Leviathan

A Harbor Secret, Book 3

By: Kristie Dickinson

Narrated by: Daniel Cryer

Harbor Springs, an unspoiled spot on the glimmering waters of Little Traverse Bay. The turn of the twentieth century brought lumber barons, developers, and steamships full of city-dwellers seeking cool breezes, beautiful views, adventure, and sometimes refuge.

While visiting a friend on Harbor Point, Kylie Branson stumbles upon a treasure trove of old newspaper articles in an attic. The articles report numerous sea serpent sightings in Little Traverse Bay. What lives beneath the sparkling blue waters? Could Harbor Springs have its very own Loch Ness Monster?

Follow Kylie on another adventure into a piece of the forgotten history of beautiful Harbor Springs.

©2017 Kristie Dickinson (P)2020 Kristie Dickinson

Kristie Gets Krazy!

I have listened to all of Kristie's works to date, and have become a devoted fan.

I have to say this was her best yet, at least story wise. I am a life long touring comedian, and have been to northern Michigan where her stories are set and that adds additional depth to her already detailed and very well structured story lines.

What I especially liked about Leviathan was it combined her own characters with real ones based on historical facts.

On top of that, there was a paranormal angle I really enjoyed (which I won't give away to future readers).

Together it made for a tremendous ride, and it kept me riveted throughout the entire content.

One aspect I did find rather distracting was the voice actor. He fluctuated on his accents which were noticeable throughout, but the story was so solid I stayed with it anyway and still enjoyed it as a whole.

Kristie's attention to detail is outstanding, and the flow of both the story and dialogue is excellent in my opinion.

I hope she keeps writing, and also gaining new fans for her existing work. I recommend it all, but this one was her best yet!

Had problems but loved some aspects

Massive thank you to the author, who provided a free copy of the audiobook for me to listen to and review.

Spoilers

When I first listened to this story, I knew I’d loved it yet something about it felt way off, I just couldn’t articulate what. So I sat down and listened to it again, this time with fewer disruptions, and realized that while it was another fascinating tale from Dickinson, it was also a mess.

First, the prologue was unnecessary. The Young Kylie part didn’t impart anything important that we weren’t told naturally later in the script, and the part with the kids was half irrelevant and again, just unnecessary. Irrelevant in that the lake woman story had, as far as I can tell, nothing to do with the plot whatsoever, so it was a misleading false start. Unnecessary because the Native boy could have given us the Mishipeshu (no idea how to spell it since I only listened) information in the scene with the phone game.

Second and biggest, problems with the main characters. I appreciate the effort Dickinson made to give Kylie development and an emotional arc, but it was pretty unbelievable. She runs into a friend she hasn’t seen in several years, the friend gives a completely biased and dated opinion about Jason, and suddenly Kylie takes that opinion as gospel and makes a baseless assumption and dumps her boyfriend of one year over nothing. It made both the friend and Kylie seem petty, shallow, and reactionary, overall unlikeable, which made me sad. Also, what on earth was that blarney about Jason’s age? Why was that a thing at all? I was under the impression that he was around Kylie’s age, but this brought-up-and-then-completely-dropped joke made him sound a lot older than her, which introduced a niggling creepy factor. It was unnecessary, and actually only made the friend’s gossip—and the logic of the situation overall--more tenuous. If he was several years older than them, that puts the girls in middle school if not elementary when he was in high school. What grade-school girl pays any attention to high school guys, much less the sex life of one in particular? If she'd had an older sister and heard about it a lot at home, maybe, but still, who continues to believe and pass on several-years-old gossip from school? Even if Jason was a lady’s man as a young adult, that doesn’t mean he still is. I think Kylie would have heard or noticed something in the last year if it were true, small town and all. And if she had distrust/commitment issues, they would have surfaced much sooner than after a year of dating and at someone else's suggestion. Then she immediately moved on to some strange guy who otherwise had absolutely nothing to do with the story? Add flighty flirt to petty, shallow, and reactionary. Yeah, it really was a mess. That’s not to say it couldn’t have worked, but it needed to be better developed and executed.

What I loved about the book was Isa’s story. I was going to rate the book three stars but gave it four for Isa's story alone. It was so much more compelling, and Isa was more sympathetic and likeable. I adore hate-to-love romances, so I was on board with her and John immediately. That arc Dickinson developed and paced really well. She tread close to making John sexist scum, but when it was made clear that he was mostly just getting a rise out of Isa and that he was actually falling in love with her for all the reasons he claimed to dislike—*dreamy sigh* Loved it.

The first time I listened, I thought the Jacque and Christopher tragedy was not only a surprise but one that Dickinson hadn’t hinted at at all. The second time I realized there were definitely hints, they were just super subtle and easily explained away. I would have liked the hints to be just a tad less subtle, but generally that aspect was written well, too.

Another problem, however: Dickinson likes to unfold mysteries by switching POVs from past to present; she did it brilliantly in Tunnels and did it well in Devil’s Elbow, too, but here it created problems. There was the unnecessary prologue and there was also a scene from the POV of some guy who had created the tree trunk story to protect the leviathan. There were also a couple scenes from, ostensibly, Sam’s POV. Add in Kylie’s POV, Isa’s POV, the epilogue in the librarian’s POV, and any I might be forgetting. Editors call that head-hopping, and it got to be too much and made the writing feel tangental and hard to follow. It didn’t help when it confused the timeline, too—for example, Sam and Jason were having a beer one evening while Kylie was out with What’shisface. We move on to the next day, a bunch of stuff happens, then we cut back to that night and Sam’s joining Judy in bed, she says he smells like beer, and they talk about what he told Jason about Kylie. Gotta keep a rein on those POVs; they're often unnecessary and can become a cheat to easily deliver information. Best to keep them at a minimum so the story stays focused.

So yeah, this book had problems, but I’m still excited to see what Summerset has in store!

Leviathan

Strories of sea monsters ,even on the beach ,have been passed down for decades.In this story they are ribboned through stories of the women in the towns history. Daniel Cryer was a very good narrator.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

A blend of local history, adventure, and romance

As a harbor springs native where the story takes place, this book was a great way to imagine a different view of our town historically with a twist of adventure.