MARCH 2017
AUDIO BOOK REVIEWS
by Jonathan Lowe
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Have
you ever thought about just getting away from
it all, whatever “it” is? (A cubicle
job, McNews, social media, sports, traffic.) A
20 year old named Christopher Knight did just
that permanently: just walked away, into the woods.
In an amazing story chronicled in THE
STRANGER IN THE WOODS, written by journalist Michael
Finkel, Knight left his home in Massachusetts
and drove to Maine, where he set up camp in the
wilderness in 1986…and stayed there for
the next twenty-seven years Not speaking to anyone.
You’ve seen the show “Naked and Afraid”
and “Survivor.” What if the show never
ended? Why did he do it? “I never fit in
anywhere,” Knight said. He was shy, but
intelligent. He learned how to store water and
food. He hunted. He stole from the nearest town,
and left cabins in such a way that one could never
be sure anyone was there. Never visited a doctor.
“I was never sick,” he said. “You
get sick by being around other people.”
He read books, and was eventually caught and jailed…then
released. He felt remorse, but also contentment.
He preferred to be alone, to be private, with
no desire for money or fame or what American culture
thinks vitally important. Subtitle is “The
Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit.”
On audio it is narrated by actor Mark
Bramhall, profound in parts, and reflective.
Often we need someone with a completely different
viewpoint to hold up a mirror to what we are doing
to ourselves. Is his a good example for others?
Obviously not. But there is a middle ground between
fanaticism and being a hermit or monk, and we
can all learn from such a story.
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If
you follow the news (not being a hermit) you have
heard reports of cruise ship incidents involving
crimes on board (not just accidents and noro viruses.)
Most ships are registered in Caribbean or African
countries to avoid taxes in the United States,
which is why they are such bargains for passengers
(and why the cruise lines spend billions on new
luxury ships.) In addition to the gambling and
drinking which make cruises profitable (they simply
break if you don’t gamble or drink or take
shore excursions) there is the setting, on the
high seas of international waters, that make them
appealing to criminals. Thefts, rapes, murders:
these happen in descending order of frequency.
The cruise lines do not want publicity on this,
and so tend not to report incidents, even if someone
is thrown overboard (unless the FBI might be called
because of US connections.) They try to offer
compensation — free trips, money —
in exchange for a non-disclosure signature. Think
about it: you are on a ship full of foreign service
workers with increasing animosity to American
or UK passengers, paid low wages for long hours
servicing fat or spoiled revelers who get drunk,
talk loud, brag, and laugh. Gluttons (by comparison)
who return again and again to the lavish buffets
that…well, nevermind. How easy would it
be to toss someone over the rail? I once wrote
a mystery story series for Porthole cruise magazine,
and included a “tossed overboard”
scenario at the climax of my novel The Methuselah
Gene. Anyway, a great audiobook by debut novelist
Catherine Ryan Howard (who was
born in Cork, Ireland) is DISTRESS SIGNALS.
When Adam Dunne’s girlfriend Sarah fails
to return from a Barcelona business trip, his
tension increases by the day, especially after
her passport returns with the note “I’m
sorry.” He connects her to a massive cruise
ship called the Celebrate—and to a woman,
Estelle, who disappeared from the same ship in
eerily similar circumstances a year before. Now
he must outwit a predator who seems to have found
“the perfect hunting ground.” First
novelists, being unknown, have to do their research
and really impress. Remember The Firm by
John Grisham, or James Patterson’s first
novels before he got famous and started hiring
dozens of co-authors? You can’t be lazy,
not with a first novel. Bear that in mind when
I tell you to give this audiobook a listen. Distress
Signals goes deep into character, with
many twists and turns, an awesome setting befitting
the news, and some great pro narrators
like Alan Smyth, actor Bronson Pinchot, and Suzanne
Toren. A must hear. Prior to writing
full time, Catherine worked as a campsite courier
in France and a front-desk agent in a hotel in
Walt Disney World, Florida, and most recently
as a social media marketer for a major publisher.
She is currently studying for a BA in English
at Trinity College in Dublin.
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Other
new audiobooks worth hearing this month (due to
a good match between author and narrator) are
HEARTBREAK HOTEL by Jonathan Kellerman,
as narrated by actor John Rubinstein. LION
(basis for the movie) by Saroo
Brierley, read by Vikas Adam. DEATH
OF A GHOST by M.C. Beaton, read by Graeme
Malcolm. THE INKBLOTS (non-fiction
about the Rorschach Test) by Damion Searls,
read by Paul Boehmer. ANDORRA by Peter
Cameron, read by Robertson Dean.
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