Concept & Plot Good, Characters bland & Fanciful

I would have given it four stars. It was fun and easy to read. Unfortunately, the need to suspend disbelief became too heavy a weight for this slight story to bear. The problematic plot developments include an advertising executive and a research scientist facing serious physical threats from professional thugs and security personnel and beating them every time. Also, a dialog technique used that identified the speaker by an abbreviation of their corporate role was annoying. There was also these small pieces of explicit violence that seemed out of place with the rest of the writing.

11 people found this helpful

Horrendous!

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

This book could never be a 4- or 5-star listening experience. None of the characters are believable, all of the characters are stilted and hackneyed, and the listener has no reason to like anyone in the book. The writing is horrid; for example, during a semi-romantic moment in the book, the author writes, "He ran his fingertips along her trapezius muscle . . . and they danced along her latissimus dorsi." Honestly; who writes like that?

What was most disappointing about Brian Andrews’s story?

His writing style. Mr. Andrews would do well to attend several creative writing programs before subjecting any reader to another novel.

Would you be willing to try another one of Ray Childs’s performances?

Oh, dear, no! Mr. Childs has a fairly decent voice, but he has no talent as an audiobook reader. His vocal range is extremely limited so that all of the characters sound exactly the same and sometimes not even like normal people. He reads with a slow cadence whether the scene is supposed to portray scariness, sadness, or excitement.

What character would you cut from The Calypso Directive?

The two brothers who are supposedly highly talented killers.

11 people found this helpful

I didn’t stop listening...

.... but I really wanted to. I’ve listened to more than 200 audiobooks, and only ever stopped listening to one of them. I tried hard not to make this the second. I succeeded, barely.

On the positive side, the plot moves, and there is some action in it, you are minimally interested in what happens next. That’s about it.

On the negative, the voice acting is absolutely terrible. Voices are inconsistent, the emotion expressed rarely matches with the plot line ongoing, and sometimes switch mid sentence to a different accent. Wondering where the director/producer were.

For a book in the techno-thriller genre, the science in the book is appalling simplistic. Most of the explanations provided for the medical, technological, and genetic parts of the book appear to have been lifted straight from the introduction of a Wikipedia page. It got to the point where it really seems like the author just had an idea about a guy taken advantage of because of a genetic quirk, did a quick Google search, and then said, “I got this. No need to have more research.” This shortcoming lead to the overly artificial and unbelievable nature of the book.

Worst of all, though, were the characters - as others have pointed out. Impressively one dimensional in most cases, you often wonder what could possibly motivate them to perform the actions described. Beautiful and impressive American research scientist living (conveniently) in Vienna drops everything when her college boyfriend, with whom she’s had no contact in several years, reaches out to her cryptically over the internet? Drives overnight to the Czech Republic to pick him up? Sounds about right... I can see this happening regularly. Falls in love with him (never stopped) within 12 hours? Check.

Anyway, skip this one.

7 people found this helpful

A lot of filler

Too much crosstalk.
I stopped about 1/4 into and realized what a waste of my time.

5 people found this helpful

Hard to put down

I loved the book, but hated the ending. Maybe it is just a set up for a sequel in a new series. There is plenty of intrigue, twist and turns throughout the book.

3 people found this helpful

A topical modern thriller

Where does The Calypso Directive rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I've listened to many audio books and this is one of my favorites, my only quibble is how the performer handled dialog in certain portions of the book.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Meredith Morley how can you like such a controlling manipulative bad gal?

Which scene was your favorite?

Scene at the cafe and subsequent motorcycle chase.

Any additional comments?

Seems like a solid effort from a new writer, looking forward to his new stuff.

3 people found this helpful

Worst narrator that i have heard yet

It seemed like the story was very good, but it was very hard to get past the way the narrator reads this book. He reads it like he is reading a fairy tale to a 4 year old. Over dramatic. The inflections are WAY overboard. Plus, he makes every female character sound like a bumbling idiot.

Again, the story seemed like a good one but i couldn't get past the incredibly inept narraration.

2 people found this helpful

Couldn’t wait for it to be over!

The story line was just hard for me to follow! Lost track of who was who... also just a little to close to home for me given we’re currently dealing with the COVID19

2 people found this helpful

VERY Disappointed Not Like…

…other book by same author. Author couldn’t make this a believable storyline. It’s written like it was a bad 90’s espionage book. No research in any historical areas & can tell it’s by an American who doesn’t know Europe. Small example is how he uses dates & phone numbers like in America.
But the two worst things was the narrator & character interactions. I kept seeing in my mind it was like a kid with dolls trying to have them talk to each other. Very stiff, no distinction between all the character voices (no accents, terrible gender distinction), situations not believable (example: hired “clean-up” guys that are supposed to be the best are more like “punk thugs”)
I just wanted the story to be over & even though I made it about 2/3 of way through I couldn’t take it anymore. I’m just glad I didn’t waste credits on it!

1 person found this helpful

I am really enjoying this book

I have to say it’s been a while I have listened to such a great book . The plot, the speed of events the characters are so entertaining. I recommend it !!!! You won’t be disappointed!

1 person found this helpful