Getting Started with Get Your Full Audiobook in Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Everything Happened to Susan

Author: Barry Malzberg

Narrator: Nicole Valencia

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 11 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-10-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

She came East to become a big star on Broadway, but settled for shacking up with a violent, unpublished writer - and performing in sex movies in a huge, dingy loft on West 26th Street.

Members Reviews:

Candy in the (bell) jar

Publication date: 1972

"You got to face the facts," Phil told her after she had put her clothes on and finished the biographical details, "there's a big market for this kind of stuff, and, it can be done with taste and style. Potentially, skin flicks are a very good thing; we can reach all kinds of people who would otherwise have nothing to do with their messages and we can teach them something, if we only learn to sneak it in. What we want is a more intellectual kind of production: a little taste and skill along with the heavy stuff. There's got to be plenty of plot to make it redeeming. But you don't have to worry about nothing when you go to work for us; if you go good, there might even be legitimate opportunities for you. This is a growth situation."

The book is from the point of view of Susan, who has moved to New York to start an acting career, and winds up making dirty movies. The men in her life, Tim (the writer), Phil (the producer), and Frank (the fellow actor who lives with his mom) are all a little too demanding and manipulative.

It is the opposite of sexy. The satire, mostly aimed at the pretentiousness of 'artists' in a world that demands only hack work (!!!), is often funny:

He has been at work on the script all day and on the phone all night. "This script is absolutely miserable; we will have to improvise," he says. "It seems to have been written by an unintelligent monkey with certain vague perversities in the way of human behavior but we will prove to this monkey that his conceits cannot possibly keep us harnessed," the director says and then begins to cough.

I don't resort to the "It's a combination of.." formula often, but I am reasonably certain that (Terry Southern) + (Sylvia Plath) = (Susan) was just what the author had in mind.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Broken Doll

Author: Jack Webb

Narrator: J. P. Guimont

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 18 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-10-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Million dollar heiress is kidnapped by an unusual pair - a blonde and an ex-con - who demand ransom or they will make sure death strikes their victim! Electrifying, terrifying, spine-tingling, Red-hot mystery thriller by the incomparable Jack Webb, author of the best-selling mysteries The Big Sin, The Naked Angel, and The Damned Lovely.

Members Reviews:

Jack Webb - such a great writer.

The prose is so poetic, the characters so interesting, and the stories - gritty and realistic as they are - so spiritually uplifting in the end. What a treasure to find his writings.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Bay Prowler

Author: Mike Barry

Narrator: Adam Epstein

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-10-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

When a wolf leaves the pack, he lives only as long as he can kill by himself quicker and surer than any pack he runs up against. Meet a man beyond either forgiveness or vengeance. Meet the Man they call The Lone Wolf. Better meet him now. The way he lives, he cant live much longer.

Memo to Top Echelons Only.

Subject: Burt Wulff.

Subject is extremely dangerous and cannot be approached. Upon identification he should be killed immediately, regardless of apparent risk.... Circumstances creating Wulffs decision to commence his war against the international drug trade (phraseology apparently his) trace to personal motives.... Certain activities of his in New York have shifted the line of succession and created problems out of all relation to the subjects apparent powers to do so. How Wulff was able to penetrate security is not yet known.

Based on certain documents in an attach case stolen by Wulff from one of our principles whom he murdered at close range, the subject to the beast of our knowledge has emplaned for San Francisco to continue his war. All parties in the San Francisco area are hereby warned. Details of the bounty on Wulff will follow.

Members Reviews:

Five Stars

Great book at a great price

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Boston Avenger

Subtitle: Lone Wolf, Book 3

Author: Mike Barry

Narrator: Adam Epstein

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-10-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

When a wolf leaves the pack, he lives only as long as he can kill by himself quicker and surer than any pack he runs up against. Meet a man beyond either forgiveness or vengeance. Meet the man they call The Lone Wolf. Better meet him now. The way he lives, he cant live much longer.

Memo to; Chief, NYPD, RE: Burt Wulff

In New York City he was able to kill at least ten people, three of them at high levels in East Coast drug distribution network. In one case, he blew up a three story townhouse on the east side of Manhattan.... Subject then proceeded to San Francisco; there is considerable newspaper evidence as to some of his acts there. In a major dock fire a freighter was destroyed and 50 to 60 people were killed, including several law-enforcement personnel. (It is strongly indicated, however, that Wulff considers himself to be aiding the authorities.) According to unreliable sources who cannot be identified, subject saved $250,000 worth of heroin from the ship fire and is now heading with it toward Boston, using it as "bait" to move the ever higher levels of responsibility for the traffic.

End report.

Members Reviews:

A quick tour of the Bay

Publication date: 1973 (and very evocative of that dispirited era)

"... He was beginning to see now that things were quite complicated, more intensely complicated than he might have thought when he got into this mission.New Yorkhad been ugly and sloppy but no real challenge,San Franciscohad been a knockover pure and simple. But Boston was turning out to be the burial ground of what he guessed was his simplest view of the matter: that the enemy was aligned against him, that it was just a question of knocking the enemy down one by one until no more remained. It wouldn't work. Not if Cicchini and he were actually aligned in purposes, not if in effect he was now doing Cicchini's work. He would have to think this matter through."

