Saturday 23 May 2015

Bones Burned Black by Stephen Euin Cobb

Official Blurb

A serial killer—brilliant, methodical and suicidal—sabotages a large commercial spacecraft's engines to set it on an eight-day trajectory to burn up in the sun, then remains aboard ship to murder and torment its passengers and crew. With no other ships near enough to reach them, rescue is impossible, and the few survivors fight their unknown enemy while trying to invent a way to survive the growing heat of the sun.

My Review

It's not often that I get so enamored by an audio book, but this one hooked me almost immediately.  The first three words of the official blurb will either grab you or they wont, but if they do then the fact that this is also science fiction is just the cherry on top. The story opens with a mystery, a woman in a space suit floating alone through space with no idea of why. What a great horrifying opening scene.

From there the characters are introduced and we start putting the story together as the threads start winding the plot together.  This story is science fiction survival horror adventure at its best. It presents a believable version of the future that's seems to be just around the corner, with characters that are likeable and real.

None of the character in this story appear as super-heroes, no one is super-capable, everyone makes mistakes and shows their human side. Heroism comes from those that struggle on anyway. I like that, it makes them appealing without them appearing as helpless people to whom things happen.

I sped through this book in one day, hooked from beginning to end, which is pretty unusual for me, as I like to swap in other things, including music to keep me awake, but this story was pretty darned absorbing.

The reader/writer did a splendid job. At first I thought is was Stacey Cochran reading, as they seem to share an accent, if not a cadence. Both voices I really enjoy listening to.

Reading 2/3
Production 2/3
Story 3/3

Total Score 7/9

Listen to the first chapter.
Download it from Podiobooks
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