Review: Auburn Ride

• Title: Auburn Ride
• My Rating: 4.5
• Genre: Mystery
• Format: Audiobook*
• Publication Date: November 22, 2016
• Author: David Stever

~Book Blurb~

Welcome to Port City…

Private investigator Johnny Delarosa has seen it all. First as a cop, and now as a private-eye. Cheating spouses, embezzlements, and insurance scams are routine. But he meets his match when the alluring, auburn-haired, Claire Dixon, walks into his bar/office and drops a $20,000 retainer in his lap. She wants the hard-drinking Johnny to find $2 million that was stolen from her mobster family thirty years earlier. But $2 million can be motivating. Old mobsters come out of witness protection to claim their share, and when bodies begin to pile up, and his sexy, enigmatic, client disappears, Johnny is taken on the ride of his life—an Auburn Ride. With a wink and a nod to the hard-boiled private eyes of the pulp noir past, the gritty streets of Port City set the stage for author David Stever’s first thriller in the Delarosa series.

~My Thoughts~

I was surprised to find myself so connected to a mob treasure hunt, story, but I suppose that is the power of good writing. I believed and bought into the story, the characters and the dialogue.

Sometimes, with specific geographic locations or people groups, the dialogue can feel forced. In attempting to sound like a certain type of person, an author can use too much slang. David Stever balances this beautifully, and my impression was probably helped by the accented narration of Bill Lord.

This felt like modern day, noir fiction. I didn’t know who to trust or what was going to happen next, though I found myself constantly wishing I could peak behind every corner before our hero, Johnny Delarosa, got there. But that’s feeling is the essence of good noir books, that feeling of inevitable disaster.

The characters were especially great since none of them were perfect. I love, LOVE, a flawed main character. While some people may find them hard to root for, I think they are more interesting and relatable. As long as the person is essentially good or decent, the more mistakes along the way, the better.

Johnny seems like a run-of-the-mill private eye, but is extremely complicated. Divorced because of the pain and trauma of fertility issues, Delarosa has a strained relationship with women. You can tell he has some emotional baggage to work through, which is great news for fans of reading book series.

Greed and revenge take center stage in Auburn Ride, a modern twist in the noir mystery genre. Expect to spiral with the characters, as David Stever’s writing and Bill Lord’s narration take you on a twisted tale that reminds us all that our pasts can find us at anytime.

~About the Author~

David Stever is a novelist, screenwriter, and film producer. He writes the Johnny Delarosa mystery-thriller series, debuting with, AUBURN RIDE, paying homage to the great detective fiction of the past. The series has been called “noir for the 21st Century.” Fans of hard-boiled, crime thriller books, complete with sexy femme fatales, will love the Delarosa series.

He is a member of the Private Eye Writers of America, the International Thriller Writers, and the Maryland Writers Association. Originally from Tyrone, Pennsylvania, he lives in Columbia, Maryland with his wife and family. Please visit www.davidstever.com and be sure to sign the mailing list for news and updates!

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~About the Narrator~

Bill Lord has been an entertainer since 1983 when he began a nearly 20-year career as a professional wiseguy on rock and pop radio. After radio, his love of storytelling drew him into the world of acting and audiobook narration. It was a transition that began his exploration of connecting with an author’s truth on a deeply emotional level, while bringing each of their character’s reality to life with an authentic voice.

When Bill narrates a story, he transforms the written word into a multidimensional aural experience that makes you lose all sense of time and what is going on around you. He transports the listener to faraway realms or perhaps across the galaxy, until the world around you is supplanted by the flickering movie screen of your own imagination.

In addition to reading books for major publishers, and indie authors and publishers, Bill is a former coach of Edge Studio’s Investigate Voiceover classes in Washington, D.C., and an occasional cast member with The Lake of the Woods Players. When he’s not on stage or in the booth narrating, you can find cruising the lake on his pontoon boat (in Orange County, VA) while enjoying a Manhattan with his beautiful wife, Joya.

Bill Lord is an Audible Approved Producer. Visit Nothing Rhymes with Orange Studio’s website for more information.
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