15 Hours

An Alex Sedaka Thriller

By: David Kessler

Narrated by: Don Moffit

Fifteen hours to save a man on death row.

San Francisco lawyer Alex Sedaka is surprised when California governor Chuck Dusenbury offers 11th-hour clemency to Clayton Burrow, Sedaka's death row client, on the condition that Burrow reveals where he buried the body.

But there's a problem: Burrow insists that he is innocent and claims that he was framed by the missing girl herself. Until then, Sedaka thought that Burrow was guilty. Now he is not so sure. Thus begins a race against time to unravel the mystery, aided by his computer-savvy son, his loyal secretary, and his enigmatic legal intern.

With the clock ticking down to Burrow's execution, Alex is frustrated at every turn. And as the execution looms ahead, the race turns frantic and dangerous for Alex.

©2009 David Kessler (P)2016 David Kessler

Well Done

I thoroughly enjoyed this legal thriller. I did not see the end coming at all. I look forward to more books from this author.

Not my narrator choice

I hate to give reviews that don't favor the very hard work that goes into writing and producing an audio book like this. It's even more difficult for me to it seems be the first to review this title on Audible.

Here is my review:

Narrator:

I must start with the narrator because his voice and expression are what detracted from this work the most for me. But is Mr. Moffit a "bad" narrator?

I read (listen) to a lot of books in this genre. There is a certain type of voice that works best for this type of book and although Mr. Moffit is not a bad narrator per se, but his voice and way of depicting the characters were a distraction, not an attraction to the listening experience in my opinion. I would strongly advise potential listeners take the time to listen to the sample diligently and ask; "Does this voice work for the range of characters typical in a book like this?"

His voice is "soft". When he tries to be a strong or an intense in expression, his voice actually feels like it "thins out", sometimes seems to "crack" and weakens rather than gets stronger. Male and female voices tend to lack the dynamic differences I felt were appropriate to the characters. The vocal experience didn't always feel "true" to the character.

Mr. Moffit's vocal style and treatment would be far better suited to a soft love story or some other type of novel.

Recording and production:

I believe the producers may have used a vocal compressor in an attempt to add some power to the narrator's vocalizations. Several times for a few minutes in the early part of the recording, the recording faded out at the end of lines. It was like a compressor improperly calibrated and sagging out the levels at the end of the line. There were also a couple places where the edit cut of the end of a line abruptly. These times should have been more carefully reviewed, re-recorded and edited more carefully.

The story:

I have read the other reviews on the Amazon Books side and most people really liked the book. I was though, easily able to figure out how the main figure was going to come out far before the end of the book. I could "see" the author "setting up" the ending far in advance. I felt the ending was really "soft" as well. As a "Mystery - Thriller" it was not as strong for me in that way. It was a 3~4 star ending for me.

My issues with the story were honestly exacerbated by the choice of the reader.

Bottom line:

I would have enjoyed this book a lot more I think with a different narrator, or, if I had just read it myself. Over all, I feel the book is better than the choice of narrator.

Narration ruined a clever story

Narration ruined a clever story .. Story is layered and interesting but the narration killed the enjoyment