Catch Me If You Can

By: Miss Mae

Narrated by: Stephen Mendel, Dave Mallow, J.W. Terry, Toni Attell, Robin Riker

Are all rules broken when it comes to playing a game? Washed ashore a South Carolina beach, Lois Steinberg learns her shelter, an old plantation house, was scheduled to host a "Catch Me" game convention. When the cook is the first one found murdered, the game environment instantly morphs into a terrifying evening reminiscent of And Then There Were None. This audio book has won the Platinum Award in the 2017 Hermes Creative International Competition.

©2010 Miss Mae (P)2016 Miss Mae

engaging and suspenseful mystery

Although I did enjoy the extra sound effects, they almost drown out the narration at times. Wonderful and engaging and suspenseful mystery story. Very well done.

The narration was excellent. Wonderful performances by all the narrators.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review.

Nonstop action

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Miss Mae. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Catch Me If You Can is an old-fashioned whodunit. There is supposed to be a convention in Jenna’s hotel but only 10 people show up before a hurricane hits the island off the coast of South Carolina. Lois washes up on shore and is taken into the hotel but quickly realizes that she’s not safe after someone is murdered.

The characters are all interesting and they all have secrets. No one is who they seem to be in this mystery with nonstop action and suspense. There is a twist at every turn including a surprise ending. There’s even a touch of romance.

This isn’t a typical audiobook. There’s not just a narrator. There are sound effects and a different person speaking for each character. It’s a fun book to listen to and is reminiscent of radio before the days of television (or so my parents have told me).

Fun, radio drama-like murder mystery!

I do love a good dark, stormy, isolated murder mystery. The setting drew me right in. All these folks, most of them strangers to one another, are trapped at a small convention on a South Carolina island during a hurricane. Lois, our main female character, washes up on shore and is rescued by these convention goers. The plot thickens when a character ends up dead.

Then the characters do something smart: they all agree to move about in triples. This makes it rather hard for the murderer(s) to knock someone else off. Toss in some spyness-like intrigue, argumentative characters, various lies and pretenses, plus the lovable Retriever dog Mite, and you have a pretty entertaining tale.

In some ways, this story felt like a 1960s murder mystery. There’s several characters that fit well-worn (and well-loved) molds. Most of the ladies are beautiful and are of romantic interest. The guys range from the handsome but mysterious hero to the angry and sketchy but perhaps not a murderer type to the always flirtatious guy. If it wasn’t for the tech (the modern computer game Catch Me, etc.), I would have placed this story in the the 1940s-1960s based on the characters.

There were tons of reveals in this story. So many of the characters had ulterior motives that I actually became a little fatigued with all the people having ‘ah, ha!’ or ‘No! I may be a bad person but I’m not a murderer!’ moments as they accuse one another and respond. In the end, the big reveal of who is the murderer was a little surprising and then yet another surprise and then another. While I can appreciate the intricacy of plot, I did find it a bit of a whirlwind in such a short book where the characters have little time to develop.

Mite was one of my favorite characters. I’m glad there was a lovable furball in the mix. Lois was my next favorite because I didn’t know for the bulk of the book if she was simply a woman in need of assistance or if she was a schemer and potential murderer. While there was a good dose of canned, predictable dialogue, I was swept up in the story by the pace of the novel and the dark, stormy setting. 4/5 stars.

Narration: The narration and sound effects for this audiobook were top shelf. All the characters had unique voices complete with regional or national accents. I especially liked the voice for Jared, the flirtatious and rude (sometimes crude) arrogant jerk. The sound effects were well done along with the bits of music. They never overpowered the dialogue and they really kept me on the hurricane-drenched island. 5/5 stars.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Miss Mae. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Catch me if you can

What did you love best about Catch Me If You Can?

This is a greatmurder mystery. The suspense is kept all the way through. Ten strangers are trapped in Wycliff House Resort during a category four hurricane. When one of their number is murdered, everyone becomes suspect. And the story goes on

Like an old-time radio show!!

What did you like best about Catch Me If You Can? What did you like least?

I liked that it was set up like an old-time radio show, complete with the sound effects.

What did you like best about this story?

The mystery of "who done it"

Which scene was your favorite?

when Lois was in the cabin

Was Catch Me If You Can worth the listening time?

yes

Any additional comments?

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

What a wild ride!

I think I blamed everybody but Mike in this nonstop thriller! I loved the multiple narration and sound affects it really brought the book to life and upped the suspense. the storyline was so creative I never could have figured out this who done it. Very entertaining, lots of Intrigue and suspense. Definitely recommend

good book, bad sound effects

I could not get pasted noise they had in the back ground... I get that there was a storm, but really does the sound of wind have to be in the back ground for chapters and chapters? Or when someone walked across the room, do we have to hear their heels on the hardwood floor? Or when they eat do we need to hear the clinking of silverware? Really kept me from getting out into the story.
What I could concentrate on the plot I liked I actually ended up getting the Kindle version of this in reading it. Good book bad sound effects.
I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

It really came to life.

I have to admit that at first I wasn't sure that I would enjoy this audiobook because
of the multiple narrators and sound effects. I was worried with all the special effects and keeping up with all the different roles it would deter from the story with having so much to keep up with. While at first I found it distracting, it did not take longer before I was fully immersed in Catch me if You Can. The different narrators really did bring the story to life.

The author, Miss Mae, wove quite a twisted and shocking tale. Everyone at the inn was hiding something and most were not who they appeared to be. I would compare it to Murder on the Orient Express. I would love to see the authors outline and notes for this complex story.

I look forward to checking out other works by this author as well as the splendid group of narrators.

