Audio Book Review: The Tesla Legacy

The Tesla Legacy

By:  Rebecca Cantrell

Publish Date:  January 22, 2015, Audiobook Release May 6, 2015

Format:  Audiobook - 6 hrs 41 mins
Narrated By:  Jeffrey Kafer

Genre:  Mystery Thriller

Series:  2nd in Joe Tesla series, 1st Book ~ The World Beneath

Impression:  Paranormal thriller with a grip.

Synopsis:
In New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Cantrell's sequel to the award-winning The World Beneath, software genius, Joe Tesla, confronts an equally brilliant and far more powerful foe. Still crippled by agoraphobia and confined to the tunnels under New York City, Joe is haunted by the fact that he cannot even attend his father's funeral. His father's death brings threats to the safety of Joe's underground home: guilt over the broken relationship that can never be healed, a mysterious box of papers inherited from eccentric inventor Nikola Tesla, and a ruthless enemy determined to steal those papers no matter the cost. Mystified by why his inheritance is so valuable, Joe and his service dog, Edison, follow clues left a century ago by Joe's famous ancestor to reveal the power of his family legacy. While Joe must rely on his considerable talents as a hacker, he must also reach out to friends. But whom can he trust as he battles to save his beloved city from . . . The Tesla Legacy?

First Sentence:
Most men would not care about a simple pigeon, but Nikola Tesla was not most men.

Purchase At:
Amazon  /  Barnes & Nobles 

Audible

My Thoughts and Summary:

*I was given this free review copy of this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Jeffrey is always a pleasure for me to listen to. He's grown to be one of my favorite narrators. (Yes, there's a list.) Jeffrey doesn't let me down with his vocals as Nikola Tesla again. Jeffrey voices Nikola with the emotion Nikola feels, even in his most stressful moments.

Joe Tesla is struggling with his agoraphobia with his father's funeral. Seeing it through a cell phone lens, Joe learns a secret his father kept. He's not a Tesla descendant. However, there are people out there that want the plans for the Oscillator that Nikola Tesla designed. The real plans, not the adjusted and dysfunctional version that's public. And what his father left him in a suitcase may lead him, and these dangerous people to the true plans.

Joe has a huge obstacle to work around with his agoraphobia. He can't walk outside, and a lot of what happens involves going outside. He has his housing arrangements, groceries, and walking for his dog all taken care of, but the trouble Joe finds himself in could lead to having to leave his underground home. We see Joe react to the outside light with his agoraphobia. We also learn new medical troubles for Joe. When I learned this, I hoped that he will find the person that did this to him and we would get to see that in the books.

I find it really cool how the underground railroads and tunnels lead to several of the buildings in the city. This makes it easier for Joe to venture to places, though he's not done so yet. With what he's left by his father, Joe has to brave new tunnels to building to look for something. When he finds it, trouble finds him.

Joe learns a truth about his family, which dredges up old memories of his father making Joe work hard at school work. We also meet Joe's mother, and see her interact with him.

I enjoy seeing Vivian, who Joe has hired to help. She's a body guard sort and can do errands for Joe on the outside world. Even Dirk. We get to see Celeste and Joe interact via phone calls and what Joe does with computers for her.

Joe starts to see the program he created to help find people or criminals in the world is being used in a way he didn't plan. Joe has to figure out what to do with that program, if anything, so no one knows he's been monitoring it and tampering with it to stop them.

There are a few pieces in the story that Joe doesn't know about that another character knows. These items could become a problem in the future that Joe will have to deal with. Also, Joe's health is something he has to keep in mind. I'm curious to see how these continue on in future books.



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Audio Book Review: The World Beneath

The World Beneath 

By:  Rebecca Cantrell

Publish Date:  November 25, 2013, Audiobook Release January 28, 2014

Format:  Audiobook - 7 hrs 12 mins
Narrated By:  Jeffrey Kafer

Genre:  Thriller, Mystery

Series:  1st Book in Joe Tesla series

First Impression:  Mystery Thriller in the tunnels of New York.

Synopsis:
Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Cantrell drops you into a vast, dark world: 100 miles of living, breathing, tunnels that is the New York City underground. This subterranean labyrinth inhales three million bustling commuters every day. And every day, it breathes them all out again... except for one. Software millionaire Joe Tesla is set to ring the bell on Wall Street the morning his company goes public. On what should be the brightest day in his life, he is instead struck with severe agoraphobia. The sudden dread of the outside is so debilitating, he can't leave his hotel at Grand Central Terminal, except to go underground. Bad luck for Joe, because in the tunnels lurk corpses and murderers, an underground Victorian mansion and a mysterious bricked-up 1940s presidential train car. Joe and his service dog, Edison, find themselves pursued by villains and police alike, their only salvation now is to unearth the mystery that started it all, a deadly, contagious madness on the brink of escaping The World Beneath.

First Sentence:
Dr. Berger looked into the long dark mouth of the tunnel.

Purchase At:
Amazon  /  Barnes & Nobles  /  Book Depository

Audible

My Thoughts and Summary:
*This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com, at my request.

Joe's agoraphobia has drawn him to live in the underground house, connected to the tunnels under New York city. But when he watches Rebar tear into a wall that's hiding the long lost presidents train car with skeletons, he becomes curious. Feeling more alive than he has in months, Joe is determined to return to the walled in train car later, to learn who Rebar is, how he knew this was here, and why was the people in that train walled up to die. This brings Joe into the center of a terrible and hidden government secret.

Jeffrey narrates this story, and his voice is perfect for these types of stories. Thriller and mystery in one, and Jeffrey's voice gives nothing away to us. I like that I can't guess the story as his voice doesn't tell me what to expect. Jeffrey does narrate with voice differences, even just slight differences. He also voices with pacing that fits each character and how they are feeling in the moment. We get a feel for the personality of the character through his voice and actions.

This story starts right in. Quick happening and makes me curious about the mysterious infection that the special doctors are experimenting with. Wow. Had my attention out the gate here!

There are a few people we follow and all their lives are intertwined. If not before now, they will be as the story goes. Joe Tesla now lives in a Victorian home made in the tunnels under New York years ago, which is totally awesome. Vivian was to watch over him six months ago, when he vanished down into the tunnels which she thinks something happened to him then to cause his agoraphobia. She is once again called in to help protect Joe by his attorney. Ozan is hired by Dr. Dubois to kill Subject 523, who got away and needs to be stopped before he spreads what he's infected with (which Ozan doesn't know about). Ozan is also instructed to take care of anyone who might know about the papers Subject 523 took.

I liked Joe. Joe is not a perfect man but he's a smart one. He lived a life as a brilliant computer programmer, and this comes in handy with what he needs to learn on this case he trips into. Joe acts smart in this story when he's in the tunnels and running from the man who's now after him. We also get a feel at the end of the story that Joe may have been given his agoraphobia. This is an interesting thought and we are lead to believe this by the story that's happening now. I really liked the way the author drew us to this point.

I even found I was feeling for Ozan in the end. The bad guy that I ended up liking. Yes, this was well done. Ozan has a profession but he's a person too, having a life outside of what he's hired to do.

The story was easy to follow with the authors writing style and we got all the clues and back story we needed as the story went. I found I could draw the connections as I learned the parts from each person. I'm very curious about Joe in this ending. I want to see what comes next for him and how he stays working or involved on cases.



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