Brian takes a lot of shit from everyone. He is basically a dunce so far. ( )

Not Harry Bosch, but a Ghost Mystery
Review of the Audible Original podcast edition in 8 episodes (May 16, 2024) adapted from the original short story (October 23, 2012).

This is a review of the new multicast Audible Original edition performed by Jack Quaid and Titus Welliver along with several other voice actors in smaller roles. The 8 podcast episodes total 2 hours and 18 minutes. This new adaptation extends the original short story which was narrated by only a single voice actor in 1 hour and 33 minutes.

Even though the author here is crime/mystery writer Michael Connelly and one of the narrators is Titus Welliver (the actor who performs as Harry Bosch in the various TV adaptations), this is not a Harry Bosch detective book. It is instead a rather effective ghost story about a locksmith (the Safe Man of the title) who is called to the home of a horror/mystery fiction write to open a locked safe which had been installed by the previous owner, who had been an occultist. The brand name of the safe is that of a mysterious "Le Seuil" (French: The Threshold) company. Once the safe is opened, manifestations from 'the other side' begin to appear. The locksmith and the writer are then caught up in a quest to discover the secrets behind the Le Seuil safe and how to close it off.

See voice cast photos at https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/Audible/en_US/images/creative/The_Safe_Ma...
The cast of voice actors in the new 2024 Audible Original production of Michael Connelly's "The Safe Man". Image sourced from Audible.

I thoroughly enjoyed this new adaptation and the voice performances by the entire cast were excellent. It was also interesting to discover that Michael Connelly once wrote a ghost story mystery separate from his regular crime genre. I had totally missed the 2012 story when it first appeared. ( )

Brian Holloway came out to the house on Shell Island to crack a safe. It is his job and one he has been doing for quite awhile. The owner, a Mr. Robinette, is rather difficult from the start and is clearly more trouble than he is worth and he is obviously worth a lot of money. Brian would like to tell the guy what he can do with his job, his safe, and the house the jerk lives in.

But, Brian is married and there is a baby on the way. Money is money whether it comes from nice folks or jerks. Besides the house is a bit of a legend. The safe in the floor is nothing like he has ever seen before so, despite everything, he is intrigued.

Opening it is going to create quite a few problems.

The Safe Man: A Ghost Story is an enjoyable read. It is a complicated tale that pretty much has everything resolved by the end of the read. It also sets up the preview of The Wrong Side of Goodbye that takes up about half of this eBook.

The Safe Man: A Ghost Story
Michael Connelly
https://www.michaelconnelly.com/2012/10/22/the-safe-man-a-short-story/
Little, Brown and Company (Hachette Book Group)
https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/michael-connelly/the-safe-man/9780316233682/
October 2012
ISBN# 978-0-316-23368-2
eBook (also available in audio format)
86 Pages

Material was obtained from the Dallas Library System by way of the Libby app.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2020 ( )

Published for the first time under his own name, a dark and haunting story from #1 *New York Times* bestselling author Michael Connelly

Like his father before him, Brian Holloway is a safe man. That is, his specialty is opening safes. Every job is a little mystery, and he has yet to encounter a lock he can't break or a box he can't crack. But the day Holloway gets called in to open a rare, antique safe in a famous author's library, his skills open a door that should have remained closed.

In this haunting and singular story, previously published anonymously, Michael Connelly proves once again that he is "superb at building suspense.... the reader can never be sure what sudden turns the plot may take" (*Wall Street Journal*).

[Word count: 11,662] ( )