Open Season
The Joe Gunther Mysteries, Book 1
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Open Season
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Narrated by:
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Tom Taylorson
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Written by:
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Archer Mayor
About this listen
Lt. Joe Gunther of the Brattleboro, Vermont, police force has a serious problem: in a community where a decade could pass without a single murder, the body count is suddenly mounting. Innocent citizens are being killed - and others set up - seemingly orchestrated by a mysterious ski-masked man.
Signs suggest that a three-year-old murder trial might lie at the heart of things, but it's a case that many in the department would prefer remained closed. A man of quiet integrity, Lt. Gunther knows that he must pursue the case to its conclusion, wherever it leads.
©2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc. (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.What listeners say about Open Season
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Fritze Valera
- 2022-10-10
Great Voice Actor
Great voice actor. Easy to listen to.
Characters are well developed. Dialogues are believable. There are only two things in the story, in relation to solving the case, that I felt could have been handled better. Some parts are predictable, but that could have been because I read/listened/watched a lot of this genre. Still a good piece of fiction. Looking forward to listening to the next one in the series.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2023-06-17
Great voices!
Kept thinking there were multiple actors, even the female voices were very authentic and convincing!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Caroline Wharton
- 2022-12-06
Great story and narration!
I am glad I listened to this audiobook! I’ll listen to any other in the series.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2023-07-27
fantastic
awesome story. great narration with multiple voices for the characters. once started I couldn't put it down.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Langer MD
- 2022-05-26
A Little Hard To Follow
Battleboro police/eventual 'Vermont Bureau of Investigation' detective Joe Gunther is a dedicated, hyper-observant old-school gumshoe cop with a jaded chip on his shoulder who has interesting relationships - including infighting disagreements with colleagues, fierce loyalty to friends, and a "fuck-buddy" friendship with an acquaintance.
The plot is twisty-turny with plenty of surprises; descriptions are good enough to make for easily envisioned scenes; characters are complex (as mentioned); action scenes are very well-scripted; and the dialogue drives the story forward nicely.
Unfortunately, there are some real deficiencies:
For example, suspects and reluctant witnesses vomit out admissons way too easily: e.g. "Are you a Peeping Tom?" "No" "Yes you are!" "Okay, yes I am";
or "You're Following me!" "No, I'm not" "Why are you following me?" "Okay, someone hired me"
🙄
More problematic, however, Archer Mayor states at the outset of this audiobook that he revised and rewrote this story several times over three years.. and it shows. The book is woefully overwritten - burdened with superfluous information; ill-fitting character relationships that feel "tacked-on"; boring technical detail; and verbose prose (Mayor occasonally uses a paragraph where a sentence would do). Consequently, the pacing in this otherwise well-plotted, gritty procedural is noticeably off. I found my mind wandering annoyingly frequently.
More fortuitously, the narration for this audiobook is outstanding. Tom Taylorson is creditable (albeit unspectacular) with regards to timbre, cadence, diction, and tone.. but delivers some of the best voice-acting I have ever heard in an audiobook reader. Every character voice is easily believable and Taylorson's female characters in particular are distinctive enough to make it legitimately sound like Blackstone Audio hired a full cast to read the story. The tour-de-force performance elevates this recording considerably: given a choice between a text version (paper or eBook) and this iteration, take this one hands-down .
If you can get this book as a 'Plus' option (included with your subscription), 'Open Season' is certainly worth a listen. This 7/10 star selection is cleverly planned/executed and populated with truly interesting characters. I suspect future installments in the 'Joe Gunther' series are better than this one (shorter planning/execution times) - Mayor has put out a Gunther novel per year for 30 years.. likely resulting in more straightforward chronicles that can spotlight Mayor's superb plotting
..but Book One is worth a try, too. Who knows? It might grab you.
I merely suggest that you consider carefully should they ask for a Credit (better options may beckon).
[Note: The pre-DNA Forensics discussion - "Secretor status" & "PGM type" - is interesting but really dates the mystery. Investigators haven't done that analysis in 35 years]
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