Audible Book Review: The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

This is good vintage sci fi. but strange.

The Stars My Destination
By: Alfred Bester
Narrated by: Gerard Doyle

Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
Release date: 12-05-17
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Genre: Hard Sci Fi, Vintage
My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0 Overall; Story 4.0; Narration 4.0.

Publisher's Summary
Marooned in outer space after an attack on his ship, Nomad, Gulliver Foyle lives to obsessively pursue the crew of a rescue vessel that had intended to leave him to die.
When it comes to pop culture, Alfred Bester (1913-1987) is something of an unsung hero. He wrote radio scripts, screenplays, and comic books (in which capacity he created the original Green Lantern Oath). But Bester is best known for his science fiction novels, and The Stars My Destination may be his finest creation. With its sly potshotting at corporate skullduggery, The Stars My Destination seems utterly contemporary, and has maintained its status as an underground classic for over 50 years.
©1956 Alfred Bester; copyright renewed 1984 by Alfred Bester; special restored text of this edition copyright 1996 by the Estate of Alfred Bester; Introduction copyright 1996 by Neil Gaiman (P)2017 Tantor.

Review:
Gulliver Foyle is a simple crew member on the ship SS Nomad. The ship becomes marooned in space and Foyle is the only survivor. Struggling to use the remaining oxygen sparingly, Foyle is excited when he sees a rescue ship, the Vulgar, stop when they see his distress signal. But instead of coming to save him, they move on, leaving him to die.

Miraculously Foyle awakens in a space colony where the unique community has tattooed his face with stripes that look like a grotesque tiger. When Foyle realizes there is a chance to escape the asteroid and return to earth (Terra), he rushes forward with an overwhelming obsession to hunt down the crew that left him behind.

Foyle lives in a time when many have learned to jaunte or teleport themselves to locations they can picture in their minds. But no one has successfully jaunted in space and it is believed to be impossible. Foyle turns out to be a talented juanter, using the skill in many of his escapes.

The story follows Foyle as his obsession pushes him to use aliases while he gathers finances, resources and information seeking the crew of the Vulgar. Along the way he makes friends and enemies who assist his efforts, sometimes under threat. At one point Foyle gets very close to the owner of the Vulgar and Foyle finds himself drawn to the man’s unusual daughter who is blind but sees in wavelength spectrum. She ends up having a strange role in Foyle’s story.

The story is a little strange and Foyle isn’t necessarily a likeable protagonist. However, I did enjoy the creative steps and means of escape that Foyle comes up with in his desperate situations. The story was written in the 1950s and shows a wonderful sense of imagination. The story is what I consider ‘hard’ science fiction and it does have some surprises and ironies especially as it nears the ending. I think I may prefer military sci fi with action and characters I can cheer on. Still, I am glad that I read/listened to this classic. I do recommend it to readers who want to share in the history of science fiction.

Audio Notes: Gerard Doyle is an Irish narrator who does a very good job with this piece. He captures Foyle’s normal gutter language and the changes he makes as he pursues his revenge. Doyle also delivers on the intensity of the emotions and his narration enhanced my enjoyment of the story.

November Vintage Sci Fi title. Source: 6/12/18 Audible Daily Deal $2.95. This qualifies for 2020 TBR and 2020Audiobook goals.

Audible Book Review: The Cold, Cold Ground by Adrian McKinty

I found the Irish history (1981) interesting in this gritty crime novel.
The Cold, Cold Ground
Detective Sean Duffy, Book 1
By: Adrian McKinty
Narrated by: Gerard Doyle

Series: Detective Sean Duffy Series, Book 1
Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 01-11-12
Language: English
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Genre: Irish, Mystery, Police Procedure
My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0

Publisher's Summary
Adrian McKinty was born in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland. He studied politics and philosophy at Oxford before moving to America in the early 1990s. Living first in Harlem, he found employment as a construction worker, barman, and bookstore clerk. In 2000 he moved to Denver to become a high school English teacher and it was there that he began writing fiction.
In 2009 he moved to Melbourne, Australia, with his wife and two children. His first full-length novel, Dead I Well May Be, was short-listed for the 2004 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award and its sequel, The Dead Yard, was selected as one of the twelve best novels of the year by Publishers Weekly.
In 2008 his debut young adult novel, The Lighthouse Land, was short-listed for the 2008 Young Hoosier Award and the 2008 Beehive Award. The final novel in the Dead trilogy, The Bloomsday Dead, was long-listed for the 2009 World Book Day Award.
In 2011 Falling Glass was an Audible.com Best Thriller.
©2012 Adrian McKinty (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Review:
This story is set in an era of political violence in 1980s Northern Ireland. Detective Sean Duffy, a Catholic, is a new detective working for the Royal Ulster Constabulary. He checks for bombs under his car before driving as he doesn’t really know if he is safe in his Protestant neighborhood. Nor does he feel safe near the police station or out and about as he goes about his job.

A man is found dead in his car with his hand cut off and lying on the floor. Duffy feels as though he missed something at the scene. He doesn’t realize what it was until the coroner calls to tell him the hand belongs to someone else. Hours later they find the other man. The sawed-off hands would indicate they may have been informers but both men are gay and the murderer leaves messages noting that as his motive. Duffy’s superiors don’t want to admit there may be a serial killer of gay men on the loose and they are pressuring him to wrap this up quickly.

While hunting clues, Duffy finds an Irish girl hanging in the woods. The young woman turns out to have disappeared months earlier and she was the ex-wife of one of the current prisoners who are part of a hunger strike. Authorities are ready to declare the hanging as a suicide, but Duffy doesn’t think so. His gut tells him there is a connection somewhere.

Duffy is not making friends as he stalks a local henchman to unsavory places. Then he discovers one of the victims was the head of a secret IRA division. Things are getting more complicated and soon he is a target even as his boss pulls him off the case.

I really liked Duffy from the beginning although I didn’t like all his behaviors. I appreciated his determination and willingness to listen to his gut instinct. He puts himself at risk, ignoring orders to stay away from the case. Violence is prevalent among the characters and it is hard to determine which is the ‘right’ side of the Irish conflicts. The history elements were really fascinating. I liked the detailed police procedure and tension. The gritty style clearly fit the time and characters. I recommend this to readers who like gritty, police procedural detective mystery and those who may be interested in Irish conflict.

Audio Notes: Gerard Doyle’s narration enhances the story as the accents make the setting come alive. The narration made this a better ‘read’ for me.

Source: 2015 Audible Credit Purchase. This qualifies for my 2018TBR, Audiobook and Alphabet Challenges.