Crude

By: J. L. Davis

Narrated by: S.W. Salzman

Lock the doors and board up the windows. The power grids are down. Food is gone. Communications are reduced to short-range transmission and the only sound on the radio is a killer's heavy breathing.

Moving as it is gripping, CRUDE takes the listener inside the world of Eddie Slate, a smooth-talking car salesman who finds himself caught up in the red zone after a catastrophic incident shuts down the global fuel and power supply. With the gas pumps spitting air and law enforcement failing, self-preservation is the only rule for survival until help can arrive.

Alone and frightened, Eddie spends the hours on a hand radio searching for Beth Andrews, a woman he once loved. Nobody ever answers, at least not until a mysterious drifter starts transmitting and takes a dark step into his life.

The time is now and the place, your hometown. See what happens to Eddie Slate the day the world stops.

©2014 Jeff Davis (P)2016 Jeff Davis

Interesting Take

When the lights go out, Eddie Slate is semi prepared and at least has a little stockpile of food, which is more than most people have. He is a small town boy born and bred and decides to stick it out as long as he can without leaving town. As things get worse and he listens to gunshots at night and hides from intruders looking for supplies by day, he gets extremely lonely and begins to call out on his hand radio hoping to reconnect with the woman he considers the love of his life. He hears nothing in return...until he gets a chilling reply and a deadly game begins. Will this civilized, gentle man rise to the occasion to save Beth or will he take the cowards way out and run?

This was an interesting take on the end of civilization. There are no preppers here and even Eddie just sits around all day instead of getting himself in a good position supply wise. The catalyst is unique to these types of novels, too. The end is caused by petroleum running dry around the world. This was an interesting, well drawn and well narrated audiobook. I particularly though Salzman did an excellent job with Frank. I would have personally enjoyed it more if there were not a flashback in every scene and if Eddie had grown a pair a few confrontations earlier than he did. He was entirely clueless through almost the entire book and it got frustrating after a while. I guess you could say Eddie is a romantic at heart and so takes a long time to get to the point where he's willing to fight back. I listened on 1.5 speed and this was perfect for me. Eddie also had an annoying habit of mispronouncing words (eye-talian, gardenia, etc) that distracted from the story for me.

I received this audiobook for free through Audiobook Boom! in exchange for an honest review.

Gripping, moving and fast paced

Where does Crude rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

CRUDE hits the mark with great characters and twists. Definitely one of my top picks and with its short snappy chapters, difficult to stop listening. Intense, moving, full of surprises and a satisfying end as the tension continually builds.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Both the protagonist (Eddie Slate) and the villain (Frank Myers) were rock solid when pitted against each other, making for edge of the seat entertainment. Eddie's battle within himself to maintain moral values in a world gone crazy, not to mention find his old flame Beth, was often moving, sometimes to tears, while at the same time pulse pounding as a rapid fire machine gun. Great characterization on all fronts.

What about S.W. Salzman’s performance did you like?

Salzman did a fantastic job through the entire novel, but particularly excelled in those moments of confrontation between the major players. His dialogue was crisp as a whip and nearly picture perfect. A few emotional but highly tense moments nearly brings the listener to tears, and at other times, the performance unfolds in high drama keeping the listener heavily engaged and wanting more until its satisfying conclusion.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes. The twists, turns and unexpected moments combined with short snappy chapters leaves the listener wanting more.

Any additional comments?

CRUDE is the combination of a well thought out, thought provoking novel that employs tense situations, tender moments and tons of twists that keep the listener guessing until the end. This was a slick thriller and an apocalyptic view of the world with delicious villains we love to hate, and a hero in Eddie Slate that makes you want to stand up and cheer. A great read.

Exciting Dystopian Post Apocalyptic Romp

This was a fast paced and entertaining story of people in a bad but somewhat realistic situation. The characters were solid, action was exciting, and story was well written and flowed well.

I received the review code for this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this honest review.

A New Kind of Post-Apocalyptic Adventure

This could have been a story about any one of us. The world imagined by the author takes place after a very plausible oil shortage scenario. Everything that we use in our daily lives, including electricity, heat, food, and transportation comes to a screeching halt. Enter Eddie, a completely ordinary car salesman who happened to prepare a little better than most for the end of the world. What follows is a sometimes unbelievable sequence of events that turns mild-mannered Eddie into a post-apocalyptic hero of sorts. There were times where the action dragged or was interrupted by a flashback or internal musings of Eddie. I understand that the author was attempting to show us how events from the past can determine our future, but I felt it was a little overused. It was like ice water to the face, just when things were getting good. I really enjoyed the narrator's work though. He sounded exactly like I would imagine Eddie to sound. I didn't care for Frank's voice though...he sounded too Brooklyn thug rather than hardened killer. Almost too comical for the part, in a way.