One of the best Audiobooks I've heard!

This is one of best mysteries of I've heard this year. With a full cast of great narrators, stellar plotting, and a suspenseful mystery, its easy to get five stars!  I'm not even sure how to describe the full experience of this book. Catch Me If you Can is an award winning book for a reason. 

This cast of narrators was absolutely phenomenal. They each had well written characters who seemed to "leap off the pages" with their own motivations in the story. The production quality and sound effects played a very critical role throughout the book in my opinion. From the background music, sound of the storm, echoes from various spaces, footsteps, fights, you felt like you were in the theater! My only beef was in the very beginning. The sound of the storm wind overpowered the voice of the narrator and that made for a slow start. Very professional. 

A dark & stormy mystery

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Trigger warning: racism

Part Murder, She Wrote episode, part Clue, this full cast production audiobook of Catch Me If You Can begins as any good, classic mystery might: in a dark and stormy night. Lois, a young woman out "snorkeling", is caught in a category four hurricane and washed ashore, only to be rescued by a guest of the manor house where some sort of gathering is occurring. It isn't long before it is clear that Lois isn't the only one to be wary of; everyone is suspicious whether outwardly brash Bob or one of the more "innocent" seeming guests.

My first impressions were thus: 1. These guests and the story's circumstances reminded me of the movie Clue, what with everyone running about, and 2. Lois is not the innocent lead she seems, as evidenced by the first few scenes of chapter two.

The vocal cast was well chosen. Their voices were neither too grating nor too monotone. Ranging from, I'm guessing, 30-40's up to a few elderly guests, there was a wide variety of personalities. Each was well defined, which is a plus. There were two that were a bit exaggerated: Bob, the brash man that was around for most of the story and a supposed investigator of some sort; and Andy, a reporter who shows up near the end of the story, who sounds like a two-bit gangster from a twenties flick.

With an audiobook narrated by a single person your expectations may be limited, but those expectations rise when more people are brought into the mix. There's more drama, more ways to stretch the material. The expanded vocal cast combined with the sound effects, heavy handed as they were at times, made it easy to see them in my head, to picture them sniping at each other, moving about the rooms of the manor house, etc.

One of the difficulties I did encounter right from the start with sound quality were the noises from the storm. It was too loud in parts, obscuring parts of dialogue and making it difficult to understand what the characters were saying. The roaring of the wind, the lashing of the rain at the windows, it was too much.

The mystery of the story, the murders that take place within the manor house under the cover of the storm (Hurricane Brian, in fact), was moderately interesting. It was simple enough to follow along, even as more victims appeared. I was wondering at some points whether the point would be gotten to, but I believe that all questions were answered by the end. There were some twists that I starting guessing at, but I didn't guess the final ones at the end, which was nice. As much as I try to see the ending coming, it's fun to not see it coming 100% of the way.

There was a bit of a romance between Lois and one of the guests, which I was not really meshing with, for at least two reasons: 1. Instalove is very much not my thing and even if it was 2. it was not written believably. Lois and this person get together far too easily/quickly for much about their relationship, if you want to call it that, to be believable. I'd believe her adopting the dog in the book more than I'd believe her ending up with the guy.

Something that I think would have made the book a whole lot better would have been for the casual racism in the book to have been wiped out. Not that there's ever a need for it to be in a book, but if the characters had at least been called out on it, it would have been something. There were several examples that annoyed me because there was nothing added to the story by the author including them.

Early on, when Tia is introduced, there is a comment on how Lois can tell she's Asian because of her hair and such, but she can't tell the difference between Chinese, Japanese, and Taiwanese. 

Later, Victor makes a comment about Tia's reaction to Mike (note: Mite? I couldn't hear the name clearly) the dog, asking don't all Chinese like dogs and she replies "only on a menu". No one says anything about this and the only reaction we get, so to speak, is Lois wondering if Tia meant it as a joke, but not thinking so.

There's also a time when the group is waiting out the night in a room and most are sleeping while Lois, Tia, and Cookie are keeping watch. Under the guise of girl talk to keep boredom at bay, Cookie presses Tia to reveal her heritage, where her parents, her ancestors are from, and wondering why she's ashamed of revealing it. She even says she's not ashamed to say she's Irish and English: English because of her coloring, Irish because of her fiery temper. The racism toward Tia and defense of it with European stereotyping was irritating and unnecessary in the course of the story.

Jared, one of the other guests, tells Lois she should thank "their Asian friend" for saving her from an incident. Later, when files are recovered on the guests that managed to get to the manor, Tia's revealed that she arrived via a flight from Beijing and Cookie exclaims that at least they now know she's Chinese. This was annoying and arrogant; just because she came on a flight from one country doesn't mean she's of that country's ethnicity. 

Then there is Lois's suspicion of Rajah, a fellow guest, of one of the subsequent murders,  primarily because he's Iranian and aren't "they sworn enemies of Americans" rather than a simple fact like he had opportunity. His race/ethnicity had nothing to do with it. It's later revealed he isn't even Iranian (not that that excuses her hasty, racist judgement; he was judged by his appearance, lumping all Asians together.

The romance between Lois and Victor felt flimsy and forced. It wasn't necessary for the story and the places were it was shoehorned in felt quite awkward, especially when they were in the garage and we were getting an info dump of their theories about the murderer(s).

As far as a mystery goes, I liked it well enough and I would recommend it for fans of the genre, but I would caution that it would be best listened to in as short a time as possible so as to keep characters, motives, and what not straight, and also that there are racist comments that really have no place in the story.













I received a copy of this book from the Audiobookworm Promotions in exchange for an honest review.