The Rising

A Novel

By: Heather Graham, Jon Land

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

From acclaimed thriller-suspense novelists Heather Graham and Jon Land comes a story of action, mystery, and the endurance of young love in The Rising.

Twenty-four hours. That's all it takes for the lives of two young people to be changed forever.

Alex Chin has the world on a plate. A football hero and homecoming king with plenty of scholarship offers, his future looks bright. His tutor, Samantha Dixon, is preparing to graduate high school at the top of her class. She plans to turn her NASA internship into a career. When a football accident lands Alex in the hospital, his world is turned upside down. His doctor is murdered. Then, his parents. Death seems to follow him wherever he goes, and now it's after him.

Alex flees. He tells Samantha not to follow, but she became involved the moment she walked through his door and found Mr. and Mrs. Chin as they lay dying in their home. She cannot abandon the young man she loves. The two race desperately to stay ahead of Alex's attackers long enough to figure out why they are hunting him in the first place. The answer lies with a secret buried deep in his past, a secret his parents died to protect. Alex always knew he was adopted, but he never knew the real reason his birth parents abandoned him. He never knew where he truly came from. Until now.

©2016 Heather Graham and Jon Land (P)2016 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"[Narrator Luke] Daniels has such an amazing repertoire of voices that he gives each character - human or cyborg - unique nuances and makes the story exciting and easy to follow. Listeners will be drawn into a sci-fi mystery so believable they'll smell the terrifying whiff of oil that identifies the aliens and their minions." ( AudioFile)

Zigzag and convoluted

I was really looking forward to this book but it seemed to zigzag. The storyline was convoluted. I lost interest but would try to keep listening and the ending was unsatisfying. It's the only Heather Graham book that I felt I wasted my money on.

Interesting

I chose to listen to this book due to the author Heather Graham. I’m not a true sci-fi fan but did enjoy this book. It is full of action and heart. It is well written with many twist and turns.

A great read

Surprisingly great read. It captivated me until the end with twists and turns. The science was easily understood and believable.

not a Heather Graham type book

an ok story, but not a Heather Graham type book. If you have read any of her books, this one is not like. all I'm going to say is aliens, NASA, and physics but no ghosts.

Great characters

Took a little long to get started but fully enjoying the journey and seeing all that had to be discovered was well worth the wait

a fun, action-packed listen

The Rising is a collaboration between prolific writers Heather Graham and Jon Land. It is a science-fiction type suspense novel with a little, clean romance thrown in. It seems geared towards young adults. While I often enjoy young adult novels with well-developed characters, I was a little disappointed with the simplistic young adult vibe in this. The two high school protagonists are likeable characters but rather stereo-typed: Alex Chin, the star quarterback with the cheerleader girlfriend, and Samantha Dixon, the brainy overachiever who interns at NASA and who tutors Alex and has been harboring a secret crush on him. The one thing that makes Alex stand out a bit is the fact that he is a Caucasian kid who lives with his adoptive Chinese immigrant parents. An injury during a football game and a subsequent stay in hospital are the turning points of Alex's life as he knew it. Soon he finds himself on the run accompanied by Samantha.

The story combines familiar tropes from various popular sci-fi TV programmes and also reminded me of the Terminator movies. It is a fast-paced, light listen. The authors gradually reveal significant details to keep the listener interested in the mystery aspects of the story. Narration shifts from chapter to chapter with numerous points of view. The chapters are very short, sometimes ending on a mini cliff-hanger. I'm not a big science fan and admit that I started to switch off during the tech stuff about wormholes, space time continuum etc. Although there isn't a 'proper' cliff-hanger ending, it leaves plenty of opportunity for a sequel.

Luke Daniels is a household name among audiobook enthusiasts, so many listeners will be familiar with his narration. I enjoyed his wide variety of different voices that made each character easily distinguishable. His pronunciation is very clear but I found the speed of the narration too slow, but I realize that's purely a personal preference and can easily be changed. There were no issues with the production quality.

Overall, this was mostly a fun, action-packed listen with middle-of-the-road characters and an average plot but nothing that really stood out for me or that I found particularly original. I think this will probably appeal more to a young audience looking for an exciting, easy-to-follow story with typical teenage characters. Content and language make this perfectly suitable for younger teenagers.

Audiobook was purchased for review by ABR.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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Tense

I really enjoyed this book and I can’t wait for the next in the series.

Uneven .

a lot of unnecessary and empty dialogue. took too long to get to the point. fell asleep listening twice. I did not backup and don't feel like I missed anything once I got to the end.

Different than I imagined, in a good way.

I chose this book because Heather Graham is one of my favorite authors. Little did I know that it was science fiction, and I do not like science fiction...until now. Thus book was excellently written and performed. I listened to it in one day.

This book had potential but falls flat

Had a hard time finishing this book. It was full of build ups to something that could be interesting then just let’s you down. There is far more to the story but I won’t be suffering through a sequel to see how or if it ends. There weren’t enough quality answers given in this first segment if that’s what this is to care about finding out how or if they can save the world.

The best part about this book is the narrator. He did an excellent job. Wish I could get my money back!