Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Jon’s Downright Ridiculous Shooting Case
SERIES: Jon’s Mysteries #1
AUTHOR: AJ Sherwood
NARRATOR: Kenneth Obi
PUBLISHER: Author’s Republic
LENGTH: 9 hours, 28 minutes
RELEASE DATE: March 24, 2020
BLURB:
A psychic without an anchor. A student in trouble. A shooter on the loose.
I’m Jonathan Bane, a licensed psychic who consults for the police. I routinely help the police put the bad guys away and, for that reason, the criminal world doesn’t like me much. People like to take a swing at me, or go stabbity, or try for a gun. It makes for interesting times. My psychic ability prevents me from handling anything electronic—and I do mean ANYTHING, I fry it in seconds—so calling for help isn’t always a possibility.
I need an anchor, a partner, but I’m resigned: it’s just wishful thinking.
At least, I thought so until he walked through the door.
Donovan Havili looks like a thug and has the soul of a superhero. He shines so bright in my vision it’s like watching a supernova. He definitely has the right mindset and skills for this crazy job. But asking anyone to take me on long-term is a bit much. And now we’ve got multiple cases to handle, a Chinese exchange student falsely accused who needs our help, and someone taking random shots at me. It’s a bit much for any new guy to handle and I’m half-afraid that my new partner will run for the door.
But in Donovan Havili, the criminal world has met its match. And maybe, just maybe, I have as well.
REVIEW:
I will admit that I first overlooked this book because of the title. Jon’s Downright Ridiculous Shooting Case. I pre-judged it to be over the top and ridiculous and not to my tastes. Then I caught a couple of reviews that stated otherwise, that it was in fact just what I was looking for. I decided that I needed to know what it was all about, I couldn’t be happier. It was a great story with great narration and I’m sitting here crossing my fingers, toes and everything else that can be crossed, hoping that the rest of the books in the series will be produced into audio soon.
This book was everything I wanted and more. I listened to this book at work and was sadly forced to paus listening a few times (darn work for interrupting my happy time). I almost didn’t want to start listening again, not because I didn’t like the book, quite the opposite. Starting up again would mean I’d come that much closer to the book ending, and I just wasn’t ready for that. There was something about the feel of the book… I was completely sucked into the story and nothing else existed outside it.
Jonathan Bane is used to doing everything alone. His psychic abilities have scared people away, his family included. Sure, they tried to stick around, but in the end it was too much for them. It wasn’t so much that he was psychic as much as his abilities allowed him to read everyone constantly, knowing the most intimate of details. And when you added in his propensity of frying anything electronic within seconds it puts a strain in all his relationships. So, he lived alone and worked alone. Until one morning when his boss was interviewing a prospect hire and he was mesmerised by the shining aura of the new man. A person so innately good Jon couldn’t help but to be drawn to the man, all the while knowing Donovan would probably be scared off in no time – just like everyone else had been.
Jon and Donovan were such likable characters, maybe a smidgeon too perfect but I didn’t care about that. I cared about their off the chart chemistry, the magnetic pull they had for each other. From the start they just worked – as partners and friends then something more. I just about melted when Donovan gave Jon the watch, it said it all. I believed in them, wanted to know more, much more.
I’m a huge fan of Kenneth Obi’s and his performance of this book shows you why. He captured the essence of both Jon and Donovan, made you feel the connection between them, see the bright and shining auras. He made you feel and live this book with all of them.
There was so many epic lines, but one of my favourites would probably be You just got shot at, and now you want to go after a serial killer? (or something to that effect, quotes are difficult to get accurate with audiobooks). I loved the way Obi delivered that line. It was pure Donovan, but also kind of hilarious.
I had a blast listening to this book and I will be first in line to listen to the rest of the books when they are released. I need more of Jon and Donovan in my life.
BUY LINKS:
JUST started listening to this (Now available through HOOPLA) and was a bit worried about the grating quality of the Narrator’s voice as evidenced by the samples I found on AUDIBLE. (Oddly this one isn’t available through Audible)
The samples I listened to did this guy’s voice no favors. He’s a new (to me) narrator and the random-ish samples that I chose were all pretty off-putting.
He’s actually better in this book than what those samples indicated.