Heads You Lose

By: Lisa Lutz, David Hayward

Narrated by: Abby Craden

New York Times best-selling author Lisa Lutz conspires with - or should we say against? - coauthor David Hayward to write an original and hilarious tag-team crime novel.

Meet Paul and Lacey Hansen: orphaned, pot-growing twentysomething siblings eking out a living in rural Northern California. When a headless corpse appears on their property, they can't exactly dial 911, so they move the body and wait for the police to find it. Instead, the corpse reappears, a few days riper... and an amateur sleuth is born. Make that two.

When collaborators Lutz and Hayward (former romantic partners) start to disagree about how the story should unfold, the body count rises, victims and suspects alike develop surprising characteristics (meet Brandy Chester, the stripper with the Mensa IQ), and sibling rivalry reaches homicidal intensity. Think Adaptation crossed with Weeds. Will the authors solve the mystery without killing each other first?

©2011 Lisa Lutz, David Hayward (P)2011 Penguin

The Bickersons write a murder mystery

Leaving in the unvarnished authors' notes to each other is certainly original, but I'm not sure that in the end it was such a good idea. It doesn't show either one in the best light, and perhaps is proof that reconnecting with exes is a bad idea. The story itself ended up being passable, despite the fact that you get to see Lutz and Hayward wrestling over everything throughout. But the Spellmans series is better.

The notes!

What disappointed you about Heads You Lose?

Thank goodness for the notes, or maybe it's the notes? I don't know what it is, the story was hard for me to follow, sometimes the notes helped, and sometime the notes got in the way. When I'm listening to a good book I want to be in the moment of the story, and the notes would take me into another moment, reality.

What was most disappointing about Lisa Lutz and David Hayward ’s story?

The notes I think??? I would finally start enjoying the story, and then authors would break in with notes.

What didn’t you like about Abby Craden’s performance?

I didn't NOT like her performance, it's just I couldn't enjoy it fully because of the notes.

What character would you cut from Heads You Lose?

I don't know, there where so many characters!

Any additional comments?

I do enjoy Lisa Lutz' writing loved her Spellmans series. However, I have to say there are more cons, than pros to recommending this book.

Too much sniping

The "mystery" part of this book ranges from the absurd to the merely predictable, but what's truly annoying is the sarcastic and mean-spirited tussling between the two authors. I'm not sure why this book saw the light of day, and I trust Lisa and Dave are now done with each other. I know I'm glad to be done with them.

not a fan

normally enjoy the work of lisa lutz but this was a dud for me. the sarcastic and borderline abusive banter between the authors as read from authors notes was distracting and just nasty. The plots had no continuity and switching narrators every other chapter made it harder to follow the characters a character would have a different voice quality with each narrator and one of the ways to follow a character in an audio book is by voice quality, inflection, speech patterns etc so it made it very unpleasant trying to identify with the characters. IMO it's a miss

Good story Great listen

Would you consider the audio edition of Heads You Lose to be better than the print version?

Yes

Would you be willing to try another book from Lisa Lutz and David Hayward ? Why or why not?

Yes the interplay between the authors suggests there's a whole lot of story left to tell

What does Abby Craden bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The inflections used make it obvious that the bickering back and forth is good natured

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

Laughed out loud while walking down the street. Got some weird looks too.

Any additional comments?

The story itself isn't anything spectacular but the comments and reactions that the authors have to what the other one is doing are priceless. Lisa is especially brutal. :)

Nothing Funny About This Story

While the story was okay, I got very tired of hearing the bickering between the authors via their notes to each other. It was too much of a struggle to finish listening to the story, so I stopped well before the end. I bought it because of The Spellman series - perhaps the funniest books I've ever read. I am very sorry I bought this book. I'm going to go reread Lisa Lutz's Spellman books. They made me laugh out loud and will be funny no matter how many times I read them. I hope she writes many more of them.

Funny and very different than other Lisa Lutz book

Where does Heads You Lose rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Heads you loose is entertaining not the usual novel one excepts, very different than the other Lisa Lutz books i've read/listened too. (I loved the Spellman series & the passenger). The banter between Lisa and David Hayward is awesome. The story is isn't completely cohesive but thats part of the gag. As explained in the introduction.Each writer writes a chapter then passes along to other writer to write the following chapter. Each writer isn't allowed to edit the others work no matter how badly they want to. It's interesting to see the past relationship between the writers unfold to the reader. Along with several on going jokes, for example the usage of the term "Turtling".

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The writers are killing off each others characters and plot developments.

Worst ending ever

I was enjoying the repartee between the 2 writers. Dave should have been allowed to write the final chapter. It couldn't have been worse then Lisa's!

Laugh Out Loud Funny

I must repectfully disagree with the other reviewers. I found the concept and story outstanding! The back and forth between the two authors was fresh and funny. Their reactions to each others chapters were some of the funniest things in the book. The concept of two authors taking turns writing chapters is awesome. I love the way the story changes depending on which one wrote the chapter. I looked like an idiot while grocery shopping because I was laughing so hard! The narration was perfect. If you only like traditional mysteries then skip this, If you want something new new and different try it. I hope this is only the beginning!!

Terrible Book should be burned

This book sucks. The concept is two authors working in collaboration to make a crime novel. In between each chapter the authors exchange a note with snarky insults directed at one another. Then during the proceeding chapter the author begins were the last left off. It's a wonderful idea but falls very short in this novel. The authors notes and insults are distracting. I am not sure if I am supposed to be listening to the story or paying attention to who, how, or why they kill off characters. Lisa chapters are your typical female heroine and the men are all useless tools, then David chapters are over done with personality and pot humor. I'd personally like to tell the authors to hang it up and get day jobs. Their writing is terrible. If your looking for a crime story or pot humor look elsewhere this is garbage masquerading as a novel.