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Narrator Rupert Degas exhibits mastery as he delivers this gripping debut novel. In a gritty, nuanced tone, he captures the toughness and complexity of the denizens of Riversend, a drought-ridden Outback town pulled from obscurity by a brutal mass murder. From the outset, Degas's convincing Aussie accent and Hammer's rich descriptions draw the listener into a story that starts... Read More

Narrator Rupert Degas is a fine mimic and voice actor. His inflection and tone remind the listener of the great English thespians. He performs accents expertly--from South American to Italian to Kiwi--and gives Simon's sprawling audiobook texture and a sense of place. In 1974, the author took a motorbike trip around the world and wrote about it. He became famous for this epic... Read More

Narrator Rupert Degas hits ace after ace with his portrait of Daniel Connell, who was recently fired from his law firm for having more integrity than self-control. Having rallied hard to leave behind his past--absent mother, low-life father, crime-ridden neighborhood--Connell is now fending off volleys from dirty cops and underworld figures, all while trying to unravel the... Read More

Narrator Rupert Degas's thoughtful delivery is perfect for these short--3 chapters each--stories, each of which begins by announcing 7-year-old Jack's mood. In "The New Friend," Jack, who is Australian, sounds grouchy because his friend is on vacation and he's left with his dad. The loving relationship between father and son is apparent in their conversations after they find a... Read More

This Swedish children's classic was first published in the mid-twentieth century. Narrator Rupert Degas's voice is rich, mellow, and inviting as he introduces Pelle No-Tail, the cat who lost his tail to a rat as a kitten. He left his farm in the back seat of a car quite by accident, was taken in by the driver and his daughter, and now navigates a myriad of adventures with his... Read More

In 1973, Ted Simon embarked upon an epic journey that would take him 64,000 miles around the world on a Triumph Tiger motorcycle. Four years later, he would return to London a changed man with many a colorful tale, recounted here. Simon himself provides the introduction for his epic motorcycle journey, and hearing his voice sets a good tone for the rest of the audiobook; in... Read More

The combination of outstanding sound effects (ghostly laughs, a fainting housekeeper, a speeding carriage) and Rupert Degas's expert performance guarantees that listeners are in for a treat. After hearing about its resident ghost, an American family nevertheless takes up residence in a haunted mansion. Degas performs American and English accents to perfection. To the ghost he... Read More

Narrator Rupert Degas reads this story of brotherly love in a dramatic tone. It's told from the point of view of a younger brother who has sacrificed everything for his older sibling. But which brother is really caring for the other? As the story reaches its climax and each brother's obsession has its unfortunate consequences, Degas's rapid-fire delivery ratchets up the... Read More

The second book in The Timekeepers trilogy begins with a brief background and summary of the universe in which the Timekeepers are striving to maintain equilibrium. Narrator Rupert Degas presents a large cast as the Timekeepers move through space and time, encountering people, creatures, and gods of various cultures. In discovering the eternity gate, the Timekeepers have an... Read More

It's 1953 in Johannesburg, and apartheid is still new. DS Emmanuel Cooper feels compelled to help his friend, Shabalala, free his son after a false arrest. Narrator Rupert Degas captures every character and nuance to perfection. Since Cooper has a girlfriend and daughter of mixed race, he must be careful when he challenges his brutal boss. Along with the ability to create a... Read More

Perrotta is better known as a novelist (ELECTION, LITTLE CHILDREN), but his stories cover much the same territory--unhappy, damaged people in the New Jersey suburbs. That may sound depressing, but, especially with the cheerful, witty readings they get here, they lean more toward the entertaining. Andi Arndt covers the women, but the credits do not assign the male narrators to... Read More

Rupert Degas demonstrates that he was the perfect choice of narrator for Bram Stoker’s collection of macabre short stories. Degas's graceful use of pauses adds a deliciously suspenseful edge to each work. With impressive versatility, he fluidly transitions from harshly accented peasant to appropriately haughty nobleman. With a dramatic flair, he expertly delivers both hushed... Read More

This James Patterson offering from his Private series is not one of his best. The author usually develops intriguing plots, but this one is mundane. The saving grace is Rupert Degas's narration. Three stories comprise the convoluted plot. "Private" is the world's largest detective agency, headed by Patterson hero Jack Morgan. First, he saves Hannah Shapiro from a kidnapping.... Read More

