Decent story ruined by poor naration

The story would have been pretty good, if not spoiled by the worst narration I have heard yet from Audible. No offence Ron and Orlagh, but the production was terrible. It was completely distracting with constant edits, changes in volume and tone and inflection intruding on what was being said. And worst of all, who's idea was it to put "sinister, tension, mood music" over the voice, just at the most interesting points? Hideous and totally distracting and unnecessary! The words are good enough to hold their own without that awful noise.
Good characters from an author I have never heard of before, but ruined with amateur presentation.

29 people found this helpful

Amos Decker is a legend

What other book might you compare Memory Man to, and why?

Cuckoos calling. Mainly because Amos Decker reminded me of Cormoron Strike.

Any additional comments?

A tough, rough fat and heartbroken man, Amos Decker, our leading man is a hard hitting and fearless detective. After coming home to find his entire family brutally slaughtered; and after receiving a severe brain injury on a football field that left him with no sense of fear and very little feeling, he has all the makings of a loveable hero. I was rooting for him the minute I was introduced to him. Baldacci has created a great character here, which helped make this great crime story fantastic. I was guessing from the word go and I never usually do this with crime/thrillers.

12 people found this helpful

Memory Man is Fairly Memorable!

A new lead for Baldacci sees Amos Decker, a savant not from birth but from an horrendous incident in an American Football game tackle a case that had defined his personal life. Decker is fascinating drawing inspiration from a mix of the likes of Jack Reacher and possibly the world of Keifer Sutherland’s TV Series “Touch”. He is a damaged individual who sounds hard to like as he struggles against: depression, his near-unique condition of perfect recall which proves to be both a blessing and a curse and tragedy in his personal life. He is surrounded by characters of reasonable depth as the story develops.

The plot itself is fairly complex and develops at a steady pace and is most strongly focused on the detail of the investigation itself. The dual narration from Ron McLarty and Orlagh Cassidy is decent enough but suffers from some minor production problems. McLarty sets the opening scene superbly but seemed to struggle with the more descriptive parts particularly as Decker’s condition was regularly covered to the point of over-repetition. It was definitely a good idea to have Cassidy’s assistance with the female characters but the production had McLarty’s voice on multiple levels and the female voices almost sounded like they were condensed, similar to listening over a phone line at times. The brief moments of musical backing worked well to my taste though and the production problems won’t be a great problem to most of us.

I am going to stick with this series because it’s a decent premise and Baldacci writes a good story. I didn’t think it was perfect and yes Decker is just another in a long line of damaged detectives but it is damaged in a very different way to the norm. A memory with perfect recall is something I am sure that many of us would be only too happy to have but the book quite convincingly shows how much of a curse it could be too. The detailed plot and investigations made for interesting listening.

In summary well worth considering.

19 people found this helpful

Memory Man means he's done it again

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes I definitely would once again David Baldacci has created a really extraordinary set of characters in this book which I hope is only the first in a series.The plot is well done. The central character is unusual and totally engaging. The whole book is well written and gripping.I am an avid fan of his Camel Club series, Will Robbie books and the Puller series and it appears that once again he has found the magic which seems to drip from his pen.

What other book might you compare Memory Man to, and why?

I compare this book to a Jack Reacher book. In some obvious ways the central characters have some similar traits but this man is more solitary

What does Ron McLarty and Orlagh Cassidy bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

I love this duo reading style. The readers are an essential part of any audio book, make the wrong choice and a book can be ruined but these two are perfect in my opinion.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I think the most moving part of the book is when Capt Miller comes to Amos's room while he is trying to decide if he should commit suicide. His straight talking is touching but unsentimental

Any additional comments?

I am waiting eagerly for more books from this author generally and in this series particularly.

This is a fabulous read

12 people found this helpful

Nothing new

I disliked the style of reading. The story was far fetched and predictable. Disappointing overall.

5 people found this helpful

Good Slow Reveal Yarn. Odd Narration

Good enough story with loads of twists and turns and was very happy to read it. I found the cut and edit of the narration really poor and frustrating. Orlagh was only ever used for female narration with Ron concluding with "she said" or similar. lead to a disjointed read.
Even Ron's bits were spliced and you could tel they had recorded bit in different studio. My guess this was to fix errors. That said the story was OK and i got used to it.
Found the conclusion a little hard to swallow. Some of the justifications as to why and when just felt a little unlikely.
BUT. I would happily read another of David's books

5 people found this helpful

Very enjoyable but patchy audio.

I really enjoyed this book as the plot was good and easy to follow, but it left you guessing till the end. The characters were interesting and I would like to know more about the other characters in the book.

The only downside for this book was at times the audio would suddenly switch from the normal high quality to a low quality audio. Though it doesn't effect the enjoyability of the book it is noticeable and I feel should not be happening in a audiobook on audible.

7 people found this helpful

Narration spoiled it for me

I'm obviously in the minority given the other reviews, but I found the narration by Ron McLarty to be so awful I could hardly concentrate on the story. At times I felt the story was a bit clunky but that may just have been the way it was read. I speeded the narration up and that helped a bit but was odd when Orlagh Cassidy contributed her charachers.

3 people found this helpful

Boring beyond belief

So much repetition. Not for me I’m afraid. Over detailed in a boring way rather than descriptive. Memory man is best forgotten

6 people found this helpful

brilliant story, strange rendering

The story is first rate. Vintage Baldacci. The actors are first rate too but there seems to be a glitch in the system as the male voice seemed to be on 2 different levels, as if something had gone wrong and so some over recording had been done. It did not detract from the great story but it did spoil my enjoyment in as much as it did break MY concentration and i was very aware of the break in the rhythm.

2 people found this helpful