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GeeBee

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Absolutely Fantastic!

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 10-04-24

As if the subject is not a bewildering and totally brilliant collection of erudite essays, the author - who is also the narrator here - is clearly having so much fun that it is literally impossible to not smile nonstop while listening to these stories from the deepest and farthest reaches of reality, and even beyond. Totally lives up to all expectations, and happily surpasses many as well. Can’t disappoint.

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An impressive tale

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 03-10-23

The content and research that went into this book is on evident display throughout, with data-Rick arguments and clear-headed and factual reporting. Where I struggled was sections where the author chose to go on diatribes and into rabbit holes, not necessarily conspiracy theorizing, but certainly hubristic and at least sometimes rather evidently redundant.

My biggest gripe was the fact that entire sections were spent, page after dense page, without a clear tether to the virus that is supposedly at the root of this volume. Agreed that much of what happened in that eventful year 2020 was years, if not decades, in the making and so while contextual relevance was never in question, the author’s persistent and long winded explanations left me wondering whether brevity would have served to demonstrate wit better.

Having said that, though, I must reiterate the absolutely impressive achievement that this book is, and an invaluable and persuasively embarrassing reminder that humanity was never really in control. Wasn’t the first time, and certainly won’t be the last.

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Brilliant rendering of this masterpiece

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 08-23-21

To think this book was an inspiration to Hitchcock, the undisputed Master of Suspense himself, speaks volumes to what this story stands for. I had been meaning to read this for a very long time, and have come across innumerable recommendations for Highsmith's works, including stories featuring Ripley, and this one.

Recently, I finally got around to listening to the Audible version of this superlative story. The narration is par excellence, and all the nuances of the various characters are captured exceedingly well by the narrator, Bronson Pinchot. The sophistication of Guy Haines, as well as the desperation of Charles Bruno, and the unctuous detective who almost catches them for what they did - it is all on marvelous display in the audiobook.

There's hardly anything I can mention about this book that's not been written before, so I'll spare the time and space.

All in all, richly complicated and extremely satisfying.

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