David J. Walker (1) (1939–)

Father Paul Clark is fast on his way to becoming a bishop. After all, he’s done everything right and has managed to avoid controversy of any sort until now. A secret from his past has come to light, and Father Clark will do anything and everything to hide it. Unfortunately, a mysterious woman who claims to represent “an agency of the federal government” uses her knowledge of his secret to manipulate the priest into doing some unpriestly things. Father Clark’s life is turned upside down when his friend becomes a casualty of the need for secrecy, and he vows to set things right before someone he cares for becomes the next victim.

The Bottom Line: This fast-paced thriller features plenty of action. Once you start reading, the story rapidly gains momentum making it difficult to put down. As a former Catholic priest, author David J. Walker brings authenticity to the character of Father Paul Clark. The behind-the-scenes look into church politics was fascinating as well; however, this is not Christian fiction at all. Furthermore, I enjoyed the vivid Chicago settings. Since I live in the Chicagoland area, I was able to picture the scenes as I read along. Enthusiastically recommended for fans of thrillers and those interested in books set in Chicago.

This review also appears at the Mini Book Bytes Book Review Blog.… (más)

The Last Page by Libby Fischer Hellmann and David J. Walker Narrated by, Mary Conway and James Lewis

In the short story The Last Page a not very well liked librarian, Barbara Adams, dies from what they are saying was a heart attack but she just happened to be standing at the top of the stairs when it happened, Julia’s mother & Barbara were friends and both think the death sounds suspicious so Julia decides to do some digging. I love a book that is set in a library and the author did a good job in researching the ALA’s privacy policy and the ins and outs of information available to librarians. All in all this was a good short cozy mystery and I would read others by this author and would read more with the character of Julia.

The narrator Mary Conway is new to me, it took me a little bit to get used to her voice it sounds a bit young yet has a roughness so for me it took a little to get used to, but by the end I was happy with her narration and would listen to others narrated by her.

Chicago Blues short story My Sweet Man &another story I didn’t catch the name of by, Libby Hellman and David J. Walker narrated by, James Lewis, both were way more gritty stories than the first one. The last story is extremely gritty and has a lot of language it was quite a departure from the first story being more of a cozy and the second one was more family secret type mystery, they seemed an odd pairing on the same audiobook. I enjoyed My Sweet Man but I think it would have been better without the final story.

The narrator James Lewis has a husky deep voice that I like, his voice is good for gritty mystery or noir would fit his voice well too. I would listen to more from this narrator.

All in all this short 3 hour audiobook is pretty good I really liked the first story, the second one was also good but the last one just didn’t do it for me. I would have rated this 4 stars if it had only been the first & second story but the third story brings it down to a three but will end up with 3 ½ stars for good narration. Would read more from this author and listen again to these narrators.

3 ½ Stars

I received this from the Audiobookjukebox and the author/publisher Fischer Hellmann Communications for a fair and honest review.… (más)