Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

Full disclosure: I got this audiobook as a gift from Lorn from this post here which he offered to counter the audiobook returns that he details here.   Lorn and I do know each other, and I've rated his books with... varying ratings.   I believe he's read enough of my reviews to know I'm pretty blunt and I believe he knows he can tell me 'no' if he doesn't want to give me things for free, but he does anyway, even after I said I didn't normally 'read' audiobooks.   That being said, I wanted a break: I wanted to read and knit and not have to crane my neck or stop knitting to get to the next pag... er, panel.  Let's be honest; I've been reading comics again.  On my computer.   That's right.   *defiantly proud look for everyone who looks down on comics, including the ones who still look down on me for liking comics*

And boy, did this hit the spot!   Well, there were some disturbing aspects, but I'd come to expect that from E's horror.   But, man, this was perfect.   I got so much more done not having to multitask while knitting.   (Whirl is well on his way to having his own gloves.   Woot!)

All of this is background to my mindset when reading this, however.   I had a couple issues, one of which absolutely made sense in the context of this story and actually heightened the creepiness and the other was something narrator related that did affect my enjoyment to the tune of one half star.  I feel badly about the slight nitpick, so I will go over the narrative aspect first. 

Nazis.   The connection is pretty upfront and pretty close to the beginning.   I kinda picked a story at random, and just something I'd seen a review for but hadn't read.   This was it, so I went in blind.   It heightened my enjoyment, even, because I wasn't sure what to expect.   The Nazi aspect threw me off guard, because personal things.   That being said, I felt that the character who had the Nazi connections wasn't actually one you were supposed to like, or at least not love.   He wasn't pure evil, but he certainly wasn't what I would consider good.  In the end, I pitied him more than anything: his desperation, and attempts to live up to an ancestor who was brilliant although unethical, led him to make some really poor choices.   He showed more compassion in the end than the person I was originally rooting for, and made this all the more squicky for me.    It's uncomfortable for me to sympathize with anyone who has any Nazi or even Neo-Nazi ties; the fact that E made me sympathize with Johan is impressive and kind of makes me want a long, long, scalding shower that takes off at least one layer of skin. 

This is a thriller more than a horror for me, although I consider thrillers horrors/horror-y stories without the supernatural aspect.   There is no real supernatural at work here: this is the horrors men create, and it's all the more frightening for that fact.   There's a tension all the way through this, even starting at a relatively benign fundraiser, that kept upping the ante. 

It's hard to handle, or it was for me, and it was perfect. 

I loved the narrator: she was expressive, clear, and sounded engaged with the project all throughout.   The one nitpick I have is something that changed over the course of the story.  I loved her German accent at the beginning, and while it never faltered, it ended up sounding a little hollow, or like some other accent, by the end.   I think this was due to the heavy use of Johan's voice.   It's actually most likely a problem with me rather than the narrator.   As I said, she never faltered, but it's like when you overuse a word and it becomes sort of unrealistic sounding after a while: this was used so much that it started sounding different to me, although it never changed.   I actually rewound a bit, just to see, and stopped knitting, to pay close attention to the accent. 

So, I feel awkward about that.   It's no real fault of the writing or the narrator, but still caused this weird reaction while I was listening.   I feel like apologizing, but I'm not sure how so mumble, mumble, sorry?

Anyway, all around this was top notch.   Four and half stars well deserved.