Each part of this novel about success, spiritualism, mental health, and the soul is expertly delivered by a different narrator who perfectly projects the story's tone and energy. Samuel West's melancholic, refined air and emotional register reflect Geoffrey's experiences as a British schoolteacher turned concentration camp escapee. Christian Rodska's lower-class British accent... Read More

In a series of vignettes, a talented cast of narrators takes listeners across time and space via angels, spirit guides, UFOs, peyote, pot, crystal meth, and mercury poisoning. Each performance draws the fully realized people who live in or near the Pinnacles, a place in the desert that draws everything into itself like a cosmic black hole. Missing children, visitations from... Read More

Enter the world of Gormenghast—a vast, meandering city reminiscent of London or Byzantium. New to U.S. audiences, Peake's trilogy, aired on BBC Television in 2000, created a cult following in the UK. Rupert Degas acts out all the parts of this gothic novel with extreme characterizations, based on the BBC show, contrasted with lengthy spates of narrative. On the day Titus, 77th... Read More

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle may be best known for his Sherlock Holmes stories, but they were not his favorites. He loved the stories that promoted the chivalric ethos, even if they sometimes made fun of their heroes, as here. Gerard is a cavalry officer who is devoted to Napoleon and is incapable of seeing the world through any other lens. Rupert Degas is reliably excellent as the... Read More

The restoration of the English monarchy, in the person of Charles II, forms the background for Tremain’s historical fiction, which follows the life of the profligate courtier Robert Merivel. Initially favored by Charles, Merivel goes from triumph to despair—as does the restored King himself. Rupert Degas captures Merivel’s character perfectly—his self-important foolishness... Read More

Gothic and sprawling, the ancient castle Gormenghast is the centerpiece of a kingdom cloistered in intrigue and dark rituals. Titus Groan, the kingdom’s 77th earl, and his mother and sister are the castle’s prisoners. Titus is 7 years old. So opens this second volume of Peake’s titanic and sublimely ornate Gormenghast trilogy. Narrator Rupert Degas not only reads the heightened... Read More

While this story of revenge and bloodlust abounds with clichés and stereotypes, it should appeal to an audience looking for action. When Somali pirates hijack her yacht and kidnap and torture her daughter, wealthy Hazel Bannock, owner of Bannock Oil Corporation, turns to macho Hector Cross of Cross Bow Security to intercede. The power of audio is underscored in the graphic... Read More

In Kafka’s iconic novel, bank functionary Josef K., arrested on unspecified charges, is swallowed up by a bizarre legal system with incomprehensible motives and purposes—a mix of Carrollian absurdity, Eastern European oppression, and nightmare. Rupert Degas’s voice acting is understated and telling. His tones are varied and expressive, but appropriately grayed or minor keyed,... Read More

French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was "a symbol of human potential, for both good and ill," controlling much of Europe at the high point of his reign before falling when the continent allied against him. This work is meant as an overview, but Wenborn's account of Napoleon's life goes by too fast, at times seeming like a blur of dates and facts. Rupert Degas does a good job with... Read More

A well-narrated collection features five pieces of short fiction originally published in 1891, to which has been added Wilde’s mawkish fairy tale “The Birthday of the Infanta.” The anthology includes Wilde’s best-known story, “The Canterville Ghost,” a satiric and ultimately touching account of a brash American family frustrating a British ghost, and the enigmatic “Portrait of... Read More

In 1931, wheeler-dealer, gambler, and promoter Charles Flanagan offers an enormous jackpot to the winner of the first-ever Trans-America race. Over 2,000 people sign on, including professional and amateur athletes; ordinary, out-of-shape folks hit hard by the Depression; a contingent of Hitler Youth; a burlesque dancer; and many others. Tom McNab’s 1982 novel chronicles far... Read More

Conan Doyle originally published the humorous stories in this 1896 anthology in “Strand” magazine, where Sherlock Holmes had long comfortably dwelled. These are the first-person war stories of Etienne Gerard, a dandyish, opinionated, conceited, randy, dull-witted, and fearless officer in Napoleon’s army. In the canon of satirical military figures Gerard stands (at attention, of... Read More