It's taken me a while to pick up book three of the Lone Wolf series, but once I did it read very quickly, and it did seem a step beyond the first two books. Like the first, it starts off archly, and is kind of fun:

(in this scene, two gunmen show up at Professor Sands's townhouse)

The man seemed to shrug, looked at the other. "Don't do it," the other said with disgust but made no gesture to stop the speaker from opening the chambers of the pistol to show Sands that it was empty.

"Both are," the man said. "We're not the type of people who pull loaded guns on complete strangers, which so far unfortunately you are. We like to feel that there's some kind of a relationship before we start shooting people."

[...]

"We'll trust you," he said, "we've got no choice."

"That's good."

"But if you cross us up, you'll pay for it Sands. Remember, we know exactly who you are, where you live, everything about you. We know stuff about you you don't know yourself."

"All right," Sands said.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Juvenile Delinquent

Author: Richard Deming

Narrator: Joe Barrett

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-10-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Manny Moon, the agile one-legged detective, is back on a case involving the son of his old friend Ed Brighton.

Young Joe Brighton had been found by the police standing over the dead body of Bart Meyers, president of the Purple Pelicans - a juvenile gang to which Joe belonged. The knife used to kill Bart belonged to Joes father, and the police believed they had an open-and-shut case. But Manny didnt think Joe was a killer and when he started investigating he uncovered some very dangerous information that exposed a gang of dope peddlers. Manny had to keep one step ahead of them to save his own life and clear Joe from the murder charge.

Members Reviews:

Leather Jackets and Rumbles

Deming was a pulp era writer in the fifties and sixties. Considering how good he is at telling a story, he ought to be more well known than he is. He's best known for his Mod Squad books.

This book features Deming's PI, Manny Moon, a one legged detective who lost his leg in WWII. He wrote four Manny Moon books, all of which have been reissued, Gallows in my Garden, Tweak the Devil's Nose, Give the Girl a Gun, and Juvenile Delinquent, which was apparently first published in Manhunt in 1955.

Ed Brighton needs Moon's help because his son Joe is facing a murder charge. Joe was involved with the purple Pelicans, an early teenage criminal gang. The murder weapon, found in the victim's chest, belonged to Ed and it appeared to be a killing to advance Joe from VP to President of the club as the corpse had been the club president.

Ed had saved Moon from a beating when Moon started working on the docks and had been Moon's trainer when Moon took up boxing. There was no charge for this investigation.

It's the early fifties and the concept of teenage gangs is new. Part of the story is an introduction to the gang world of the early fifties complete with rumbles and taking off jackets before rumbles. The girls all wear ponytails with purple ribbons for the gang.

It's a time a lot more innocent than today and Deming feels compelled to explain to the reader about gangs and drugs and codes of silence. Similar in tone to Orvis' The Damned and The Destroyed, there's a preachiness to this book which serves to date it a little.

It's compelling and quick reading like most of Deming's work, but it doesn't have the depth of a Goodis or Cain book.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Abuse of Discretion

Author: Tammy Cravit

Narrator: Suzanne Muir

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-01-12

Publisher: Tammy Cravit

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Child Protective Services social worker Tessa Riley has a lot on her plate. She's responsible for the safety and welfare of Purisima County's most vulnerable citizens. At the same time, her own life is full of a chaos disturbingly similar to so many of her clients: Tessa's daughter is losing her battle with addiction and poverty, and Tessa's raising her grandchildren. Her on-again, off-again romance with attorney David Ellroy is foundering, and some days Tessa feels like it's all she can do to keep her head above water.

Tessa's commitment to doing the right thing is unshakeable, and so when a child on her case-load disappears and later turns up dead, Tessa knows she can't just walk away.

What she uncovers is a monstrous conspiracy, where children are commodities for sale to the highest bidder - and where Tessa's own family lies squarely in the crosshairs.

Members Reviews:

Not much of a mystery

Pretty interesting, if you want to know about child/teen care system. But not much of a mystery or action until the last 10% of the book. A primer about the trials and tribulations of the court and child welfare issues. There are many editing errors, also.

Fits Together Well

A lot happens in this book, and it could have come across as a chaotic mess. Somehow, however, the author manages to make everything flow together into a coherent, entertaining book.

The characters are well done and have depth. I really cared for Tessa, her grandkids, and David. Even the briefly-mentioned kids are detailed well enough to make the reader care about them.

The only real detriment is that the twist at the end was foreshadowed too well. I knew who was behind the crimes well before the book revealed the identity.

I look forward to the second book

Compelling reading; characters to care about . . .

