.

N.O.P.D. Homicide detective Tony Nicosia seeks the help of Big Easy insider, and often hard-boiled psychic P.I. Wyatt Thomas. Wyatt has a new client interested in ghosts, spirits, possession, and the paranormal. He enlists the assistance of Mama Mulate, Tulane English professor, and an actual voodoo mambo.

Mama Mulate is lethally sensual, Wyatt a deadly sexy alpha male with a dangerous reputation. Together, they run the gamut of desire, carnal instincts, passion, darkest fears, and horrifying truths.

Will the moody Louisiana sleuth find love and romance in the arms of his client's beautiful daughter? Will Mama's gris gris protect Wyatt from a horrible death? Can they unravel the strangest psychic mystery suspense thriller to hit New Orleans since the era of voodoo queen Marie Laveau?

©2007 Gary Pittenger (P)2016 Gary Pittenger

great mystery

the characters are fantastic. at first it seems like a lot to get to know and keep straight but now they just feel like family. I really liked the writing style and the narration was fabulous. it was very entertaining, and I will be looking for more of their books.

Great fun with a great backdrop

This book got me interested right away. Using New Orleans and voodoo as a backdrop was clever and was perfect for the story. It's obvious the author loves the Big Easy.

I received this book free of charge in exchange for an unbiased review.

Big Easy

Any additional comments?

Overall an entertaining, interesting and enjoyable. It took me a while to really get interested in the story. It just wasn't holding my attention. It was just to "rambling" in the beginning. Little by little though the story drew me in and keep me listening until the end.

Mystery, suspense, voodoo, murder, spirits and more.

Very interesting cast of characters. Great descriptions of the city make you feel like you are there with the characters. As if New Orleans hasn't had enough trouble recently now they have a serial killer to deal with.

Joe Hemple once again does a great job with the narration. As usual. Pleasant voice. Clearly spoken with a nice even pace. Great character voices and accents. He was able to make the characters come to life through his narration. Very Enjoyable.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator or publisher.

DNF!

DNF. I got to 35% and can't keep going. The POV is all over the place and the story badly needs a good edit!! E.g.: Words and phrases repeatedly used and the some of the sentences are pretty basic, better descriptions could have been used etc. The only thing going for it is the setting and narrator.

Joe Hempel was the only reason I kept listening to the book for so long, I would have given up at about 10% but really enjoyed his narration. He is so easy to listen to and has an admiral range of tones and cadences! He is definitely a narrator to keep an eye on.

*I received a copy of this for free but voluntarily reviewed it. This in no way affected nor influenced my thoughts.*

A murder mystery in post Katrina New Orleans

Any additional comments?

I was offered a copy of this book in audio format from the narrator in exchange for an honest review.

Sent in a post Katrina New Orleans, there has been a series of recent murders. The targets have been street people, and the modus operandi the same in all of them. Cop Tony Nicosia asks Thomas Wyatt for help, since it seems a voodoo deity is responsible for these crimes. Ex-Lawer Wyatt knows everybody in New Orleans and he will count with Mambo Mama Mulate to try to find the culprit.

The atmosphere of New Orleans is surprisingly well created in this book, and since Wyatt, the main character knows all the interesting places in New Orleans, the reader will have the pleasure of visiting them with him. There are also quite some voodoo terms in the story, which I suppose are correct but I did not check them for myself. I am not into voodoo myself, but it adds something different to the story.

There are many characters in the book, being Wyatt the main one, but sadly I was not able to connect to any of them. We know that Wyatt is an ex-lawyer and lives with a cat. I think the cat was added to the story to give Wyatt a bit more depth, but in some cases it just seemed a literary device to let us feel the pulse of the story and if something was going to happen to Wyatt. There was something that disturbed me, and that despite the story is written in first person, Wyatt does not feel most of the time as the main character, and in some occasions there are mentions to him in third person, which feels odd.

I usually do not read murder mystery stories, but I enjoy when I read a good one. I think this story was really good, but I had issues with the execution. The fact that we know the murder from very early in the book makes the story less compelling. It could also be because, as I have said, I was not able to connect to any of the characters.

The narration by Joe Hempel was excellent, and the reason why I picked this book. Given the above points I am not sure I would have enjoyed this book with a different narrator, but I know that Hempel will give to the listener an improved final product. One can perfectly differentiate all the characters and enjoy a high quality narration.