Christopher M Davis

Good read

Reviewed: 02-23-24

This was my first encounter with Marin Clark and I will definitely seek out more. Nice twists and turns in the story. I didn't enjoy the multiple readers, it always felt a little jarring and artificial when they switched back and forth, and I don't think it really served the story in any significant way. That said, both reader did a fine job, it was more the directorial decision to handle the book this way.

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Too much world building not enough story for me

Reviewed: 12-25-23

This was my first and most likely Scalzi book. It wasn’t bad, but spent too much effort building the Kaip’s world and not enough story, and what story existed it was simplistic and predictable. Wil Wheaton as a narrator is generally a little grating and always seems a little too amused by his own inflection. Finally having a character as a they / them was distracting - probably more here than it would have been in print.

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Uninteresting

Reviewed: 11-10-23

I've been a Grisham fan since The Firm was released, this book is definitely not in the same class. Prior to reading The Exchange, I reread The Firm since it had been several decades since I last encountered Mitch on the page.

The Exchange is simply put boring. The is almost no action, no character development, the plot is thin. Rather than committing the sin of writing a bad book, Mr. Grisham has penned (or perhaps had it ghost penned) a book that is uninteresting. I was looking forward to seeing how Mitch was avoiding the Mafia, if he reentered the law how did he do so after being disbarred, what became of the supporting cast from the Firm (his brother gets a mention and nothing more). What do we get, a lot of plane rides, and shallow dialog. I have strong suspicions that this book was written, and Mitch was added in hopes of selling more copies.

Edoardo Ballerini did an ok job reading the book - he's personally not my cup of tea for a reader, but there was no real complaint on my part aside from personal preference.

My advice, avoid this book and go back and reread The Firm.

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Wish I Had Passed

Reviewed: 06-02-23

I despised this book. I thought the dialog was over-written - the main character came off seeming to be a bit dim. There was nothing redeeming about the book. I wish I had followed my instinct and stopped listening after the first hour or so. Least favorite book I've read in the last several years.

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Outstanding

Reviewed: 10-29-22

What a wonderful book. I picked it up expecting a legal thriller, what I got was a most uncommon story about honesty, caring for others , and the difference that genuine love can make in a persons life.

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Stay Away

Reviewed: 10-26-22

A protagonist who has her child kidnapped, and yet the next day (while the kid is still missing) goes to court (pretty sure that the abduction of one's child is a legitimate reason to ask for a continuance). She also goes for coffee and her husband leaves town for L.A.

An antagonist who is a physical abuser suddenly makes the shift into being a sexual predator and human trafficker.

Police who can't find the antagonist even though he was in court on trial the day after the kidnapping and was the number one suspect - maybe they could have followed him home from court?

A DA who gets burned in a trial, only to make the exact same mistake in another trial.

Characters are introduced and never really followed up on. Issues are developed that just die away.

I found this book horribly infuriating, but at least I didn't pay for it. Only good thing about the book was the narration; while it wasn't brilliant, it wasn't bad either.

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ICK

Reviewed: 06-30-22

A very well performed book as others have said, but the content of this book is just a relentless ick. I'm very sorry that I drug myself through the muck that was this trilogy.

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Decent story, but bad narration

Reviewed: 01-29-22

The story was pretty engaging, although I felt one major part of the resolution stretched credibility. My big issue with the book was the narration, in particular Laural Merlington‘s portions. At times she was fine, but then she would drop into an almost robotic cadence. Made the book very hard to enjoy. I would give her negative stars if I could.

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Bad Grisham, Worse Narration

Reviewed: 12-14-21

Story: This story had a lot more potential than the last one featuring the protagonist (whom Grisham notes is perhaps his favorite); this causes me to worry about his taste. I find her to be an under developed shell of a character. The set-up was fairly nice - a serial killer judge, but the execution was lackluster. And the ending is so typical of Grisham...

[SPOILER ALERT]

....she shockingly walks away from her job and her profession... just like pretty much every other one of Grishams protagonists. I know it worked out well for him, but I kind of long to see his characters stick it out for the long run..

Performance: This is where things get really problematic. As an actress, I usually find Mary-Louise Parker to be enjoyable, but as a narrator she is a disaster. Her reading is fairly flat and lifeless, I'd say she makes no effort at performing the book, but every once in a while she will pop in doing a voice in character (the paralegal is one of the few examples); this is more distracting than having no characterizations at all. I'd probably take a hard pass at anything else she narrates.

Overall: I call this one a pass. I've been reading (and or listening) to Grisham all the way back to when The Firm was first released, and it seems more and more that he has grown lazy in a lot of his writing. Someone suggested that the previous novel in this series, The Whistler, was what Stephen King would call a trunk novel (one that goes into the trunk instead of being published, maybe to be reworked later); I think the same is true for this one.

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3 people found this helpful

Great Listen!

Reviewed: 06-26-21

Weir does a magnificent job of interworking science with a great story, just like he did in The Martian, he teaches, he stimulates thought and he provides an engaging story that challenges the mind (and emotions). Ray Porter's performance takes the story to a whole new level. The 16 hours of the book moved by a near light speed. I cannot recommend this book enough.

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