This carefully crafted story had me in its crosshairs! I found Tessa's story believable and compelling for her compassion, hard work, and outright willingness to take risks to protect the children in her care. I learned along the way a side of social work not often seen (tie-in to home visits, court appearances, and straight up confrontations with people who don't know how to put the needs of their children first). Tessa has her own issues as well, not the least being how she (at 50) can surmount her own fears to build a new relationship. Add a wry sense of humor, a bevy of cantankerous teenagers, and an addiction to non-fat vanilla lattes, and Tessa jumps off the page, ready to confront injustice. I hope Tammy Kravitz is hard at work on the next Tessa novel!

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Holiday Money

Author: Beverly Jones

Narrator: Jilly Bond

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-27-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Jen's stable relationship, steady job as a press officer for the police and mapped-out future is thrown into turmoil after she confronts her fiancé about a telephone call from a mysterious woman. In sadness and revenge she picks up a stranger in a bar. When videos and demands for money start to arrive, Jen has to find her blackmailer and rescue her relationship with Dan.

As she emulates her police colleagues to find her evil extortionist darker secrets emerge. Does she know Justin? How much does she know about her husband-to-be? A gripping and witty listen.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Black & Violet

Author: Jason Andrew Updike

Narrator: Sergei Burbank

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-21-12

Publisher: Jason Andrew Updike

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

The brutal murder of a Baron in the provinces punctuates the bitter rivalry between two royal houses. While this kind of small-scale conflict isn't uncommon amongst the male-driven rural estates, the fact that one of the Lords is an Islander (Black) while the other is a Continental (White) adds a racial dimension which concerns the Queen and the Royal Congress of Ladies who represent these houses in the Capital City.

Intendant Jacob Guimard is dispatched to the countryside to investigate the Baron's murder. As an officer of the Judiciary, one of the few positions of power still available to men in the Sanctum, he is sworn to celibacy and well-versed in the forensic arts, literally. Basing all their criminal and martial training in the humanities, the Judiciary actually trains its officers to analyze crime scenes like paintings and to read people like books.

Even after Guimard's arrival the death toll continues to rise. Just as disturbingly, his young partner, Adjutant Eli Brook, begins a perilous fall into a forbidden romance with a young Lady-in-training. Matters spin out of control and Guimard is greatly troubled to learn that his assignment to the case may have been no accident. As he uncovers more and more disturbing details, he also learns what a vital role he himself plays in this recent turmoil and how little in this rural province is what it appears to be....

Members Reviews:

What a great follow up to his first book

What a great follow up to his first book. Such interesting characters full of life. Can't wait to read more.

The story is simplistic and the grammar is dreadful.

The book entices one at the start, but not far into the book, one realizes that the writing is not complex and the grammar is now and again shockingly back. How about using the verb "lie" correctly? Excluding the complications of "lay," we have a writer who says that someone "lied down." Other mistakes too vomitous to cite. The characters barely sustain their original strong characterizations. I was very disappointed after reading all the kvelling of the other readers.

Five Stars

Excellent world building! I think I've found a new author to follow!

I want more

The author of this book has really grasped the concept of "leave them wanting more". "Black and Violet" has characters that are so well developed that by the end of the book you feel like you have known the for years. I hope the author (Jason Andrew Updike) writes more stories to expand the universe he has created.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Terror

Subtitle: Scream, Book 3

Author: Chet Cunningham

Narrator: Damon Abdallah

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-21-12

Publisher: Books in Motion

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

A 14-year-old girl is kidnapped. She's found dead a few days later, wearing a spotless wedding dress and make-up, her long blonde hair arranged around her shoulders. Investigators soon realize that she is yet another victim of a serial killer who is on the loose in San Diego; a killer who has police working overtime. Clues are hard to come by, even when the total number of dead girls reaches six - and each murder has the same M.O.

A University professor teaching Early English Literature during the day; at night we see him pursuing a more deviant diversion - murder. Detective Alice Barnes becomes obsessed with the case, determined to see the day when she will face the Little Girl Bride killer herself - via the butt-end of a Glock revolver.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Getting Lucky

Author: D. C. Brod

Narrator: Kathryn Markey

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-19-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

When a young reporter is killed in a hit and run accident, freelance writer Robyn Guthrie agrees to finish one of the stories the reporter had been writing for the local newspaper. But nothing is as simple as it seems when she finds out about shady land deals, an old high school nemesis, and Robyn's aging mother.

Critic Reviews:

"Surprisingly intense characterization propels Brod's likable sequel to Getting Sassy." (Publisher's Weekly)

Members Reviews:

First one was stronger

I had liked the previous Robin Guthrie book ("Getting Sassy"), so looked forward to this sequel, which in the end proved mildly disappointing. Her relationship with Mick seemed awkward, as did the land deal plot - one of those books that seemed a better proposal than final product; I was ready for the whole thing to be over at least an hour before "This has been an Audible production" appeared. My recommendation is to read the other book first, even though some reviewers have said that this one works as a stands-alone. The change of narrators isn't necessarily a bad thing, just different.