Patrick E. McLean

I had so much fun listening to The Merchant Adventurer during my commute to and from school! The story itself is light, comedic, and a bit satirical in a way that is very similar to The Princess Bride by William Goldman. In fact, that comparison is mentioned in the synopsis and it’s one of the reasons I chose to give this book a chance. The other is that it has a 100% positive rating on podiobooks.com.

Patrick E. McLean does a fantastic job of narrating the audio. All of his characters’ show more voices and the characters themselves were easily distinguishable from one another. My favorite voice is that of Dimsbury’s, the evil snob of a wizard, but my favorite character is the smart-ass merchant Boltac. He reminds me of what Miracle Max might have been like in his slightly younger days.

This book is going on my all-time favorites list. It’s that awesome. I’m also looking forward to listening to Patrick E. McLean’s other books on podiobooks.com, which all have 94% or higher positive ratings. I highly recommend The Merchant Adventurer to anyone who loves The Princess Bride, comedic Fantasy, or just a good adventure story! show less

MAN, I tore through this one once I got started; I could have finished it in one night were I not newly motivated by the awesome game HealthMonth to stick to my bedtime. As it was, only the thought of losing life points got me to tear myself away from my Kindle for the night -- nicely ironic because, well, look at the title.

And indeed, the protagonist of Unkillable has become so, but only after being brutally murdered with a screwdriver. I'll attribute to this sad fact said protagonist's show more rather annoying repetition of the refrain "how screwed am I" since really it's one of only a toddler's handful of flaws in this macabre romp of a novel.

Unkillable borrows an old chestnut from comics and the movies, the hero who has to solve his own murder (see Deadman, Haunt, The Mask, etc and ad nauseam) but turns it ever so slightly on its head to make it feel fresh and fun. Our ne'er do well, Dan, knows perfectly well who killed him and dispatches the killer's accomplices with gleeful abandon almost immediately after coming to life (via another hoary old chestnut, the pact with the Devil, in this case, a Rat), but getting to the bad guy himself is another story. Of course.

But what sets Unkillable apart from the run-of-the-mill revenge tale isn't the supernatural trappings (though the voodoo stuff is fun), but McLean's voice. McLean is a scotch-swillin', wise-crackin' sonofabitch, and it's his cleverness and wordplay ("how screwed am I" repetition aside) that propelled me through the story. He's a craftsman and a humorist and his prose is a pleasure to read.

Funny as he is, though, McLean shines, too, in more serious and emotional scenes, where he comes through with unexpected depth and wisdom -- unexpected not in that I don't expect it from McLean, but that I wasn't prepared for it in this tale. What has been a fun, snarky romp finds a real heart and center about 2/3 of the way through, so that by the end I cared as much about Dan's fate, and that of his companions (an apprentice undertaker [who lets Dan drive the hearse, yuk yuk] and a reluctant voodoo queen) as I did about anybody in a certain set of GRRM doorstops. And those fates -- I did not see those fates coming.

And that's why I picked up my Kindle again, first thing this morning, and tore through almost nonstop to the end. And then tore through to give it five stars on here GoodReads.*

And then started hoping for a sequel.

*This from someone who hates bestowing stars. show less

This is a good old fashioned heist story. Hobbs is an old crook, looking to do one last job. He is an expert on robbing armored trucks, and he puts together a small crew in order to pull off the robbery.

Hobbs' story is an interesting one. The reader gets a sense of just how old and tired he really is. Even Hobbs himself can't believe he is trying to do this.

Agent Wellsley from the FBI is tracking Hobbs with single minded determination. It becomes a battle of wits between the two of show more them.

The first part of the book was very good. It details planning and executing the heist. Then, suddenly the book shifts from Hobbs' point of view to the FBI's viewpoint. This shift was a bit abrupt for me, and made the book lose momentum. At the end we shift back to Hobbs' view and it is a welcome return. The last quarter of the book just flew by for me. I think if you are a fan of crime noir, you will enjoy this book.

I received a free copy from Brash Books in exchange for an honest review. show less

The title and the description made me really keen to read this book and I wasn't disappointed. The characters are wonderfully larger than life, as you would expect with superheroes and super-villains, and the book starts out as a fun, light hearted read. Without risking any spoilers I will say that the story gains far more depth along the way, but it's done so well you don't realise for a long time.

In summary, a very enjoyable and original book that is well worth picking up. I look forward show more to reading more in the series. show less