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  • The Vacation

  • Written by: John Marrs
  • Narrated by: Peter Noble
  • Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (30 ratings)

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The Vacation cover art

The Vacation

Written by: John Marrs
Narrated by: Peter Noble
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Publisher's Summary

For eight strangers in a Los Angeles hostel, even the other side of the world isn’t far enough. The craving for a new identity and the desire to start again is something they have in common. But they discover that it doesn't matter where you are or who you are - if you can't lay the past to rest, fate and coincidence have a way of catching up with you.

©2015 John Marrs (P)2018 W F Howes Ltd

What listeners say about The Vacation

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Meh …

I was prepared to give this a 1 … but then the story picked up. Too bad the first 100 chapters (seriously … the 1st 100!) were a n absolute BORE! After that the story was very good! So … I gave a rating of 3

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Unconnected Stories Paced Poorly

Author John Marrs is extremely ambitious in this offering: exploring the motivations & life stories of 8 (EIGHT!!) characters staying at a youth hostel on Venice Beach in California.
The characters are interesting, and Marrs does a nice job providing well-considered storylines full of surprise revelations - but the individual narratives take a loooong time to become captivating (like, starting with Chapter 110 or so), and he only tenuously weaves the events together into a cohesive plot, anyway. We end up with eight disparate stories about people who happen to know each other.

Unfortunately, reader Peter Noble doesn't help the situation, either. His diction, timbre, and cadence are commendable, mind you - but some of his accents are legitimately cringe-y. He would be an excellent narrator if given fewer challenges (say, a story set exclusively in England), but QUEST Audio could have cast this particular project better.

Altogether, this 5/10-star audiobook is a reasonable listening option if you can get it for free.. but spend your money on a different John Marrs story if they ask for a Credit.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Entertaining but nothing remarkable

“The Vacation”, a re-edited edition (this book was previously published as “Welcome to Wherever You Are”), by John Marrs

This was my 4th book by this author and my least favourite.
Although very entertaining and a fast read (165 short chapters), I didn’t think that the structure was well executed. The timeline made everything a bit confusing and slowed the pace.
And you really need to suspend disbelief in order to enjoy this work.
Some of the plot lines were not so interesting.
I didn’t mind the number of characters (8), but because the chapters are so short and the author switches timeline too frequently, it was hard to feel connected with any of the characters and some felt underdeveloped.
I actually found this book to be a bit amateurish, but entertaining nonetheless.
Some of the twists were predictable and some were good, but nothing remarkable. The conclusion was too rushed.
I would not label this book as a psychological thriller or even a thriller.
There are some good moments and some of the dialogues were funny, especially in the beginning.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Absolute chaos is the best way!

All I can say is I have never read a book with more twists than this one, and he was completely able to pull it all off! I’m a HUGE fan now

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Zzzzzzzzz

20 chapters in and I am sooooooo soooooooo bored. I don’t know who these groups of people are,and just don’t care. 20 chapters of complete boredom. Must not only quit but purge this book from my library btw it was free.

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