Genre switch hits it out of the park

Writing successful horror, supernatural or science fiction stories has defined the career of Mr. King. To write a crime novel without those elements coming into play elevates this author to the top echelon of a different popular category. There are so many entertaining and pleasurable layers to this story about a hired killer. The book within a book, the zig zag to a rescue and rehabilitation of a victim of sexual violence, the final justice to a powerful shadowy figure and several unexpected twists and turns that do not seem forced. For me this book stands beside the best of some of my favorite authors for this genre - Michal Connelly and Joe Nesbo. I remember once misinterpreting an advertisement for the police procedural master. Michael Connelly. A blurb for his book, The Late Shift made a reference to vampires. I was bowled over that this author had changed his stripes and was writing a supernatural book. Turned out that reference was not supposed to be taken literally - it was just detectives solving crimes during the night hours.

It is interesting to see some of the reviews that go against how I experienced this book. One reviewer told Stephen King to stick to horror. I don't know if Michael Connelly could write an entertaining nuanced vampire novel, but I do know Stephen can knock it out of the park changing genres. There are also several reviews that dump on the narrator. I found the relaxed delivery and different voices to be top notch. Some people don't like pauses. For me, the best speeches use pauses for effect. I was transported to another world by the synergy supplied by the author and narrator. There is one narrator that can ruin a book for me - everything sounds like an emergency. I steer clear of books by that person. Fortunately, I like this narrator. He can hit all the emotions at a relaxed pace.

I have listened to three Stephen King books. 11.22.63 was a masterpiece, Under the Dome was interesting but bloated and too long and this book. In my opinion, Billy Summers is worth your attention. I loved it.

This is my first review on the Canadian site. I have about 95 reviews with a few thousand helpful votes on the U.S. site. I scanned those reviews and there are many reviews bashing the book. These reviews indicate the book is too political, it is anti Trump etc. There is scant reference to Trump and no political diatribes. These people are just reacting to Stephen's courageous real life stand against Trump politics. I wanted to add my perspective for this review to the site - it is a good book and has hardly anything to do with politics. But, I was informed - you have to first buy the book to review it. The way some of those hit job reviews were written, I'm convinced they did not read the book. But, they must have bought it. So who wins, I think Stephen does because their hatred is so intense, they have to buy the book first before they can bash the book.

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9 people found this helpful

Great listen

The only con to the book is that the chapters didn’t match up at all.

Happy listening

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1 person found this helpful

My 1st Novel by Stephen King

I’ve watched movies, but never read his books. Loved it. I felt it was occurring right in front of me.

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Not Your Typical Stephen King

Loved it! Not a horror story! Non stop action, surprise twists, touching characters, expert integration of past memories and current plot line. A great listen!

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Amazing

This may be my favorite SK book ever. The story had me from start to finish, and the narration was fantastic.

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Best book ever

I loved loved and triple loved this book.Steven king was always my favourite writer so needless to say I was not disappointed.it’s well worth the money and I’m sad it’s finished

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No disappointment here!

SK hit it out of the park again. The story line was great, the characters were liked and very interesting. I couldn’t keep the book down.
Paul Sparks did an amazing job narrating. I highly recommend this as your next read.

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More of this please

King proves again he is brilliant in any genre not just horror. I would love to see this as a series, great book!

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Great Story, Amazing Narration!

I absolutely loved this! Paul Sparks brought this to life with expert narration. Must listen! What a great book!

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Love this story

I can & have listened to this story over and over again it is great 👍 there is good in all people cause we are all human and have a choice

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