Welcome to Cooper

De: Tariq Ashkanani

Narrado por: Ryan Jordan McCarthy, Frankie Corzo

Winner of the The Bloody Scotland Debut Prize 2022

In this explosive thriller of bad choices and dark crimes, Detective Levine knew his transfer was a punishment—but he had no idea just how bad it would get.

Cooper, Nebraska, is forgettable and forgotten, a town you’d only stumble into if you’d taken a seriously wrong turn. Like Detective Thomas Levine’s career has. But when a young woman is found lying in the snow, choked to death, her eyes gouged out, the disgraced detective is Cooper’s only hope for restoring peace and justice.

For Levine, still grieving and guilt-ridden over the death of his girlfriend, his so-called “transfer” from the big city to this grubby backwater has always felt like a punishment. And when his irascible new partner shoots their prime suspect using Levine’s gun, all hope of redemption is shattered. With the case in chaos, and both blackmail and a violent drug cartel to contend with, he finds himself in a world of trouble.

It gets worse. The real killer is still out there, and he’s got plans for Detective Levine. And Cooper may just be the perfect place to get away with murder.

©2021 by Tariq Ashkanani. (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Narrator Ryan Jordan McCarthy keeps listeners guessing in this fresh take on a police drama.… McCarthy portrays Levine in a brooding, deep voice, enhancing the bleak, dark tone of the story. His energetic narration moves the short chapters of the story along swiftly…. Listeners who are in the mood for unlikable flawed characters and atypical storytelling will be rewarded with an unexpected twist. Narrator Frankie Corzo makes a brief but effective appearance.” —AudioFile Magazine

“With Welcome to Cooper, Tariq Ashkanani announces himself onto the crime fiction stage with a dark thriller set in the cankered heart of modern small town America. As Detective Thomas Levine navigates murder, corruption, and his own dark past, the plot lays bare the hidden world of violence and greed overtaking the American dream. A taut, uncompromising, and starkly visceral ride.” —Vaseem Khan, author of the Baby Ganesh Detective Agency series

“A tense, noirish, pacy thriller where nothing is as it seems right up until the chilling conclusion. An exciting new voice in crime fiction.” —John Marrs, bestselling author of The Good Samaritan

striking

This is a compelling, but deeply depressing book
The characters are vibrant and well rounded; the plot is tight and believable. The writing engages your interest completely; flawlessly. As a reader, you are driven to finish, to hear all the answers. But. There is no feel good resolution. It's very, very real.

Top Notch Storytelling

I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with Welcome to Cooper. Not only is this a pretty unknown author, it was also his novel debut. After reading his biography, I learned that he actually had no writing background/experience to speak of, so that also made this book that much more impressive. Now…don’t get me wrong…it is definitely a debut book for this author so there is room for improvement, but I’ve definitely read worse books by seasoned authors. So when I heard there’s another book coming out from Ashkanani, I know that I look forward to reading it! I believe I came across this book as an Amazon First read originally, but then got it as a Kindle Unlimited read once it was released!

Welcome to Cooper is kind of a re-telling of sorts. Detective Thomas Levine left Washington, D.C., broken and disgraced, ready to start over in Cooper, Nebraska. Only…the partner that he is paired up with, has problems of his own and quickly drags Levine in it with him. That’s as far as I’ll go, so as not to offer any spoilers, but this book is the story of how Levine ended up in Cooper, and what happens to him once he’s there.

The story was somewhat hard to follow at times, because it bounces back and forth between characters, but the storyline is a good and strong, definitely interesting and mysterious. The characters are all hard to fall in love with because of all of their faults, but I think that’s some of what makes this book a decent book.

I listened to the audio version of Welcome to Cooper that was narrated by Ryan Jordan McCarthy and Frankie Corzo. I don’t recall listening to either narrator before, but McCarthy has such a distinctive voice, that I think there’s no way he won’t rise to the top! Honestly, the McCarthy/Corzo combo was such a great choice and helped make this book!

Do yourself a favor and give this new author a chance. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed!

Absolutely Fantastic!!

The Best book I have read in a long time. It's dark humor, It's emotional deeps and narrator made me want to start over again as soon as I was done! Of course I could have used more, but I am sure that is the point.

Doesn’t flow well

I listened to maybe an hour. The story is all over the place and hard to follow.

couldn't stay focused

I just couldn't stay connected to the storyline. I had to rewind too much to try to regroup. Except for the foreign accents, the narration was all the same, and made it hard for me to follow who was talking. Not one I would recommend.

New Writer

I love to try new writer. Didnt make it pass an hour but the writer should keep trying. Im sending it back.