Mystery with plenty of humor

What could go wrong when you blend a Sherlock Holms procedural with an X-Files style investigation? Add to this a little bit of Scooby Doo mystery and the main character having the personality of Howie Carr? Well, I can say that you would now have a better understanding of what you can expect when picking up the new audiobook by M. A. Mollenkopf titled “Mindjack Murders”. This suspense thriller is wonderfully narrated by Daniel Penz, who is one of my favorite audible narrators over the years. The story has depth and complexity, yet there is plenty of humor, sarcasm, and poking of other along the way to lighten the journey. The audiobook states that this is book 1, so I can only assume this will become a series where we will continue to follow new and exciting adventure of Jack Stewart, our main character. I will say that the audiobook comes in just under five hours, and I would have like to have had a bit more when it was done. And that is a good thing. It appears this is the author’s second published audiobook on Audible, so I look forward to more in the future.

The story opens with your normal procedural location and interview process. However, it quickly pivots into something that is stranger and more mysterious. This is when the tale begins to shine, and it quickly draws the reader in wanting to know what is really going on. We are introduced to some older close relationships that went sour along with some mature aspects being exposed. The author revels nuances and oddities with some of the residents and their activities around town. The police have been keeping a close eye on them, but they would have never expected what they would find. Like with any good detective story, the mystery begins to delve deeper and deeper as things progress. Around this time, we are introduced to some odd-looking sphere object that others will kill to get back, and it seems like they have in the past. Our two main characters stumble into a way of communicating with the mysterious sphere using terrestrial radio equipment. I’m not sure how many people now a days remember AM radio, but it is still being broadcast to this day. Do you take this information back to your superiors? What if they are compromised like a few others? Can this duo solve the problem on their own, or do they have to bring in others to assist? To answer these questions, you will have to give the audiobook a listen.

I feel the author did a good job of setting up the story and providing some well colored locations and predicaments. I would have liked to have had a few more twists along the way, and I thought the story was a bit shorter than it could have been. Although the main characters had depth and complexity, I would have preferred to see that applied to a few of the other pivotal characters as well. I believe by adding in a few of these ideas in future book, the listener will receive a longer story and have a deeper understanding of the motives and direction. I do have to say that the author did an excellent job of laying out the elements that make a solid tale, but I wanted a bit more. More background on the main characters, why do they do what they do? At the end of the audiobook, the author reveals that his day job is in the Cyber Security industry. Knowing this, I was not surprised by a few of the technical aspects included here in the story.

The audiobook’s narration could not have been performed by a better narrator. Mr. Penz is an expert in the field of narrating and all the materials I have listened to of his were top quality in both voicing and audio. This audiobook was no exception. The character voicing was spot on, and the audio did not have any quality issue. I enjoyed the diversity of character voices and accents. They seemed to really fit the characters well. There was quite a bit of audio work needed and effects in portions of the audiobook which I liked. Making a voice sound like it is coming over the radio was right up there with professional audio dramas, etc. I will say it again, you cannot go wrong listening to a Penz production.

For parents and younger listeners, the audiobook does contain both profanity and mature themes which may not be appropriate for younger audiences. Much of the story is clean and could be enjoyed by mature teenagers and above. If the items above offend you in any way, I would recommend a different story for younger listeners.

In summary, although the audiobook was short, I did enjoy the story and the narration was great. There was plenty of humor making the story feel more light-hearted and less creepy or scary. I would have enjoyed having had the author include some additional background information on a few of the characters, but all were likable and believable. Even with the deeper technical threads found in the story, it would be approachable by nearly anyone. I good mystery with some fun along the way.

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