The I.P.O.

By: Dan Koontz

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

A tragic accident. An opportunistic CEO. A shocking announcement at the opening of a bizarre new stock market. Seven year-old Ryan Tyler, Jr. has just been adopted. By a corporation. Ticker symbol RTJ is the initial public offering on James Prescott’s Avillage Exchange, a market that trades in the financial futures of exceptionally gifted orphans. Before the brilliant first-grader has even had a chance to catch his breath, he is whisked off to live with seemingly perfect new parents he’s not sure he can trust. And he’s got a sinking feeling that the only ally he has from his previous life is somehow conspiring with the corporation. With Prescott and a board of directors pulling strings behind the scenes, Ryan’s only chance at freeing himself from his shareholders may be to team up with his fellow Avillage orphans: an embittered computer-programming savant, a once-in-a-generation NBA prospect, and a show-stopping Latin American model. Koontz’s fast-paced yet introspective writing style is sure to keep your mind whirring and the pages turning, right to the explosive final page.

This is a story with a new twist! Our greatest advancements can indeed lead to our greatest evils.

Congratulations Dan Koontz. What a great first book! I am looking forward to your future novels. The virtual voice presentation is acceptable and the quality of this technology will surely flourish.

voice too mechanical.

I liked the story was good but the voice was too distracting. I’m not a fan of AI readings.

The IPO

I personally thought this was one of the best Koontz novels I've listened to. Why it was left to AI narration boggles my mind! I could picture this happening today in reality. I listened to it with only a couple of breaks, not willing to put it down!

Virtual Voice Sucks

I'm only a couple hours in, and I hate the virtual voice beyond all reason. Boring, intonation of a terrible actor, and some unbelievable mispronounciations. Did anyone, including the author, actually listen to the entire book? Understandable, if not, cuz I can barely keep my eyes open at this voice. Here's my favorite: in a section describing a father-son competition, The VV pronounces that (and I'll spell this phonetically) a "FAthersen"--as in Pattersen (one word run together with the emphasis on FA). Does Audible (or whoever) think we're too stupid to catch it? Dan Koontz, if you're reading this, it's a good story. Enough that I keep trying to listen to it in chunks. The voice is too awful to allow for listening for long. You should demand they at least redo the worst of it. There were other awful mispronounciations but I was driving so couldn't note them anywhere. The word 'covertly' comes to mind as well.

AI is not for me...yet

AI should be able to change voices, and follow human feelings...not yet my friend. Although they are doing well with inflection they need to develop feelings. The true love of books is getting lost in the story to a point of becoming abystander in the plot... No someone who has to try to analyze and dissect what is going on... I will pass for a while.