Bloodline

Repairman Jack, Book 11

By: F. Paul Wilson

Narrated by: Dick Hill

It starts off simply enough. (Doesn't it always?) Jack has been on hiatus since the tragic events in Harbingers. With his beloved Gia's encouragement he dips his toe back into the fix-it pool.

Christy Pickering's 18-year-old daughter is dating Jerry Bethlehem, a man twice her age. Christy sensed something shady and sinister about him, so she hired a private investigator to look into his past. But the PI isn't returning her calls. Will Jack find out why?

Jack learns there's a very good reason for the unreturned calls: The PI is dead, victim of a bizarre water-torture murder.

As Jack delves into Jerry Bethlehem's past, he finds connections between Bethlehem and the Creighton Institute. The Institute, a government-funded facility, is researching a newly discovered and frightening variation on human DNA. Jack learns that Bethlehem is not the man he pretends to be.

Who - and what - Jerry Bethlehem really is will have a devastating effect on Jack's life and future.

And as the bodies pile up, Jack finds another piece of the puzzle about his own identity and why he's been drafted into a cosmic shadow war.

©2008 F. Paul Wilson (P)2007 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

Catch all of our Repairman Jack titles.

Not my favorite

I know there are many people who like Dick Hill. I am not one of them. The way he does the voices makes every person sound like they are stupid. Even the hero of the story. I can't tell one from another. I find my mind wandering in thought about that and miss the story. I gave it 3 stars, but seriously, I don't even recall what it was about.

Not my preferred narrator

Dick Hill’s performance is subpar in my opinion. He gives Jack a cocky bravado that’s reminds me of a noir style movie. Hill’s pitch change makes it extremely difficult to listen to. If you adjust the volume for the lows the highs blast you. Trying to find a happy medium is extremely frustrating.

I prefer Price’s narration, only one more book in the series to go until a Price narration.

Bad Narration

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I intend to finish it in print. Can't take the narration.

Would you ever listen to anything by F. Paul Wilson again?

Yes, by Chris Price.

Would you be willing to try another one of Dick Hill’s performances?

Absolutely not.

Christopher Price > Dick Hill

If you could sum up Bloodline in three words, what would they be?

typical story, but the audio/voice is superior with Christopher Price reading; Dick Hill gives a solid effort but fails to enunciate with the same clarity and power as Price

What did you like best about this story?

if you like the other books in the series, you'll like this one about as much as average

Did Dick Hill do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

he tried, but when he went to change vocal intonation or inflection, it made many of the words hard to hear

change of narrator

I didn't like the narrator on this book.. i got used to the other narrator and was disappointed with this one.

Great story, really bad audio

I struggled to finish this one because the audio was just bad. The narrator would be at a tolerable normal easy to understand volume and then suddenly it went unintelligible for several sentences. It really made it very hard to get into this particular book. I own all the RMJ novels So far this is been the only one I've had any complaints about.

Dick Hill is KILLING me

Many have said it, switching the narrator from Christopher Price to Dick Hill was a terrible move. Dick's narration style completely kills the story. I powered through because I love the RMJ series (as you probably will too if you've made it this far), but brace yourself. The narration is awful. Hopefully they will bring back Christopher Price as the series continues.

An average RMJ story that keeps you invested and services The Adversary arc well enough.

First off, if you have been listening to the Repairman Jack series up until now, you are use to Christopher Price narrating. This story is narrated by Dick Hill. My initial response was annoyance, but you’ll (probably) get use to it. He’s not a bad narrator, it’s just that up until now I was use to Christopher Price. For Dick Hill’s performance, the main issues I had were as follows:

1. Volume fluctuation. If you are listening to the book in your quiet home, you should be fine. But I found when listening in the car (which I often do) he will go from loud to a whisper, which, mixed with the sounds of the road, is super frustrating. Many times I had to just stop listening because I couldn’t understand what was being said. But again, in a quiet surrounding, it was fine.

2. Hill’s interpretation of Jack. If you’ve listened to Christopher Price up till now, he had a strong, no nonsense voice for Jack. In my minds eye I picture someone like Bradley Cooper when listening to his narrations. With Dick Hill, his voice is more nasally with an east coast accent. More sly/slippery sounding (best I can describe). In my minds eye I pictured Alan Alda. Not exactly the same mental image. But as the story got moving, I was able to recalibrate and appreciate the interpretation a bit more. It’s just different, which throws a wrench in things when you’re “reading” a series. If the roles were reversed and Dick Hill had read the previous books and Christopher Price had then read this one, I’m sure I’d be equally annoyed. In the end, he did a decent job. It just takes time to get use to.

As for the story, it wasn’t the strongest, but wasn’t the worst RMJ story. It sets the stage for things to come. Disturbing story line, but nothing new with RMJ stories (well, maybe a bit more disturbing). Some of the characters are stronger than the others, and some a bit annoying in their choices, but overall an it keeps you engaged.

One of the things this story was missing was the multi-fix element that the other stories had. This one was just one “fix” which made sense from the last books events, but I missed the multi tasking. Also, many staple characters rarely appear (Gia, Abe, Vickie). Also, I feel like the story was a little too long. Stretched further than it needed to be.

If you like the other RMJ stories, I would imagine this one will be enjoyed too, although maybe not at the top of the list as some of the other stories. Just try and adjust to the new narration and give it a chance.

great book as always.worst narration

What did you like best about Bloodline? What did you like least?

a good book in the series not my favorite but good. narration was terrible no sense of characters bad timing and inflection so quiet sometimes could understand.

Who was your favorite character and why?

jack duh

How could the performance have been better?

bring christopher price back and fire the new guy

Any additional comments?

please consider what all these reviews are telling you! bad narrator makes all the difference

new narrator

I did not like the narrator's voice. it made Jack sound like a New Yorker gangster.