Audio Books

I like books on CD for when I’m in the car. I get tired of the same songs over and over. I think I’ve mentioned this before.

But right now, I’m listening to one that has me baffled. It’s a suspense/thriller by a well-known author. And the guy reading it is good. He can do different characters, different accents. But I’m having such trouble keeping up with the story.

I’m not sure if the problem is me, the plot jumps or the guy reading.

Characters move quickly. One character was breaking into a government building, then suddenly she’s in Europe. How did she get there, I wonder? When did she do it? As far as I could tell, days hadn’t passed.

I also have trouble keeping up with which character’s head we’re in. It moves from character to character without warning. I’m thinking the problem is that the guy reading doesn’t give the listener much indication of the shifts. Maybe he should pause or change tone before he picks up the next POV. By the time you realize you’ve moved to a new character in a different situation in a different place, you’ve lost the train. For example, there’s a section where there’s a guy in a cab. He has an implant so that he can hear inside his head the voice of his handler. So we’re hearing him and his handler. Then there are other guys following him. Plus, there’s another operative in a different location who also has an implant. He’s not in a cab, but is scoping out a building. Then there’s that woman. She’s climbed onto a building. I’m not sure if it’s the same building where the guy 2 is, but if it’s not it’s close by. I know only because at one point she’s worried he’s in trouble so she wants to go help him, but the voice in her head tells her not to. And then there’s another guy and he’s in the States. I know that for sure, well, sorta for sure. He’s in a house. A house that’s not his. A house where I believe early in the book they found a body. He doesn’t know it yet, but his handlers aren’t going to let him leave because crime scene investigators who were in the house with the body are getting very sick. He’s not sick yet. But one of the guys now in Europe is getting sick. His handlers don’t know that yet, though.

And on and on it goes, bouncing from character to character to disembodied voices to what in the heck is going on here???

I think this is one of those books I’d be better off reading. Then I could go back pages to re-read and ascertain when we’ve switched characters. I could figure out when a new chapter has started, when a length of time has passed. And where in the world they all are.