The Controller Audiobook By Matt Brolly cover art

The Controller

Lynch and Rose Crime Thriller, Book 1

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

The Controller

By: Matt Brolly
Narrated by: Joe James
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.95

Buy for $24.95

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

From the best-selling author of the acclaimed DCI Lambert series comes The Controller, a gripping serial killer thriller introducing Sam Lynch and Special Agent Sandra Rose.

It is six years since special agent Samuel Lynch left the FBI following the disappearance of his son, Daniel. Lynch believes an underground organisation known as The Railroad is responsible and has never stopped searching.

When Special Agent Sandra Rose investigates a house invasion gone wrong, she discovers the assailant has the legendary, and infamous, Railroad tattoo carved onto his back and he claims to know Daniel’s whereabouts.

Rose draws Lynch in to her case, and together they become embroiled in an unparalleled world of violence and evil.

It seems that to see his son again, Lynch will have to confront his greatest fear and face the ultimate test: an encounter with the Railroad’s enigmatic and deadly leader, The Controller.

©2019 Matthew Brolly (P)2023 Matthew Brolly Crime Thrillers Mystery Police Procedurals Thriller & Suspense
All stars
Most relevant  
Repeated phrases several times like a skip in a record, thought something was wrong with my app at first. Editing issue? Several mispronunciations throughout, but overall a decent performance and interesting listen

Needs some editing, but good listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I will read the book for book two. The narration was so flat I had a hard time getting into the story.

Not listening to next book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The story itself was fine but the reader was very dull and there were a few spots when it was poorly spliced together.

Interesting story but poor audio

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Maybe I just missed it, but by the time I got to the end, I still didn’t know why The Controller did what he did. What was his motivation? At one point he says he wants to own souls so maybe this elaborate underground prison he maintained had something to do with that. I don’t know. He was over the top evil, but the reader never learned why.

The editing was pretty bad. At one point the narrator even makes a comment about having to read a line again. The narrator also mispronounced words, some of them humorously so, but still, in general, I didn’t think he was terrible, but his cadence would change at times and I started getting the impression that he wasn’t really into it, Maybe the reader and the audio editor were just getting bored, which sadly, I was too. The story just could have ended a lot sooner.

Odd Story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Interesting story but too far from believable. I mostly spent time debating with myself when I would stop listening as the narrator is wooden to the point of distraction. Finally the book was done. I have enjoyed other books much more. I hate giving a poor review as I could not write a novel nor narrate one but some do it so much better than this pair.

Wooden performance

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Good grief, l wish l would have stopped before l even had an hour in! Was hopeful but Narration was pathetic, no change in cadence whatsoever. Found myself lost so many times , story could have been more compact. Doubt l will give this author another chance!

Droll narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
There were sections that appear to be unedited. Narrator repeats/starts/stops, etc. and at one point the narrator even discusses an edit.

On top of that, the book itself needed to be revised and edited. Things like the same word being used twice in a single sentence took away from what the author was trying to do. It gave the book a choppy feel, like if the author took lengthy breaks between writing chapters.

If nothing else this gave the listener a peak behind the what goes into a finished product.

The plot was ok (far fetched to be sure) but the editing did it no favors.

it’s really unlike Audible to put out such a rough product. It almost feels like the unedited file was published on accident.

Editing needed. Is this a draft?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
First, there are many complaints about the narration in the reviews, and I can't entirely agree with the criticism. Yes, James in his narration uses a softer, milder voicing, but for me, this balances the stress of this ongoing mystery. The story is already gruesome (without being explicit) and I found the toned-down voicing a good balance.

The story was a solid mystery/slash, thriller, which is not really my cup of tea, but I did enjoy this. Brolly did a good job on the characters, causing the listener to be suspicious of everyone's motives.

I save 5-Star reviews for a book that I just can't get enough of. If this genre was my thing, this may have hit that level. If you like the violent crime mysteries, I think you will enjoy this story.

Solid Mystery, Good Narriation

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book is poorly researched. Lots of the language used would never be spoken by a person from Texas. It’s clearly written by someone that hasn’t spent much time in Texas. The editing is also bad. There’s even a portion of the audiobook where you can hear the narrator talking to a producer or someone in the control booth.

Play researched and edited

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The narrator distracted from the story when he mispronounced common words and had me stopping in my tracks to rewind and listen again. I expect better performances when using Audible!

Narrator mispronounced many words!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews