Jason R. Davis

My original Saying Goodbye audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

I have really started to enjoy really short stories, maybe it is because I have listened to so many really good ones.

Saying Goodbye, as you may have guessed from the title it a tragic paranormal suspense story, not sure if I would go as far as horror, but I understand why it was placed there. It is about an over the road trucker and his family. The Trucker that is down on himself for being away so often and for extended periods of time. He is madly in love with his wife and kids. Because of his job he is unable to be there for his family when he is rocked with the unthinkable.

In less than an hour Davis is able to create everything you need to make a good story, regardless of length. At least one character that we all of a sudden care about because he is fully developed. Descriptive enough to pull you in the cab with the driver, I could almost smell it. With a very satisfying ending and no loose ends.

Darren Marlar did great with this story. While he might have been even a bit "too polished" of a voice for it. He was able to capture all of the emotions that you would expect from such a tragic story.

There were no issues with the quality or production of this audiobook.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.… (mehr)

My original Inside the Mirrors audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

I'm not going to lie, this book didn't do it for me.

It seemed to be made up of all the bits I don't personally like of Stephen King's work. When it comes to ghost stories, especially ones using plot devices like evil entities stuck in mirrors, I love the symmetry of the cliche and the comfort of hearing a familiar story being retold. In this case though, it felt like 7 hours of narration leading up to a 'yeah, there's a ghost stuck in the mirror' which seemed a little unnecessary, given the title of the book.

The premise is that a family move from Chicago to a sleepy town in the Midwest, the father, Rob, is a police man and is recovering from injuries sustained in course of duty (cos, y'know, meth labs). Their idyllic new home isn't as wonderful as it first appeared, the men of the town are coming home from work and murdering their families before committing suicide.

Ok, there's no need to go into a huge amount of detail, I'm sure you can guess the whys and wherefores of this particular story.

The one thing that did particularly bother me about this story is that there was an enigmatic native American woman who appeared from time to time to delivery ominous warnings to the main character. It might just be my own personal sensitivity but it does get under my skin when native people are used as cheap stereotypes in stories.

On the positive side, the audio for this book was pretty good in both sound quality and choice of narrator. I'm not sure that I could have found the motivation to finish the book if it wasn't for Darren Marlar who kept the story flowing at a decent pace.

This isn't by any means to say that you shouldn't read or listen to this book, if you're a fan of American ghost stories and horror, this may very well be right up your street.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.… (mehr)