13. The Book of Lies - Brad Meltzer

AUDIO Read by Scott Brick
For: Adults
Book Pub: 2008
Audio:
10 discs/11.5 hours
352 pgs.
Rating: 2
Finished: Feb. 23, 2009

This was my first Brad Meltzer. I was not greatly impressed. Neither the story nor the characters were very engaging - I had no empathy for any of the characters, I never really felt like I got to know a single one of them. It switched around from one person's perspective to another. And there were an awful lot of "bad" guys. The protagonist is Cal Harper, whose father pushed and killed his mother when Cal was nine. After eight years in jail, his dad never came to find him. So now at 28 he lives his life in a beat-up van on the streets of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, helping and working with homeless people. Very noble. His partner, a black preacher named Roosevelt, is his philosophical friend. When they happen upon a shooting in the park and discover the victim is Cal's long-lost father, the mystery and flight after an unknown historical treasure begins. We hear from a guy named Ellis, who, with his dog, Benoni, is also after the treasure. Ellis works for a mysterious "Prophet." Cal's father is accompanied by a young woman named Serena - it's really quite foggy about how she came into his life- and then there's the law enforcement official, Naomi, who's after them all. She doesn't know who the bad guys are, and she thinks a lot about her adopted son, which seems really out-of-place. She's constantly on the phone with a wheelchair-boound guy named Scotty, and Ellis keeps calling an unknown judge. This, I suppose, is to keep the suspense high while wondering who the bad guy/s really is/are. Throw in Cain and Abel, Superman author Jerry Segal and his father, Mitch, a trip to Cleveland, Nazis and a strange group called The Thule, lots of tension between Cal and HIS father, Russia.....and lots of vague information. Get the picture? It's pretty foggy, eh?

My last impression was "who cares?" Not a good way to end eleven and a half hours of listening. It was not easy listening, either, because I really didn't care for the reader. He emphasized words in a way that I never would have if I'd been reading them myself. I went to the library this evening to pick up a new audio book and as I was walking toward the check-out I realized the reader was Scott Brick. I must admit, I turned around and found another book.