My latest listen was the unabridged version of The Camel Club, by David Baldacci, read by Jonathan Davis...
This was another excellent download from Audible. Audible has restructured its offerings, and they are now even more affordable, but the quality and ease of use continues to impress me.
The book was excellent.
Jonathan Davis' performance was fantastic. Not only did he give just the right amount of dramatic enhancement to the narration, but he even managed to provide different voices for the various characters, making it easier to follow who was saying what when. Given the number of male, American characters in the book, this was quite a feat. He also did a good job with the voices / accents of the non-male, non-American characters. This was another audio production that had some musical "embellishment," and even though I'd still prefer a lack thereof, this music did not approach the level of "annoying" that I have found in some other audio books.
The story was also really good. I have come to expect good character development and an interesting, but not frustratingly convoluted, plot from Balducci, and he once again delivered. And, unlike some other suspense books, this one maintained its intensity all the way to the end.
As with a number of other recent listens, this book had as a central focus, the conflict between radical Islam and America. I liked that this book had a number of other plot drivers and layers, and was not just another "Bad Muslim, Good American" story. While I understand that this conflict provides good substance for current novels, much as the cold war did for so many years, it does sadden me that this seems to be so much of our focus in this day and age. It also saddens me when I really think about the challenges we face as a world, and how difficult "solving" these problems is, and how unlikely it is that we will ever truly see peace throughout the earth. I know I am idealistic and naive, but I really don't understand why we can't all just get along.
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Posted by David at December 18, 2005 06:12 PM