I received this book at no charge through AudioBookBoom in exchange for my unbiased review, so my final thoughts are that this was a 3.5 star book that could have been a 4 or more if the author were to rework certain parts. Overall a good listen and I would like to hear more of both the author and narrator's work in the future.

Too whiney

Would you try another book from J. L. Davis and/or S.W. Salzman?

Maybe

Any additional comments?

I got tired of the protagonist saying "built for this". I get it. I don't need to get beat over the head with it. I thought the narrator did a good job. I received this audiobook for free through Audiobook Boom for my unbiased review.

Crude Great Listen

If you have a two way radio and think you are the only one left alive would you broadcast over the radio for the heck of it hoping maybe someone out there might hear? What if someone did? What if that someone used your words against you? Eddie our main character is a salesman that is all he knows how to do is talk so that is what he does, but can he man up and deal with what happens next?

This was one action packed, roller coaster twists and turns, hold your breath suspenseful book (with a dog), it has everything, and paired with voice actor S.W. Salzman narrating this book it just doesn't get any better. Salzman makes you feel as though you are there with Eddie trying to help him, at least though this one crisis, or the next and then you are hooked.

A pretty good thriller! :)

3.5 stars!
I love books that take place around or after apocalyptic events. So, when I started this book, I was a little disappointed at first. It started out pretty slow. I kept listening as I did the dishes, and after awhile I realized I was really into it! It was very different than I was expecting, but I did end up enjoying it. Our main character ends up having to be the hero, and goes through a series of trials and "games." The antagonist is a major bully, who is not afraid to kill anyone in his way. This story actually does have a good many action scenes, and there are a couple twists along the way that I didn't see coming. I think I would classify this book as more of a thriller, that takes place in an apocalyptic setting. S.W. Salzman was the narrator of the audiobook, and he was enjoyable to listen to. He had kind of a unique voice, and I liked that he sounded a little different. Even though I had a harder time getting into this audiobook, I ended up really enjoying it. I would recommend this one, just be aware that its more of a thriller than the summary makes it sound!
**This book was provided in exchange for an honest review.

Crude

This was an okay read.S.W.Salzman was a very good narrator. The oil is gone so life comes to a halt.People are either taken to camps or being picked off by a psychopath. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Solid, but repetitive story line - post apocalypse

Would you listen to Crude again? Why?

Maybe - solid and different twist to post-apocalypse. Oil has run out and the earth plummets into chaos due to that fallout. Protagonist is not a typical hero and not a military trained super shooter, prepper, or super human fighter.

Story line was pretty good. But the back and forth between protagonist and the main villain was tiring. How many times can we here this - "where's the girl?" - "I wont tell you". Or "where's your food?" - "I dont have any!", " come on, where's the food?" "I dont have any".

That back and forth repeated it self many times and often didnt feel like it would end. I ended up just wanting one of them to shoot the other just to stop the back and forth.

What did you like best about this story?

It's an interesting twist on post apocalypse - right in my favorite zone.

Have you listened to any of S.W. Salzman’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No - good, not great. A little tedious at times but overall still enjoyable and worth the listen. I'll buy more in a series.

Any additional comments?

http://www.audible.com/listener/A1BW5HDREPLINU?ref_=a_lib_mst_tnaft_5

Distracted by Implausible Plot Points

Where does Crude rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I 'm a big fan of post-apocalyptic fiction and looked forward to this author's interpretation of survival when everything familiar suddenly changes. I was disappointed in the author's world building, as I was continually pulled from the story by implausible scenarios. I felt the post-apocalyptic world building elements were missing, which made this story less enjoyable for me.

What does S.W. Salzman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narrator did a good job bringing Eddie Slate to life. The narration was largely what kept me engaged.

Any additional comments?

I am readily willing to suspend my disbelief for the sake of a fictional story, but I feel an author has an obligation to create a world that is credible and plausible. It is my opinion that this was not achieved in CRUDE.


In CRUDE, society as we know it collapses virtually overnight when the Earth's oil supply runs out, despite governments having known of the threat for a couple of years (wouldn't governments have stockpiled reserves??) What about solar power, electricity, steam engines? Eddie spends his time talking to an old girlfriend via a hand-held radio yet the author states no one responds. I don't know much about these types of communications, but it seemed logical to me that if Eddie was using a radio, others would be too (such as ham radio hobbyists). When Eddie finally leaves his cellar at midnight one evening after 30 days of hiding out, he sees a single stranger (where are all of the other people??) enter a music store with an Open Sign posted. He discovers his friend Leo behind the cash register, shot and killed. I found myself wondering why Eddie had been hiding out for weeks while his friend appeared to be conducting business as usual? Other scenes struck me as conveniently coincidental and lacking sufficient explanation as to be improbable.